Projects

Case Study

The lead developer at Commercan wanted an application that would help him to easily keep track of his billable hours by project and client. Desktop solutions were impractical and he found that he was waiting until the end of each week to collect up the time. This process was time consuming and error prone. Not finding an application that met his needs, he created a vision for his own and BeeOnTime was born.

BeeOnTime is a time tracking app designed to help you quickly track the time you spend on a project whenever and wherever you are. Instead of waiting for your computer to load or your time sheet document to open, BeeOnTime lets you track project time when you only have a minute to do so. You can track time for any project and any client in one place. BeeOnTime is able to export the time sheet for a specific time period to a spreadsheet format and deliver it to an email address. Commercan understood how important the user experience is to the success of mobile applications and contacted Analytic Design Group for help.

ADGi provided a number of services including a usability assessment, interaction design guidance, the visual design, and advice regarding user interface portability between platforms.

Playing on the "Bee" in the BeeOnTime name, ADGi suggested a honeycomb style and colour scheme. The application colours, the button icons, and the application icons were all custom created by the ADGi team. User interface elements were delivered in the specific Android format that specifies how the image is to scale in each dimension.

ADGi performed a usability assessment of the application and found several small usability issues. For example, while it was a design goal of BeeOnTime to enable the quick and easy capture of time "in the moment", the initial application required a project code to be used when entering time. ADGi recommended that a plain language project name be used instead with a project code being optional data. ADGi provided annotated wireframes to detail the proposed interaction design. Before presentation to Commercan, the basic layout was loaded onto an actual Android device to ensure that the design was easy to interact with on screen.

Other guidance provided by ADGi included advice on how to ensure a user experience that would be portable between devices. As an example, ADGi demonstrated how the calendar functionality of BeeOnTime could be modified to not only make a great Android user interface but also one that could be easily migrated to the iPhone or iPad. While the user experience should always be tailored to the user and the task at hand, our extensive experience testing smart-devices provides us with unique insight into which designs work well with all interfaces.

Case Study

The TransLink site has a set of applications that it uses to provide transit information to users, collectively known as the Trip Planning tools. From TransLink’s market research team, TransLink knew that the most common reasons that users were coming to the website were to create trip plans or get trip information (bus and train schedules). However, they also knew from the customer feedback logs that many users were frustrated and/or unsuccessful at obtaining the information from the tools provided. Further, because the trip planning tool was a third-party application embedded in the TransLink site, the web logs were not capturing any information about usage, nor had the research team ever done detailed research with customers about this area of the site.

TransLink engaged ADGi to analyze the usability issues of the current tools, and to provide a redesign for them.

The Process

Since there had been little to no research done on the trip planning tools, and because they were the most highly used section of the website (over 90% of people surveyed said that they came to the site for trip information), ADGi knew that defining and analyzing the usability issues of these tools was paramount to creating the redesign.

Given the vast number of users of the site, ADGi created a user research test plan with the following components: an expert review; an online survey (to provide statistical breadth); facilitated face-to-face user testing; a request to IT to obtain the data logs from the third-party application to analyze the data that users were providing when requesting trip information.

The usability tests were conducted in 2008. ADGi provided a report and presentation on their findings to the TransLink stakeholders in early January 2009, and the information provided - particularly the videos showing real users using the tools - met with great enthusiasm and provided a solid business case for the redesign project.

The Solution

Using the information exposed during the user research ADGi provided detailed wireframes for the redesign of the Trip Planning tools. In consultation with ADGi and its internal IT teams, TransLink split the development into two phases. The first changes launched with the redesign of the TransLink site in the spring of 2009 and the majority of the changes were implemented in the fall of 2009.

Case Study

The BC Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC) provides provincial and national leadership in public health through surveillance, detection, treatment, prevention and consultation services.

BCCDC’s website contains rich information but over time had become difficult to navigate and out-of-date. The site also serves diverse audiences: both the public for information on public health and health professionals needing forms and other tools. The site was not serving either audience effectively and was in need of an overhaul.

BCCDC hired ADGi to create a blueprint for a redesigned site that would include a new site structure and details on how users would navigate through the site.

The Process

For the first stage of the project, we developed the IA and then validated it with the three target audiences for the site: members of the public, health professionals, and the media. Using our online navigation testing tool, Navtester, we conducted three rounds of testing and refined the IA between each iteration.

We then created the redesign blueprint showing the new information architecture and site layout. 

The Solution

The first version of the IA that we tested was organized by either audience (general public, health professionals) or type of resource (publications, research, news). We discovered during the first iteration of testing that users did not easily identify with their audience.

We then moved to a topic based information architecture and began consolidating all information about a given topic together. The results in the navigation testing improved.

For the final site we have 7 main topical categories and all information related to a particular topic is found together. If a user goes to a particular disease page, for example, the section not only contains an overview but all related statistics, research, and news.

We also provide two alternative ways to navigate to content: resource pages and audience pages. The resource pages allow users to find content based on type of resource while the audience pages provide content of interest to particular groups. As all the content is cross-referenced, people can find information quickly no matter what path they use to navigate the site.

Raised Eyebrow then took the blueprint and created the visual design and final layout for the website. BCCDC launched the new site in June 2009.

Case Study

The Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA) operates nine provincial agencies, including BC Children's Hospital and the BC Cancer Agency. It is also responsible for specialized provincial health services like trauma, telehealth and thoracic surgery. On a province-wide basis, PHSA plans, coordinates and evaluates specialized health services and works with the other health authorities to provide equitable, cost-effective healthcare.

PHSA had an employee intranet that was in need of an overhaul, and hired ADGi to help create a blueprint for a redesigned site that would include a detailed site map and wireframes.

For the first phase of this project we conducted user and stakeholder interviews. The aim was to understand what key tasks users needed to complete in a given day/week/month and how they went about their information retrieval. Based on the research, a content audit, and data review (PHSA had conducted a user survey prior to this project), ADGi developed a strategy document with recommendations for the redesign.

Next we developed the information architecture. Findability on the site was a key issue identified during the user research, so we used our proprietary testing tool, NavTester, to conduct iterative navigation testing of the site to ensure that the right structure was developed. Thanks to internal recruitment and promotion, the response rate to each iteration was over 30%, far above typical response rates to surveys. Anecdotal feedback we heard from the PHSA team was that the navigation testing had created a positive buzz and people who had not been invited to participate in the survey were asking to do so.

We then created the site map and wireframes for the redesign. These were received with very positive feedback from the PHSA team and project sponsors. The resulting design has 15 topic areas. A ‘Yahoo-like’ index on the home page is unusual and breaks the 7 plus or minus 2 rule: it is assumed that people cannot remember more than 7 items at a given time and navigation structures should have no more than 9 top-level categories. The navigation testing we did showed that users were able to find the information, quickly and easily even with 15 top-level categories.

PHSA launched their redesigned intranet, using ADGi’s design approach, in November 2008.

Case Study

The need for redesign stemmed from a number of business drivers for dys architecture: they had recently added several partners to the management of the firm; they had moved to new larger offices; and they had undertaken a new marketing initiative to re-brand and re-focus the firm. To properly reflect all of these changes, they decided to redesign their site.

ADGi was invited to work on this project as a part of a virtual studio with emplus communications (who completed the visual design work) and Engine Digital (who completed the code development and CMS work).

The Process

After initial client meetings and a presentation by the market research firm, we determined that:

• The vast majority (+95%) of site visitors arrive at the site by entering the URL
• The purpose for coming to the site is, in this order, to review the DYS portfolio, to learn more about the firm, to find out about the partners
• The story behind the various projects, the firm, and the people is as important as the ‘facts’

In discussing the priorities and what we knew of user needs we knew we had to focus on the portfolio. We also knew we needed a means to highlight the story behind the facts, without getting in the way of the facts and the traditional way that architects discuss their projects. The solution needed to be bold and creative yet not flashy. It needed to stay within the character of the firm (high integrity, confident, casual, yet somewhat conservative) but also speak to the new branding.

The Solution

To bring all of these pieces together the solution provides a flat, matrix-driven structure rather than the typical hierarchical structure. After typing in the URL users are taken immediately to a page highlighting a specific project. From this page, the user can then navigate through other projects in similar categories or can go to a project index page, that shows thumbnails of all of the projects and also allows the user to filter projects by criteria such as Location and Completion. The site went live late in 2007, and is still in use today.