we are: London

Abu Dhabi Media Company (ADMC), formed in June 2007, is Abu Dhabi’s national media company which includes Abu Dhabi TV, Abu Dhabi Sports and Emirates TV Channels, four radio stations and various publications including Al Ittihad (Arabic), The National (English) newspapers, Zahrat, Majid and Super magazines.

Requirements

We are:london were appointed by ADMC to help launch ‘The National’ newspaper website and help put processes into place to help with other ADMC projects.

With ADMC building up a new digital team, we are:london were asked to provide support across the various digital media projects providing process management, project management, user centred design and development skills.

The National Newspaper website

Approach

With tight deadlines across various project channels, as highly skilled consultants, we are:london’s team were tasked to implement processes for various projects to ensure that ADMC staff had the support necessary to successfully deliver these digital projects.

Working closely with key stakeholders within ADMC, we are:london’s team identified project goals and deliverables and helped plan for the long-term delivery of these various projects, helping to minimise risk and ensure successful launches.

We are:london have continued to provide on going support throughout 2008 as ADMC has been recruiting it’s digital team, across various aspects from strategy, project planning, user experience design, graphical design and template build.

Result

ADMC have successfully launched ‘The National’ website and are in the process of launching several other digital projects over the coming months, across TV, web and mobile platforms, which have had the continuing input and support from we are:london.

Abu Dhabi Media Company, Design, Research, Strategy competitor review, information architecture, Online surveys, rapid prototyping

Information architecture development

We have been successfully delivering information architecture projects for the past 8 months, directly to O2 and in partnership with Agency Republic. During a project that we were leading in early 2008 for a travel client, we started to investigate a new process for delivering complex information architecture and interface design projects in a more effective and efficient way. After working on a number of projects for O2 based on a traditional approach to IA development through Visio wireframes and multiple sign offs, we were able to pioneer our new approach on a live, cross platform project.

Our agile process

Our approach to rapid prototype delivery is based on a workshop or hothouse where key stakeholders discuss their requirements and, when applicable, start to define elements such as objectives, personas, user flows, navigation, behaviour, etc.

Week 1

An initial prototype is then built and hosted online for the client teams and 3rd parties to interact with prior to a review.

Week 2

A prioritised list of changes in agreed and the prototype is updated to reflect these changes, whilst new features and functions are added.

Week 3

A sign off review takes place to lock down agreed functionality and scope.The prototype is then either frozen, or developed in parallel to a detailed set of Visio documents.

Advantages

The main advantages of implementing our rapid prototype methodology are much faster UI development and sign off times; typically one third of a traditional IA project. Earlier input from stakeholders based on a tangible product rather than complex IA documents. Real-time changes during review sessions and workshops; this is key to reducing timescales. The delivery of a functional prototype that can be used for technical spec, demonstrations, usability research and marketing.

Nigel Suddell, project lead for O2 added: “we are:london delivered a very impressive managed service that dramatically reduced the amount of time usually required to develop an information architecture design. The interactive prototype was an invaluable tool, that led to a much better understanding of a complex set of process and interactions, across the O2 development agency teams.

By providing a clear definition of the functionality in a succinct manner there was little room for interpretation and little need for clarifications. This directly impacted the production of other project deliverables (requirement specs, technical designs, etc) and was of great benefit in the overall timelines. We will be communicating this example, across our business, as a best practice approach for similar projects.”

Design, O2 Agile approach, information architecture, interactive prototypes, rapid prototyping

Interface design & usability research

we are:london lead phase 1 of BT Vision’s functional design development through to its successful launch on Monday 4th January 2007.

Phase 1 included the system’s navigation design; enabling users to access the many services offered by BT Vision, including EPG (electronic programme guide), film and PVR (personal video recorder). we are:london also ran competitor analysis workshops for user interface team.

we are:london’s team lead the user centred design process through Information Architecture, Strategy and Usability Testing, working very closely with BT Vision’s design team.

Chris Averill, MD of we are:london said:

We have been developing the Information Architecture for BT Vision since the initial stage of the service. For over a year we have been working closely with the BT Vision design team through workshops, brainstorms and strategy sessions, creating prototypes which we tested in our usability review labs. Our biggest challenge was to develop a series of complex interactions into a fast, simple user experience whilst dealing with very detailed business requirements on a platform that was still under development.

we are:london undertook Phase 2 of the interface development; adding new services and reworking the core navigation and Video on Demand store structure.  New promotional tools and increased functionality will also be implemented as the service develops.

Chris Averill added:

Having been at the heart of the system’s development for the last 16 months it is very exciting to see the service launched in the UK.  It has been an extremely complex project, not only meeting both BT and end user needs, but also ensuring that the core platform from Microsoft and interaction principles were acceptable to a broader European market - in alliance with Microsoft. We are currently developing access standards with BT Vision and are planning to undertake more usability and access audit labs.

BT, Design, Research information architecture, IPTV, Lab Research, rapid prototyping