we are: London

The QCA needed to further develop the curriculum.qca.org.uk site, in order to incorporate additional resources and to further enhance the user’s access to information.

The Project

The key issue with the revised design was to ensure that that it remained intuitive and easy to use and did not impact the user’s ability to locate important statutory information.   In addition to assessing the usability of this new site, the QCA wanted to conduct a study of three of their other sites in order to further understand their user’s needs and behaviours.

Solution

We lead the user research on this project, working with both the development agency, Reading Room, and internal teams within the QCA.   We used a range of usability review methods during the course of the project, including both qualitative and quantitative techniques:

• Online surveys – in depth quantitative analysis of user demographics and behaviours
• Remote testing – qualitative study with a range of users, conducted remotely and reviewing two separate sites: www.nc.uk.net  and www.ncaction.org.uk
• Lab based research – full usability lab with existing users of  curriculum.qca.org.uk, obtaining feedback on their site experience as well as assessing their navigation experience of the prototype
• Accessibility review – review of the prototype with a visually impaired users as well as a review by our own in-house accessibility experts to advice on W3C compliance

Outcome

This comprehensive approach to usability research provided the QCA with both understanding of their site’s users and actionable recommendations for further development and change. Prior to this research the web team had only a limited understanding of who their users were and most importantly, how they used the information available to them on site. Our research provided valuable insight into important taxonomy, navigation and content issues which, when corrected, will further improve the overall success and user experience of all QCA sites.

 

Chris Averill COI, Research Accessibility review, Lab Research, Online surveys, Remote research