we are: London

Objective

The FSA wanted to create a website for young adults that provided information on everything from how to pay for university to buying a car and that could also direct users to other reputable sources of financial information.

The key concern was that everything from the look and feel to the brand and URL (whataboutmoney.info) appealed to the youth audience.

The Project

we are: london led the user research on the project, and our involvement encompassed the branding, right through to the development and final build of the site. Our usability team ran the following services:

• Recruitment - crucial to the success of the project was recruiting the right audience for the FSA. This was an extremely complex and difficult audience to reach but by using our national database of market research participants we secured up to fourty 16-25 year olds who possessed the specific attitudes and experiences needed for the project.
• Focus groups - we are: london ran focus groups across the country where we presented a series of brand concepts to the audience in order to obtain immediate feedback on the appeal and preferences. This provided essentail feedback for all agencies involved - directing us on everything from site naming, taxonomy, tone of voice and layouts.
• Usability lab - Our team put together a clickable prototype for the site and held a series of one-to-one interviews at our facilities in London. This phase of the project clarified taxonomy, content requirements and also the best format for presenting information to this audience. The findings from this testing were fed into the final iteration of the IA.
• Expert review – Once the IA had been finalised we are: research conducted an indepth best practice review of the site. This ensured site-wide consistency as well as making sure that it was accessible and in compliance with the W3C standards.

Outcome

This comprehensive and iterative approach to user research throughout the project lifecycle ensured that the site both resonated and appealed to the youth audience.

COI, FSA, Research Accessibility review, Card sorting, Focus groups, Lab Research, Qualitative research

Usability for grown ups and kids

Overview

The publishers PanMacmillan were committed to develop a new e-commerce website to replace the existing site. The two key objectives in the development process were to identify and understand user requirements of the site and to stay ahead of the competition.

A combination of traditional qualitative research coupled with we are:london’s website and competitor analysis ensured the development of a site which would satisfy the needs of all key stakeholder groups.

The issue

PanMacmillan needed to test an early development of the site to substantiate their initial research and to review a number of branded prototypes to choose the optimal brand direction. It was imperative that the research covered the broad customer base; which meant reviewing the site with a larger than normal group, including children and retired readers.

Solution

In order to gain a comprehensive understanding of all issues, we are:london ran a full suite of usability tests; which included card sorts to define the taxonomy, lab-based testing, competitor analysis and quantitative analysis.

The PanMacmillan team and their design agency chose to observe each session in order to have first-hand understanding of the user requirements, which resulted in conflicting opinions between the development team and the Board.  Competitor analysis proved very insightful, especially in the children’s section, and the card sort helped to considerably reduce the amount of primary and secondary navigation.

Success measures

1. Solid recommendations through research -  following an initial usability review, PanMacmillan and their design agency added the recommendations to their final business proposal to the Board. They were able to give clear evidence and examples of user requirements, which were contradictory to early business assumptions.
2. Site improvements for enhanced online experience - consequently a number of major positive additions and changes to the site were made, based on the research conducted by weare:london.

Client Testimonial

Clare Bennett, Website Consultant, PanMacmillan

“Chris and the team at we are:london provided a professional and thorough service, allowing PanMacmillan to gain valuable insight into to the usability of their prototype website.  Their research ensured that PanMacmillan were able to identify problematic areas such as content layout (in particular, the right hand channel) and navigation taxonomy (users didn’t understand corporate terminology).

The research also highlighted that the children’s section was a critical area of concern.  By testing with children, it was clear this area held no interest for them due to the corporate interface. As a result, a key business decision was made to develop a separate children’s website, which targeted both parents and children via a child-friendly interface.

The knowledge gained through this user-testing enabled PanMacmillan to make key strategic development decisions prior to the full website build and launch – which saved the business both time and money in post-launch amendments.”

PanMacmillian, Research Card sorting, competitor review, Lab Research, Qualitative research