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.

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

I came across these interesting data visualisation projects whilst working on the IA for the redesign of the Freeview website. There are some great ideas here involving the presentation and manipulation of data objects. As IA is very much about communicating ideas to clients and teams I am hoping to use some similar presentation techniques on future conceptual IA.

MooWheel

MSNBC Spectra Visual Newsreader

Reclam Literatur Doner

For more info about cool data visualisation experiments and projects check out: visualcomplexity.com

By developing your web experience within a User-Centred Design (UCD) framework, you can ensure that the needs of your audience and goals of your business are met. The result is an intuitive and easy website for your users and great return on investment (ROI) for your business.

Facets of the UCD approach that I use include:

• Examining key user groups, creating personas and scenarios
• Mapping audience requirements into user journeys through the existing or proposed website architecture
• Analysis of web metrics to gain insight and drive web strategy and information architecture
• Analysis of competitor websites
• Follow usability and accessibility best practice

Get in contact

If you would like you know more about user experience then please get in contact.

Am back in the office in London after a few days in Newquay surfing and now freelancing as an IA at a company called The Grand Union. I am supposed to be here initially for about a month. Am settling in, head down (being the new guy and all that) and I guess we’ll see how things progress next week. Only downside again is being given a PC to work on, am sure I will end up getting just as pissed off here using Visio as I did at Dare, maybe I will be able to get a Mac, we’ll see!

For the past 2 weeks I have been freelancing as an Information Architect over at Dare Digital in central London (the last time I was here was 2 years ago as a Web Developer).

I’ve been working on some interesting projects for Vodafone, Sony UK and Barclaycard. It is a nice break from a year of working pretty much solely on BT. I would say the only frustrating thing is I have had to work on a PC, which has felt clunky, unprofessional and at times rather retarded. But on the upside I have learned how to use MS Visio and can now add that to my CV.

It’s been quite strange working as part of a new team as opposed to being full time back at Crayon (where I used to walk around acting like I owned the place with my 1.5 hour gym lunches). You have to tone down your personality for the first few days, as not to walk in and end up offending people or acting too over confident (it is a fine balance). But they are a nice bunch and I have had a good time seeing how a different agency (much bigger than my previous one) works and “does” IA.

This weekend I have earned some much needed down time and hopefully the good weather will continue. The next few weeks look potentially busy with possible work offers on the table from: Dare, Grand Union, Sapient and the Glass Partnership. Just need to balance that with getting some decent surf time in and its all good!

Rated People is an online service to find domestic tradesmen such as plumbers, electricians and builders in your local area. Companies can create a profile on the site and then bid for work. Customers can advertise a job and then get in contact with the appropriate contractor. I was asked to conduct a speculative audit of the site and its key competitor.

Deliverables

• Competitor analysis

Downloads: rated_people_uxp_analysis.pdf