The final project I was involved with this summer whilst freelancing at Dare Digital was the redevelopment of The FA (The Football association) website. I worked alongside Richard Blair to develop the sitemap and wireframes and had direct input into the user experience. Richard being an open-minded kind of guy agreed to let me work in OmniGraffle (on the Mac) and then export it to Visio at the end of the project. The result of this was a beautiful looking IA document!

Richard and I worked with the design and account teams at Dare and had direct contact with the client through meetings. We presented work to the client and engaged in valuable discussions to guide the client to create a usable and  rewarding user experience, both for The FA and users of the website.

Deliverables

• Sitemap
• Wireframes

Client goals

To redevelop the entire FA website user experience and increase the level of participation from users, both on the website and through social networks.

Challenges overcome

On the whole The FA went very smoothly, both internally and externally. Challenges included guiding the design team on usability and accessibility issues and trying to balance those needs with creating an engaging design. The account team also needed a little discipline at times to keep the project on the right track and to actually come to decisions on certain pieces of site functionality and features.

The new website is due to go live some time later on this year.

Whilst working at Dare Digital this summer I was involved with the redevelopment of the user experience for the forthcoming global website relaunch. I worked alongside the in-house IA, design and account teams to develop the documentation for the site (Wireframes, Sitemaps etc.). I also attended internal and external meetings and conference calls with the client.

Deliverables

• Sitemap
• Wireframes

Client goals

To redevelop the entire Sony Ericsson website user experience and position Sony Ericsson products at the centre of this experience.

Challenges overcome

As I joined the project three months after the launch date there was a lot of catching up to do. This took time and effort, but eventually I was comfortable leading internal meetings and making decisions that effected the direction of the IA and design.

On a slightly less serious point, the entire project documentation was produced using Visio. This was a real pain in the a**e as I am a Mac person and have a strong belief in making anything look as good as possible. This simply can’t be done efficiently and without a lot of headaches in Visio. Needless to say I wasn’t a happy bunny for the 4 or 5 weeks that I was involved with this project, but sometimes you have to bite your tongue and get on with it.

The new website is due to go live some time later on this year.

Overview

The Vodafone Nightwatchman website was developed as a counterpart to the Street Sixes website (a series of street cricket competitions that took place in the run up to each Test Match during the summer of 2009).

The objective of the Nightwatchman website was to raise awareness and open up cricket to a new audience. This was achieved through a series of tongue-in-cheek film clips reporting on the action and breaking the moves and jargon associated with cricket.

Deliverables

• Sitemap
• Wireframes

Client goals

To raise awareness of the Street Sixes competitions and to open up cricket in a tongue-in-cheek way to a new audience.

Challenges overcome

Due to the phased nature of the the events, the site’s content would evolve over time in both the depth and breadth. It was a particular challenge to devise a way to represent future content without showing the site as having gaps where future content would eventually sit. The second major challenge was deciding on the degree of interaction the site should offer and create appropriate functionality to serve user needs without over-engineering the site.

Overview

Whilst working at Dare Digital, I was responsible for developing the information architecture for the Vodafone Street Sixes website. The Street Sixes is a series of street cricket competitions that are taking place in the run up to each Test Match during the summer of 2009. 24 teams of six will battle it out in caged cricket matches, with the chance to win tickets to The Ashes.

Deliverables

• Sitemap
• Wireframes

Client goals

To inform users about the Street Sixes competitions and encourage audience participation and create a wider buzz around each event.

Challenges overcome

Due to the phased nature of the the events, the site’s content will evolve over time in both the depth and breadth. It was a particular challenge to devise a way to represent future content without showing the site as having gaps where future content would eventually sit. The second major challenge was deciding on the degree of interaction the site should offer and create appropriate functionality to serve user needs without over-engineering the site.

Overview

The Vodafone Taxi Grand Prix was another sports sponsorship project that I was involved with whilst working at Dare Digital. The idea behind the competition was to create five virtual races in conjunction with the five of the European Grand Prixes.

10 taxis situated in 5 cities around the UK were tracked using GPS technology and the distance and location of the taxis was plotted on a map. Users can sign up and create a team comprising of two taxi drivers which would then race around the virtual track, accumulating miles, until they reached the required distance for each race. Users can keep up to date on the progress of drivers throughout the race by visiting the site and keeping an eye on each driver’s twitter posts. The first user to complete a race would win the top prize.

I was responsible for developing the information architecture for the website. This involved meeting with internal and external stakeholders, developing content priorities, working alongside the design and development teams and presenting deliverables.

The technology behind the GPS showcases Vodafone’s location-based services and 3G network capability.

Deliverables

• Sitemap
• Wireframes

Client goals

The main goals for Vodafone was for the site to inspire users to take part in the competition, for the registration and participation mechanics of the site to be easy to understand, and for users to stay interested and motivated to keep coming back to the site.

Challenges overcome

The main challenge for this project was to take a relatively complex idea and technological underpinnings and convert them into a simply enough site architecture to ensure users could understand the concept, play the game and remain interested in the site.

I’m pretty pleased with my current organic search listings on Google at the moment. Check out the screen shots below for a little evidence. All down to coding this site in an accessible way, writing relevant content and having industry knowledge of search engine optimisation.

Keyword phrase: Freelance Information Architect London

Keyword phrase: Freelance IA London

Keyword phrase: Freelance Information Architect Essex

Keyword phrase: Freelance Information Architect UK

Whilst working on a pitch for a top London design agency, I was involved with developing a new information architecture for the Energy Saving Trust.

The work involved reviewing the existing website channels from an IA, usability, accessibility and user experience perspective and making recommendations of how to improve the websites.

The pitch work is in the process of being submitted and fingers crossed the said agency will win the bid.

Deliverables

• Usability and accessibility review document
• Sitemap
• Wireframes

Whilst working on a pitch for a top London design agency, I was involved with developing a new information architecture for the London 2012 Olympics website.

The work involved reviewing the existing website from an IA, usability, accessibility and user experience perspective and making recommendations of how to improve it.

I worked closely alongside the creative team to ensure the IA vision was delivered and the resulting designs conformed to usability and accessibility best practice.

The result of our combined efforts is a solid pitch document that I hope will win the said agency the contract.

Deliverables

• Usability and accessibility review document
• Sitemap
• Wireframes
• User journeys

Whilst working at Bostock and Pollitt I was asked to undertake a competitive analysis for their client, Shire (a pharmaceuticals company).

Usually I would conduct such an analysis and present the results in visual fashion using Adobe Illustrator. In this instance, due to time constraints and the way in which the information was going to be presented (in a Powerpoint presentation) I developed an Excel spreadsheet that scored each website against a set of usability, accessibility and user experience criteria. A total was then calculated for the site as a whole and used to rank it against the competitors.

Deliverables

• Competitor analysis matrix (Excel spreadsheet)

I was asked by Bostock and Pollitt to assist them with creating the new information architecture for their client: On the Beach.

At the time of writing, this project is still a work in progress, I am working closely alongside the project management and creative teams to create a collaborative IA. So far I have conducted a user experience and competitor analysis, proposed a new content strategy, sitemap and created the initial top-level wireframes.

Deliverables

• User experience analysis/competitor analysis
• Content strategy
• Content architecture
• User journeys
• Sitemap
• Wireframes

Tools used

• OmniGraffle Professional
• Adobe Illustrator