Usability and Design

Imagery inspired by www.currybet.net

Central to any Digital property is usability and as this will affect the user journey, traffic figures, dwell time and conversion rates. It is a process that relies heavily on customer insight through direct feedback, analytics and usability testing to drive change. The skills of an Information Architect (IA) or User Experience (UX) professional go way beyond creative design but include principles of human computer interaction and customer behavior assessments. Like many roles within the Digital area it is multi skilled and interdependent on many other functions. A usability expert will be technical, creative, analytical and commercial savvy. Professionals in this sector will not have a defined past career profile but may come from design or product management background.

Usability consultancies have emerged in order to advise and guide on these issues whilst also carry out the extensive usability testing in controlled environments, these will include heat maps and eye tracking couple with analytics to fully understand user behavior.

Accessibility will have a role to play in most sites to ensure the Digital channels delivery to all members of society. Guidelines and principles such as WCI need to be considered by Digital teams and a variety of software packages are available to enhance user access. Not all sites consider accessibility but major corporate brands and not for profit institutions lead the way.

Bearing Partnerships supports the following areas in this discipline and recruits some of the very best individuals to specialises in this increasingly important area:

Information Architect (IA)

Usability Consultant (UXD)

Accessibility Expert

Web Design (all levels)

Flash design (both Design centric and Actionscript programming)