Is an area of your site not working as well as it could? Are site visitors finding it difficult to locate information or complete certain processes on your site? Then BijouMind Interactive can help.

Usability is all about making your site as simple and easy to use as possible. If your site is easy to use visitors will have a positive experience on your site, and will thank you for it. Conversely, if your site is difficult to use, visitors will find your site frustrating and will associate these feelings with your company or product.

Our team of usability experts can review your site and provide detailed analysis of main usability stumbling blocks, and practical recommendations for improvement. BijouMind Interactive can arrange to have real users test your site, in order to provide quantifiable results and ensure the best experience possible.

Accessibility Consultancy
Accessibility is all about making sure websites work for as wide an audience as possible. This includes those potential customers with disabilities, such as visual impairment, and those using the web with unconventional devices such as PDAs. There are ethical, legal and business motivations for ensuring your site is accessible.

BijouMind Interactive can audit your website to determine its current state of accessibility. We review sites from a practical perspective in conjunction with recognised guidelines such as WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines). Our reports always contain solid, readily implementable recommendations for any accessibility issues you may have. We are also happy to get our hands dirty and fix those problems for you.

Usability testing is a series of methods for evaluating how well people can use tools or systems. Usability is about how human beings perceive, think and act, and about how system works, and how we can fit them together. Usability methods can be applied to anything people use: from a kitchen sink to a television set, from a revolving door to a computer system or a web page.

In particular, usability measures how much a system is:

• easy to learn efficient to use easy to remember how many errors (and which kind of errors) users make when using it
• how pleasant or satisfying is using the system.

The job of usability engineers is to measure the usability of a system and to make recommendations for improvement. Applying usability methods when developing a system can save a lot of money and can make a casual browser a return customer. Usability Testing holds the promise of immense project cost savings and better results, leading to better client satisfaction and loyalty. The value proposition of Usability Testing is extremely compelling. The most successful businesses on the Internet are the ones with excellent usability. It’s no coincidence. Better-designed sites enable people to work with greater speed, recall, accuracy, and comfort. These qualities, when taken together, make up the usability factor.

Think of how many times you’ve visited a website only to encounter a confusing or unclear set of navigational controls. If finding what you want takes too many steps or is too complicated, you’re inclined to give up or look elsewhere. Perhaps you’ve experienced the frustration of trying to order a website online, and not being able to find what you want or being uncertain as to whether or not your credit card was accepted. Problems like these are usually traceable to the overall usability of the website.

BijouMind Interactive can suggest some ways you might conduct tests to measure the usability of your site. We can help you the kind of data you should collect, how many test subjects you need, and make recommendations based on the findings from the testing.

Usability Engineering In The Website Development Lifecycle

BijouMind Interactive employs a wide range of usability methods to help clients make a useful and usable website. During initial design, we conduct needs finding research, interview users in their work environment, establish user requirements, perform competitive analysis and task analysis.

During implementation and testing, we perform usability tests employing scenarios, mockups, paper and automated prototypes, and thinking aloud protocols.

During evaluation, we perform benchmark tests, gather feedback through field observations and check for compliance with standards and guidelines.

Different organizations have different levels of commitment and experience with usability. After working with many organizations, BijouMind Interactive has adapted methods so that appropriate levels of resources and timing are applied. We also guide and mentor usability programs so that our clients can continue to apply usability methods.

Usability Testing is an essential but widely overlooked tool for creating best-of-breed Internet projects. Usability Testing significantly enhances the cost effectiveness and efficiency of development resources and results in websites that match the needs and expectations of the end user. Usability Testing can also play a critical role in creating lasting client relationships, as it is a catalyst to ensuring that sites 'hit the mark' the first time.

Why Usability?

From websites that radically improve customer success to data management systems that boost productivity and job satisfaction, the application of usability expertise can transform the way you do business. When applications work for the people who use them, they help companies and organizations build satisfying, productive relationships with customers and staff, relationships that enhance loyalty, productivity, and sales. They save money and increase earnings, providing a solid return on investment.

Usability Services

We offer a wide range of services to establish or improve the usability and accessibility of any website or software application. Usability services can be applied at many stages, before, during, and after product development. In choosing a usability method, cost is invariably a consideration. But it is important to keep in mind that the value of usability services must be calculated not only in time and materials involved, but also in terms of the impact on end-users, especially considering the benefits of customer retention and increased conversion rates due to usable design.

Usability Evaluation

Usability evaluation involves expert analysis of a site or system based on proven usability principles. A lower-cost complement to user testing, usability evaluation employs proven methodologies to understand and improve performance. Methods include task analysis, standards compliance, usability checklists and guidelines, quality assurance, and expert review, among others. Through systematic evaluation methods such as these, we help clients understand user experience, current completion rates, and the untapped potential of a particular application. We then make usability recommendations based on our findings.

Interface Design

People confront and use an application at the "interface," interacting with a computer screen that provides information and offers options. Involving the creation of screen layout, menus, windows, icons, and interactive flow, interface design is the development of the graphics and interactive processes that drive user experience. Effective interface design is essential to product success. Backed by an expert staff with broad expertise in interface technologies and design features, we create interfaces that are successful, compelling, and easy to use. Success at the interface translates to higher conversion rates, increased usage, and greater user satisfaction.

Consulting

Usability consulting provides an in-depth look at how a product meets user needs in order to enhance productivity, increase user satisfaction, and minimize user errors. It can be employed to assess the usability of an existing product or incorporated into the development process itself, with the latter yielding more substantial results. Reaching beyond surface elements, it encompasses issues such as site navigation, visual design, writing, and quality assurance.

User Testing

In user testing, we observe actual users as they interact with software and websites. User testing is the mainstay method for finding usability problems. Nothing is more convincing than watching a series of people encounter difficulties with the same part of a software or information system. The difficult areas that repeat themselves for multiple test participants reveal design aspects to be studied and changed. The end result of user testing is a report listing usability problems, prioritized by importance, and offering recommendations. User testing can often uncover very specific areas needing improvement, while other usability assessment methods tend to reveal more general concerns.

Information Architecture

Customers can feel lost when using a site that is not well organized. Information architecture focuses on designing an effective structure and navigation for websites and applications. It also includes the design of labeling and search systems. Based on intended audience, purpose, and short and long-term goals, our information architects map out an effective structure and develop a clear navigation system. Through easy-to-learn processes, clear and intuitive labels, and effective feedback systems, our information architecture supports user tasks and keeps customers oriented as they make their way through a site.

Accessibility

The number of technology users with special needs is growing. Nearly 20% of adults have functional challenges of some kind that create difficulty in performing tasks such as viewing screen content or using a mouse. People also use technology in less than ideal circumstances, further impacting product accessibility. At BijouMind Interactive, we are leaders in accessibility initiatives. Our services help clients expand markets, increase customer satisfaction, avoid discrimination, and comply with relevant legal regulations. We offer section 508 compliance services and offer automated accessibility tools designed to evaluate and improve website conformance to a variety of public and private accessibility standards.

Research

Effective research lays the groundwork for achieving success in any project. Through a variety of techniques--from surveys, interviews, and focus groups, to scenarios and competitive analysis--we help our clients develop informed project objectives that will achieve desired business results. By conducting interviews or focus groups, for example, we learn about customer preferences and design impact. By analyzing competitor sites, we gain an understanding of the ways that competitors have defined audience and customer goals, as well as the ways they've used the categories, labels, and features that make up a web experience. Though it involves nontrivial time and cost, background research aims a project in the right direction, enabling websites and applications to meet real-world needs.

Putting Usability to Work for You

We've helped hundreds of clients excel in competitive markets across the country and around the world. Let us show you what we already know—that usability is good business. Contact BijouMind Interactive to learn more about what an investment in usability can do for you.

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