Imagine observing a user in Denmark explore your prototype from a conference room in the Midwest as your clients observe the live session online from Mumbai and Chicago. This case study will demonstrate how remote user research shaped the redesign of the global marketing website for TCS, a top tier IT services company based in India. Two rounds of remote user research enabled a multidisciplinary design team to create personas and transform the site to better address the needs of worldwide prospects, current customers, analysts, and career seekers. The solution was an improved information architecture, navigation, page templates, a new look and feel, value added features like an interactive map, and a new content management platform (Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007). Before and after pictures, as well as interim wireframes and designs, illustrate how we moved from point A to point B. The presentation will conclude with a quick look at post-launch site analytics that provide feedback about the site’s performance.
This presentation will especially focus on:
• how to reach an audience that was very select and widely distributed
• remote testing methods for card sorting
• medium-fidelity prototyping
• workarounds for international remote testing
1. Redesigning TCS.com with Remote Research Chris Farnum | Senior Information Architect | Enlighten Information Architecture Summit March 22, 2009
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5. Project Overview Engagement Plan Facilitated Work Sessions Analysis of Key Internal and External Factors Conduct User Research Project Requirements Strategic Assessment Project Requirements Information Architecture User Interface Functional Specifications Technical Specifications Art Comps Test Plan / User Acceptance Testing Launch Specifications Site Specification Art Production Programming Integration Quality Assurance User Acceptance Testing Staging Deployment Final Site Update Monitor Measure Report Improve On-Going Improvements DEFINE DESIGN BUILD Feature / Scope Definition Technical & Implementation Recommendations Preliminary UI Art Comps Strategy Requirements Design Build Maintenance
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8. Interim Site – Launched Spring 2007 Channel navigation within a closed page element.
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11. Remote Research with UserVue Moderator (Enlighten, Ann Arbor) Participant (US, S. America, Europe…) TCS Observer (Chicago) TCS Observer (Mumbai) Desktop sharing via UserVue Voice via conference call line
21. Prototype Version A - Home Industries not expected here Useful feature but not noticed Too much duplication
22. Prototype Version B - Home Industries and Offerings split, “Solutions” gone New layout with Flash promo area better shown, No main navigation bar on Home Content filter tool now more prominent Thought Leadership instead of Best Practices
23. More Prototype Pages – Channel Landing Global Navigation bar Interactive channel landing pages
24. More Prototype Pages – Topic Node Channel navigation Calls to action Channel content