Web design companies

Web design companies

MarianasAssociates

© MarianasAssociates

Contents

– Our understanding of your requirements– Our approach– What we found– What your competitors are doing– Partial list of candidate companies– Deeper analysis of one company– Your options– How we can help from here– Appendices

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Our understanding of your requirements

– Web design and/or usability company (we did not go looking for teams within larger IT companies as part of this exercise, but did find some!)

– Up to ten people– £5m or less in value– Preferably London or Reading

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Our approach

– Found out who did the design work for your competitors– Looked for award winning firms that have designed

enterprise-strength web sites (as opposed to just portals)– Talked to usability experts we know (including Robert).

See the Appendices for one view of your web site– Spent the majority of our time developing a ‘long’ list and

the remainder doing a ‘deep dive’ on one of the listed companies

– We will not have uncovered all of the firms you should consider as part of this exercise; nor will we have uncovered all of the relevant data about the selected firms

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What we found

– Some very good companies!– Some companies are usability experts only. Ironically,

some of their own websites leave a lot to be desired!– Some companies carry out HCI design work and through

informal or formal methods, ‘ensure’ the design is usable– Some companies have two distinct practices– Some larger IT companies (e.g. Serco) have specialised

subsidiaries– Teams range in size from 4 to 35 people

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What your competitors are doing

BETFAIR - COMPETITOR LANDSCAPE

COMPETITOR DESIGN COMPANY / COMMENTS

Online Bookmaker

888.com Have used Foviance. IT Development department spread across a number of different locations.

32Red.comGraham Campbell - Systems Director. Also with experience at Ladbrokes. Mainly a small team of in-house designers; not much development going on. Have used firms in the past but its been a long time.

Bet 365 All done in -house. Estimated team size - 20 people (designers & developers). Very guarded.

Stan JamesDesign all done in-house. Simon King - Design Team Leader. Currently team of 4 designers, 1 developer. Technology Partner - Simsoft. All work is done in house for Poker. Casino is partly in-house design (Simon designs all the static); Simsoft that develops all the dynamic.

Victor ChandlerDesign & Build done internally. Previously worked with Foviance. Recent design & build partner - Orbis Technology (NDS Group) Andy Harris - Head of Product Development at Victor Chandler.

Sportingbet15 in house designers - Head of Design is John McCluton. For development they use a hybrid of a couple of in-house people, plus contractors for special projects.

Littlewoods Bet Direct Use Tuna (www.tunaweb.com). Paul Burton-Shaw - one of the IT Managers. Irene Saltas - IT designer.

Blue SquareDesign & Build done internally. Peter Pederson, CTO, leads a team of about 12-15 designers & developers.

Coral EurobetFoviance & Chartwell Technology (2002). All now done internally. They have a team of 25 designers & developers.

SkyBet Design & Build done internally

Tote BetXpress/ ToteSportZendor did design, however, they no longer offer that capability. Tote hired one of their former guys - Simon (who knows some of the old Zendor design people) Tote are mostly developers. Head of Web development team of 4 is Graham Turner.

Ladbrokes Foviance did usability design. Powered by Orbis.

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What your competitors are doing cont.BETFAIR - COMPETITOR LANDSCAPE

COMPETITOR DESIGN COMPANY / COMMENTS

Online Bookmaker cont’

OneStopRacing.com

Netb2b2 plc the business aggregator focusing on the digital communications sector, acquired Fernhart New Media Limited and launched a new internet based racing information and gambling portal OneStopRacing.com. Fernhart is a consultancy that designs, builds and maintains web sites and interactive television (“DiTV”) services for businesses.

Paddy PowerHead if IT team of 12 developers & designers - Peter O'Donovan. They do all design & build in house and then partner with Orbis to power it.

TradeBetX & TradeSports (part of Trading Exchange Network Group)

IT Director - Mark Hogan. All done in house. Have a team of about a dozen designers & developers.

TotalBet, GoldBet, BettingZone, Sportal, SportingLife, UKBetting (all

part of UK Betting Plc)

IT Director - Tim Wall. Did it all in-house. Have a team of 30-40 designers and developers.

Vernons Pools Used Deckchair Design. IT Manager - Andy McColl leading a team of about 5 in house designers.

William Hill Now Design & Build done internally. Previously worked with the 'Usability Company', now Foviance.

Bet FredHave a couple of designers in house (esp. for Casino & Poker) that design the web sites according to what Finsoft (who power it) need.

Spread Betting

Sporting Index/Bethilo (Sky Interactive)

Fernhart New Media designed, built and integrated the Sporting Index spread betting service launched on the Sky Platform. Operations manager at Sporting Index, Ronnie Whelan

Betting Exchanges

BetDaq Racing Design & Build done internally

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Partial list of candidate companies – in alpha order

1. Amberlight

2. Bunnyfoot

3. Cxpartners

4. Designed for all

5. Fhios

6. Flow interactive

7. Foolproof business services

8. Foviance

9. Nomensa

10. Optimum web

11. Serco

12. Usability by design

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1 - Amberlight Partners Ltd

URL www.amber-light.co.uk

UK Head Office Address 58 Bloomsbury Street, London WC1B 3QT

Other Office Locations n/a

Contact Telephone 0207 307 7770

Brief Company History Founded in April 2000 by a combination of ex-web design agency employees and UCL HCI academics. Have increased profit and revenue by more than 80% every year since launch.

Company Proposition Bespoke services - Engagements are based on a consultative approach, do not sell off-the-shelf usability products. Pragmatic - Completely focused on business goals & actionable design recommendations. Insightful - Expert consultants really get to grips with complex problems, & believe there is no substitute for real user research.Vision – Going forward the focus will be on cross-platform/device design, new HCI approaches and international research.

Number of UK Employees 15

Estimated Turnover 2005 £1.3m

Professional Background of Company Founder(s)

Ex-web design agency strategist, UCL HCI academic, two web agency directors .

USPs Reputation with their clients and competitors.

UK Client List MSN, AOL, Samsung, BBC, BBC Worldwide, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, O2, Orange, COI

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2 - Bunnyfoot Ltd

URL www.bunnyfoot.com

UK Head Office Address Harwell Innovation Centre, 173 Curie Ave, Harwell, Oxfordshire, OX11 0QG


Contact Telephone + 44 1235 838514

Brief Company History Founded 1999. First usability and accessibility company in UK. First company to own and operate eye tracking equipment.

Company Proposition •Driving desired behaviour.•Delivering the best usability and accessibility services to clients.•Moving the usability profession toward a more quantitative approach through incorporating eye tracking as standard in the user centred design process.

Number of UK Employees

11 full time, no contractors

Estimated Turnover 2005

FY 2005 – 2006 £1,200,000


Dr Jon Dodd: Doctorate in Visual and Computational Neuroscience from Oxford University. Psychology Graduate St Andrews University. 2 Years at IBM Robert Stevens: Business Studies Graduate Hull Business School. Being doing .com work since ‘97

USPs •Highly tailored services and insights that can be actioned. Offer a retainer based Rent-a-Guru service. More a boutique. Clients get a consistent personalised professional expert service, not a range of faceless juniors.•Not being based in London means reduced overheads. The benefits are passed to clients. •Offer eye tracking expertise as standard, with the leading accessibility knowledge and experience, and experience of working intimately in partnership with large and small corporates, government clients, and design agencies.

UK Client List Microsoft, RAF Careers, egg.com, eBay, PayPal, P&G, Alamo, emap.com, BBC, Orange, Yell.com, MSN, Natural History Museum, Sainsbury’s, NHS + others (some via design agency partners such as AKQA, LIDA, Bostock and Pollitt, Graphico, POKE and s8080)

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3 - Cxpartners ltd

URL www.cxpartners.co.uk

UK Head Office Address University Gate East, Park Row, Bristol BS1 5UB

Other Office Locations London


Brief Company History Founded in 2004 by Giles Colborne and Richard Caddick who wanted an agency that married excellence in user centred design with a strong understanding of aesthetic design.

Company Proposition •Creates outstanding user experiences that combine clarity and creativity with insight into users’ needs•Rich web interfaces – the next generation of immersive web interfaces (including AJAX and XAML).•The psychology of design – applying findings from psychology to make interfaces more compelling.•Mobile devices – especially networked consumer devices & phones.


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Estimated Turnover 2005 Estimated £350,000


Giles Colborne. President of UK Usability Professionals’ Association since 2002Richard Caddick. Previously: Associate Director of Customer Experience, Euro RSCG Circle, Director, Hub 45, Founding Director, South West Interactive Media.

USPs Seasoned management team with a broad business background. Innovators with a creative approach.

UK Client List MSN, AOL, Samsung, BBC, BBC Worldwide, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, O2, Orange, COI

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4 - Designed for all Ltd

URL www.designedforall.com

UK Head Office Address Prince Consort House, 109-111 Farringdon Road, London, EC1R 3BW


Contact Telephone +44(0)790 515 2893 (Mobile) – Fraser Hamilton (Director)

Brief Company History Formed by usability and accessibility specialists with a strong track record in academic research; the team conducted the largest ever accessibility study for the Disability Rights Commission.

Company Proposition Customer experience research, user interface design, usability evaluations and large-scale field studies. Accessibility is a particular area of expertise. Accessibility over all technologies (from the Web to ‘smart homes’).Strong links with academia and solid research background , so reliable analysis on all projects.User experience in its widest sense: identifying customer needs, designing interfaces to maximise usability, evaluations and field studies.Generating propriety design knowledge from basic and applied research.


Estimated Turnover 2005 £120K


Fraser Hamilton - Founder & director with 10+ years experience of working in the usability field. Helen Petrie - Director of Research at Designed for All & Professor of Human Computer Interaction at the University of York. Has over 10 years of experience in designing and evaluating interactive systems..

USPs Strong research background. State-of-the-art methodology & analysis. Involved in a number of European research projects. This ensures that clients get access to high-quality knowledge and the latest policy and legislation. .

UK Client List NESTA, Islington Council, Disability Rights Commission. Most revenue, however, comes from confidential FTSE-100 clients e.g. Motorola, Boots, Legal & General, Alliance & Leicester, The British Council & Tate

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5 - Fhios Ltd

URL www.fhios.com

UK Head Office Address The Media Centre, 3-8 Carburton Street, London W1W 5AJ

Other Office Locations Paris (France), San Paulo (Brazil) and Singapore (Asia Pacific Alliance)


Brief Company History Founded in 2002 by Dr Philip Rhodes and James Webster, fhios specialises in providing research into the customer experience in both digital and non-digital channels, and across all customer touch points.

Company Proposition •International Customer Experience Research and Design Consultancy. Help global 1,000 customers gain insight in both digital and non-digital channels and along all customer touch points through.•See accelerated growth in Information Architecture and user-centric design as clients involve us earlier in the project lifecycle. •Seeing increased demand in traditional marketing and non-digital segments. Usability will remain a core business.


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Estimated Turnover 2005 £1.5 million


James Webster, Managing Director. Jim, a founding Director of fhios, has over 20 years of managementexperience in IT and technical operations, user research, and application development. Dr. Philip Rhodes, Ph.D. FRSA. Has extensive research and teaching experience in hypermedia design for the web and human computer interaction.

USPs Commercial focus, research capabilities with a global reach, in-house testing facilities for usability sessions and focus groups. Have an extensive recruitment database and spend considerable effort in the recruitment phases of projects.

UK Client list AXA, Orange, BT, O2, HBOS, Stena Line, The British Red Cross and the Central Office of Information (COI) Digital Media.

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6 – Flow Interactive

URL http://www.flow-interactive.com

UK Head Office Address 31 Corsica Street, London, N5 1JT

Other Office Locations Worldwide partner network

Contact Telephone +44 (0)207 288 0884

Brief Company History Flow has been established since 1997. From an initial focus on user research and testing, they have grown to become a market leader in the principles and practice of user centred design (UCD). They offer a full spectrum of UCD services; contextual research, scenarios and personas, experience modelling, concept design, information architecture, inclusive interaction design, prototype generation, iterative usability testing and accessibility evaluation. At the highest level, they consult on product strategy & innovation & have worked for over 100 private and public sector organisations, both in the UK and internationally.

Company Proposition •Flow Interactive offers a range of consultancy services to research, design and evaluate interactive products. •Core expertise is their ability to determine, analyse and incorporate the real needs, wants and behaviours of users into design. Typically this means the design of interactive products and services. However, they are increasingly being asked to apply the same approach to the design of customer, product and channel strategies. They expect this demand to grow in 2006.


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Meriel Lenfestey MA(RCA) MMRS FRSA: Founder & CEO - Meriel founded Flow in 1997 after working as aninteraction designer & development producer with Microsoft and the BBC.

USPs True consultative approach & focus on people, not technology; Management team steeped in experience; Design projects are backed by deep focus on the user experience. Evangelists for user centred design.

UK Client List BBC, Standard Life, Yell Group, BUPA, Central Office of Information (Directgov, QCA, Electoral Commission, UK Passports Online, DWP), Department for Education & Skills (DfES), Royal Mail, Major UK Telecoms provider, Global Mobile network provider, OAG, The Design Council, Asian Consumer Electronics supplier Churchill Insurance.

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7 – Foolproof Business Services Ltd

URL www.foolproof.co.uk

UK Head Office Address Seebohm House, Queen Street, Norwich, Norfolk, NR2 4SQ

Other Office Locations London office and research lab from March 2006

Contact Telephone 01603 766800

Brief Company History Launched in 2002

Company Proposition •A user experience consultancy.•Offer a full set of user research services as well as consultancy to help plan and execute online strategy. •Talent is for finding a commercially successful compromise between the needs of the online customer and the needs of clients’ business.•User research & User centred designStrategic consulting in online sales and marketing


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Peter Ballard- Managing Partner: his previous role was as the Marketing Director of Virgin Money. Tom Wood- Managing Partner: Tom was previously Head of Advertising at Virgin Money. He pioneered usability research at Virgin Money and has been planning, moderating and analysing qualitative research throughout his career.

USPs They are proud of the quality of their research: from no-frills usability evaluation through to studies of the persuasiveness and emotional impact of digital environments. However, the focus is on actionable insights to the client’s business situation. Recommendations made to deliver dramatic improvements in sales.

UK Client List Alliance & Leicester, Intelligent Finance, Barclays, Norwich Union, BT, NTL, Center Parcs, P&O Ferries, Coutts, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), Direct Line, Shell, Fujifilm, Sky, Groupama, Virgin, Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBoS), HSBC

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8 – Foviance Ltd

URL www.foviance.com

UK Head Office Address The Lightwell, 12-16 Laystall Street, London, EC1R 4PF

Other Office Locations London office and research lab from March 2006. Global reach


Brief Company History Founded in February 2001 to provide business-oriented usability services & bring the discipline to a wider audience. Originally externally funded, the company underwent a management buy-out to become fully independent in 2004. WebAbacus was founded in July 2000 to do the same for web analytics, based upon its market-leading WebAbacus technology. The company secured over £1.5m of investment from a consortium of investors in 2003. Recognising the power of combining web analytics with usability services, the two organisations entered into a strategic partnership in April 2004. In April 2005, this partnership was formalised by the merger of the two companies, to form Foviance.

Company Proposition Foviance combines the strength of The Usability Company's usability expertise with the power of WebAbacus's web analytics technology to provide a complete service to help organisations measure, understand and enhance the quality of the online systems they provide for their users.


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Paul Blunden, CEO: Paul originally joined The Usability Company as Sales and Marketing Director when the company was founded.Catriona Campbell, Director: Founder of The Usability Company. Also a founding board member of the UK Usability Professionals Association, a former executive committee member of the British Computer Society’s Human Computer Interaction Group & board member of the European Usability Forum.Marty Carroll, Experience Management Director: Part of founding team & author of a number of papers on Usability. He is the founder of the UK Chapter of the Usability Professionals Association and has degrees in psychology & human factors.Ian Thomas, Marketing & Development Director: Founder - helping to spin it out from its parent company in 2001.

USPs A truly consultative approach with an end-to end capability. What is delivered to clients is measurable. What they recommend to clients from a design perspective they also have the responsibility to build. Foviance have an annual retention of 85% of clients.

UK Client List Alliance & Leicester, AOL, ASDA, Barclaycard, BSkyB, BT, Camelot, Channel 4, Charcol Online, CIPD, Coral Euro Bet, Cumbria CC, Direct Line, DTI, DWP, EDS, EMAP, First Direct, Ladbrokes, Microsoft, Morley Fund Management, Nike, Nokia, O2, Proctor & Gamble, Reuters. Royal Mail, SaBRE, Sony, The Gaming Club, Three, Victor Chandler, VOA, Vodafone, Volvo, William Hill Ltd

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9 – Nomensa Ltd

URL www.nomensa.com

UK Head Office Address King William House, 13 Queen Square, Bristol, BS1 4NT

Other Office Locations 1 Northumberland Avenue, Trafalgar Square, London, WC2N 5BW

Contact Telephone 0207 872 5715 (London) 0117 929 7333 (Bristol)

Brief Company History Nomensa is an Internet based research and web design company that specialises in usability and accessibility. It combines psychology, creative and technology expertise to produce award-winning websites, ecommerce sites and services on behalf of both private and public sector clients. The focus of the company also incorporates a wider scope of research covering business analysis and how technology can best meet the needs of business functions. The company has recently launched a technology division with the release of a Content Management System (CMS) product that is fully accessible both at the front and back-end. The company was founded in May 2001 by Simon Norris, MD, who had the vision that the Internet could be more inclusive and the industry a more accountable profession. The name ‘Nomensa’ is derived from fact that technology should not be an IQ test.

Company Proposition Nomensa are experts at improving the ‘user experience’ and developing engaging strategies to help clients reap considerable commercial benefits. Their approach is based upon proprietary ‘Human Centred Design’ methodology, developed through the successful management of numerous extensive commercial research projects – they call it ‘humanising technology’. The Nomensa methodology can be applied to any aspect of the web or software development lifecycle. Activity can be categorised into areas of research, design & development services and in-house training on any aspect of usability and accessibility methodology.


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Estimated Turnover 2005 Confidential


Managing Director – Psychology and HCI background with 11 years experience working on corporate websites.Commercial Director – Design and Marketing background with 7 years experience working on corporate websites.User Experience Director - Psychology and HCI background with 5 years’ experience working on corporate websites

USPs Proprietary ‘human centred research’ methodology which is applied with great success to both research and design projects.Expertise of the founding team, from both a research and a design and development perspective. Nomensa’s expertise lies in the translation of findings, insights and its subsequent practical and deliverable design and build recommendations.

UK Client List British Gas, BAE Systems, Centrica, lastminute.com, AA, Morley Fund Management, Thrifty car rental, job channel TV

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10 – Optimum Web Ltd

URL www.optimum-web.co.uk

UK Head Office Address Unit 6 Blue Lion Place, London, SE1 4PU

Other Office Locations 1 Northumberland Avenue, Trafalgar Square, London, WC2N 5BW


Brief Company History Established in 2000 as a pioneer of usability and accessibility testing for companies investing in the internet, since when the company has built up an enviable reputation for delivering measurable results for blue-chip clients.

Company Proposition Specialist usability and accessibility testing for the internet and digital interfaces based on the science of human-computer interaction (HCI). They help create websites that: Hold a visitor’s attention for longer, Encourage repeat visits, Are easier to use, Meet commercial objectives, Deliver greater user satisfaction.They do this by understanding user needs and translating this into user-centred design. .For 2006 they will be extending our accessibility testing service that allows sites to be tested by users with a wide range of disabilities.


Estimated Turnover 2005 Confidential – Estim Turnover: £2.2M


Led by Keith Simpson – Head of Marketing: A marketing communications professional, consultant in reputation management who recognised the convergence of communication issues in the new media environment John Dumas – Operations Director with 10 years’ experience in usability and web development, both in the UK and US.Elisa del Galdo – Consulting Director - Previously with Cambridge Technology Partners, Canon Research, and Digital Equipment Company covering all aspects of user experience.

USPs All work is rooted in the science of human-computer interaction and all usability consultants are trained in HCI. Consultants have extensive private & public sector experience which allows us to put clients’ work into a real world context. All projects are led and implemented by people with at least 10 years experience.

UK Client List The Abbey, Nationwide Building Society, HSBC, Citibank, Department of Trade and Industry, Intercontinental Hotels, Land Rover, Amway, Diageo, Berry Bros. & Rudd, Moorfields Hospital, WHSmith, Microsoft, QXL.

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11 – Serco Ltd

URL www.serco.com/usability

UK Head Office Address 22 Hand Court, London, WC1V 6JF

Other Office Locations AUSTRALIA: Sydney and Melbourne, The Hiser Group, 47 Albion Street, Surry Hills, NSW 2010

Contact Telephone (0)20 7421 6499

Brief Company History The usability group emerged from the MMI (Man-Machine Interaction) group in the early 1970’s. Involved in the foundation of the British HCI Group, The usability group was officially renamed to Serco Usability Services. In 1999 Serco acquired Australia’s market leading usability and design company, The Hiser Group. In 2000 the UK group moved into new offices in Holborn, which included two state-of-the-art usability labs designed and specified by usability consultants. Updated regularly with new technology, they are still the best usability labs in London.

Company Proposition Serco Usability Services has a 30-year history, it is the most experienced company in the UK usability industry and one of the most experienced in international usability. They provide consulting, support and training services throughout the product life cycle to both commercial and government clients, and across web, iTV and mobile applications. They will continue to grow across established market sectors including telecoms, broadcast & government. Emerging technologies of particular interest to them is the convergence of mobile & TV applications.

Number of UK Employees Serco have over 40,000 employees and employs more than 30 usability and human factors experts.

Estimated Turnover 2005 Accounts form part of Serco Group’s turnover.. Estim turnover for usability group - £2.6M

Professional Background of some of the Company Founder(s)

Owen Daly-Jones, Director. Owen has over 10 years experience in the application of human factors to interactive systems development.Simon Herd, Managing Consultant. Simon previously worked at NatWest Bank and as a Senior HCI Expert at ntl and holds an MSc in Information Technology and Human Sciences. Andrew Swartz, Managing Consultant. Before coming to Serco, Andrew spent 8 yrs working at Apple Computer in instructional design and usability issues. Andrew studied Psychology at Yale University where he graduated summa cum laude (highest honours) as a Scholar of the House.

USPs Unrivalled track record, international reach that allows them to carry out large scale international projects. 70% of work is from repeat clients. Diverse team which keep close to the cutting edge of best practice offering constant innovation.

UK Client List AKQA, Arts Council of England, Barclays, BBC, BT, Carlton Television, Ericsson, France Telecom, Hewlett Packard, Kingfisher, LexisNexis, Lloyds TSB, Microsoft, Nature Publishing, NatWest, Nokia, ntl, Reuters, Sky, Sony, Telewest, Unisys, Trinity Mirror, Elsevier, O2, Orange, Virgin, Samsung

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12 – Usability by Design

URL www.usabilitybydesign.com

UK Head Office Address 5th Floor, 5 St Helen’s Place, Bishopsgate, London, EC3A 6AU

Other Office Locations Level 39, Citigroup Centre, 2 Park Street, Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia.


Brief Company History Founded by Gary Bunker in 1997 which makes it now one of the longest running and most experienced usability consultancies in the UK. Graham Uff joined the company as director in 1998, helping to develop the company into its current form. Since it was founded, they have worked with more than 150 organisations around the UK, the US, Europe and Australia, running over 500 usability projects of all types. The company development philosophy is to continually get better without necessarily bigger. Employ highly experienced qualified consultants to provide a focussed, quality service. In 2003 opened an office in Sydney, Australia.

Company Proposition Make it easy for your customers to use your service or product. They do this by comprehensive research into customers’ needs, wants, preferences, abilities and attitudes. Work hard to ensure that our service is thorough, relevant, timely and cost-effective. Three areas of focus over the next year: Interaction Design / Information Architecture, Usability Testing, Usability Evaluations.


Estimated Turnover 2005 £500,000

Professional Background of some of the Company Founder(s)

Graham Uff, Director - Graham entered the systems analysis and design arena in 1989.Gary Bunker, Director – Gary worked for 17 years in the design of performance support systems, across the UK, US, & Australia. In 2003 Gary moved to Sydney to open offices there & spends his time working on UK & Australian projects.

USPs A flexible and adaptable culture to clients’ needs. Custom testing software and methodologies. They are a medium –sized company with highly trained and experienced consultants so clients get complete focus.

UK Client List AssertaHome, Arthur Andersen, Avis Europe, BCA Interactive, BSi Group (British Standards), Butterworth Tolley, Carphone Warehouse, Caterer.com, CMG Group, Computer Weekly, DG&G Travel Information, Egg Online Banking, Estates Gazette interactive, Hewlett Packard, Home Office, HomeChoice, HSBC Bank, J.D. Wetherspoons, John Lewis, New Scientist, NHS, Nokia, Ocado, O2, Pfizer, Powergen, PropertyFinder.co.uk,

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Deeper analysis of selected company

– We have chosen to do a deep dive on Amberlight because:– Impressive client list, with similar characteristics to Betfair

– Highly recommended (by clients & competitors)

– Right sort of size (in terms of people & revenue)

– Right culture: top quality, agility, team spirit, passion

– London based

– In-house expertise and interest in gaming site design

– That said, there are one or two others worth profiling

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Areas of focus & changes over this year:•Cross-platform/device design and research, Developing new and innovative HCI approaches.•International research.•Continued shift in focus from accessibility to usability•Shift to a higher % of projects involving implementation rather than advisory

Consultants – 13

Day rates (range): £650 (partner/retainer rate) - £1,000

Estimated turnover 2006: £2m (50% increase over 2005)

Top five services (by revenue):

1. User-centred design (35%) 2. Requirements research (30%) 3. Usability Testing (30%) 4. Training (5%)

Top five platforms (by revenue):

1. Internet (50%) 2. Mobile devices (25%) 3. Gaming (10%) 4. Software (10%) 5. Touch-screen (5%)

Number of years in business: 6

Types of usability services offered: Audit/evaluation, user-testing, focus groups, field research, training, consulting, competitor analysis, information architecture, web analytics, persuasion architecture, prototyping, design, copywriting

Types of platforms: Internet, intranet, interactive TV & voice, mobile devices, kiosks, consoles, gaming, desktop apps.

Brief description of company culture: Versatile, small company culture. Passionate about UCD, Amberlight believe their consultants are the most enthusiastic in the industry. The office atmosphere is informal and relaxed, with high individual accountability for project delivery.

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Senior Management TeamGerred Blyth - Practice Director, MSc HCI, BA Psychology

As Director of Practice, Gerred is responsible for Amberlight's research and design methods. Gerred's background is in software development, graphic design and technical writing. As a council member of the Usability Professionals Association and member of the BCS-HCI communications group, Gerred is seeking to increase understanding of the discipline in industry.(email: [email protected])

Pippa Gawley - Managing Director, MEng Hons

Pippa is responsible for managing the operations of Amberlight and providing leadership. She develops and implements structure and processes & also manages client and supplier relationships and oversees project work. Prior to joining Amberlight, Pippa held a variety of product development, analysis and management roles in the Internet and financial services sectors.(email: [email protected])

Filip Healy - Head of Consulting, MSc HCI, BA Psychology

Filip is a highly experienced UCD consultant, having overseen projects across the globe for a variety of large clients. Filip oversees all of Amberlight’s project work. Filip's current research interests include online gaming, fan sites, mobile usability and cognitive user modeling.(email: [email protected])

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Case Study: BBC WorldwideThe briefRadioTimes.com is a complex website that hosts a large amount of database driven functionality within its electronic programme guide (EPG). Also, the site needs to communicate strong brand values and editorial quality to ensure that users return over time. Amberlight were asked to assist in the site redesign & proposed a full user-centred design process to maximise usability of the EPG and create a great user experience. This project was to be completed with BBC Worldwide developers & creative designers at Poke London.

ApproachThe initial research employed real users. Amberlight built an understanding of how and why people use EPGs and what RadioTimes.com is currently offering and lacking. They also built an understanding of the barriers to optimal usability in terms of task completion on the site. Having produced wireframe solutions that they were confident met BBC’s business goals through increased usability, a creative and branding brief was put together for Poke to work from. The final designs from Poke were taken back into formal one-on-one usability testing. Using a working medium-fidelity prototype from Poke’s design concepts, Amberlight identified barriers to task completion and places where design assumptions were in conflict with users’ reactions. They worked in collaboration to reiterate the solution before it was finally built and deployed.

The outcomeThe final solution exhibited increased usability in terms of task completion times and accuracy. User satisfaction scores also increased. 42% increase in monthly visits over 6 months pre/post redesign.

Quotes on the outcomesPeter Beech of POKE London: “Amberlight’s HCI input was invaluable to the design process - providing Poke with a clear prioritisation of user issues and potential solutions. For a site as information rich and structurally complex as the Radio Times site Amberlight's work was critical to the success of the project. It shows that usability and creativity are complimentary, not contradictory.”

Duncan Swain, New Media Editor at BBC Worldwide: “Amberlight couldn't have done a better job for Radio Times, and I can't recommend them highly enough. Everyone I've worked with there has impressed me with their depth of knowledge not only in their own area of expertise, but also of the sites they are working on - I'm sure they knew more about Radio Times than I did within about two weeks of working with us." #

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Your options

– Acquire a design team from one of your competitors (e.g. Tote)

– Acquire a small design/usability company. But before going further down this path you need to consider whether the acquired people would be happy to focus on just Betfair. The smaller the team, the more likely that this avenue would be successful

– Acquire a design team from an IT company that serves your market, such as Orbis (that support Victor Chandler, Ladbrokes & Paddy Power)

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How we can help from here

– First question is: Have we made a strong impression on you?

– If not, why not?– If so, we would propose the following next steps:

– Complete this exercise:– Complete list of candidate companies– Find teams as well– Profile key candidates in some depth– Assess inclination to sell– Make a recommendation– Carry our due diligence on preferred company/team

– Carry out the other projects we have discussed with you

MarianasAssociates


Appendices

MarianasAssociates


An expert’s comments on your web site (unexpurgated!)

I've had a look at the betfair site. First impressions are that it's a little busy, but there are several positives:

The information is well 'chunked' which makes it easier to assimilate the different messages

There are clear instructions for prospective clients - very important for a B2C site

Existing customers have quick access for logging in The sales messages are simple and effective.

I had a go with "Play For Fun". The initial registration page was too wordy and could do with being clearer and more succinct. More worryingly, on the next registration page, I left the phone field blank and when I clicked on submit it returned the page with all the other fields reset and an error message. This meant I had to re-enter all the fields again. This is very bad - they will lose some customers. When I got to the betting screen for the first time I was a little lost. The terminology descriptions available on the right hand side were a valiant effort, but simply not clear enough. If I was struggling to understand the terminology, man other 'punters' would likely find it hard to understand. They need to run usability tests on this with a representative sample of their target market. Once I played around with it a bit I got the hang of it. It's definitely a good idea to have this Play For Fun area, and I imagine this will encourage people to take the plunge. Overall, it's not bad, but could definitely do with usability testing, plus a copy writer who can work on improving some of the block text descriptions.

Web design companies

Documents

good companies

usablesome companies

listed companies

design methods

graphic design

hci design work

long list

usability experts