IMPROVING THE USER EXPERIENCE
& IMPACT OF YOUR PRODUCTS
Sage Research & Design
March, 2009

CONTENTS
WHAT WE DO
EXPERIENCE
WORK EXAMPLES
OUR PLEDGE
IF YOU LIKE WHAT YOU SEE
CONTACT INFORMATION
Sage Research & Design

WHAT WE DO
We help our clients…
Improve Mature
Increase a product or service’s user Build products or services that are
experience through user research not only usable, but also truly
& user-centered design useful to their customers
Improve users’ productivity, Find a product’s untapped
satisfaction & loyalty potential
Learn
We can consult with individuals or teams
Educate management & development teams on how to use UX techniques during the
development process
Work with junior UX employees on how to improve their skills and effectiveness
Provide workshops or tutorials on numerous UX topics
Sage Research & Design

WHAT WE DO
…all while staying within your
time and budget constraints.
Sage Research & Design

OUR SERVICES
User Experience (UX) Research / Usability Testing
Usability Reviews
A broad spectrum of traditional & customized methodologies
Interaction Design
Creative & insightful design solutions based on user needs and
company goals
Visual Design
Using color, shape, pattern, line, and text to create a positive,
harmonious, clear environment
Training
Workshops, courses, individual employee training
Hourly Consulting
Design feedback, mentoring, strategy or messaging, etc.
Sage Research & Design

USER EXPERIENCE RESEARCH
Some UX research methodologies we use
Iterative
design techniques
Usability testing (low
and high fidelity)
Expert reviews
Pre-design techniques Post-design techniques
Expert UX review Customer Surveys
Ethnographic Journal Studies
customer interviews &
Rework & Recall
observation
Don’t see one that fits your needs? We’ll create one for you!

INTERACTION DESIGN
Our interaction design services include
Wire framing
Information architecture
Co-design sessions with clients or customers
Training junior employees
Consulting with management to integrate UX
design processes
Sage Research & Design

VISUAL DESIGN
Our visual design services include
Visual design reviews
Visual rendering
Creating new design directions and futuristic visions
Creating visual design style guides
Icons
Illustrations
Identity
Animations
Sage Research & Design

AND MUCH MORE…
Corporate workshops or classes
Training junior employees
Consulting with management to integrate UX
design processes
Hourly design consultation
Brainstorming sessions
Client/consultant co-design sessions
Co-design sessions with users
Sage Research & Design

CONTENTS
WHAT WE DO
EXPERIENCE
WORK EXAMPLES
OUR PLEDGE
IF YOU LIKE WHAT YOU SEE
CONTACT INFORMATION
Sage Research & Design

EXPERIENCE
WE HAVE EXPERIENCE IMPROVING…
Websites Software Hardware Social
•HTML editors •Mobile Phones
•Search engines •Televisions
•Graphic editors
•Content sites •Printers •PIMs
•Photo & video editors •Web cameras •Social Networking Sites
•Retail sites
•Remote controls •Social Telephony Sites
•Web applications •Databases
•Word processors
•Technical support sites •Keyboards
•Time management •Servers
•Enterprise
•Home network
Sage Research & Design

EXPERIENCE
WE HAVE EXPERIENCE IMPROVING…
Medical Retail Entertainment
•Spinal Implants •Clothing Retail •GPS Games
•Pain Management •Online Auctions •Music Editing Software
•Cochlear Implants •Online Bartering •Children’s Software
•Orthopedic Positioning •Online Financial Services/
•Medical Billing Banking
•Hospital Websites •Energy Retail
•Hospital Focus Groups
Sage Research & Design

CLIENTS INCLUDE…
WE RUN WITH A GOOD CROWD
We have experience working as user experience experts with the following diverse set of companies
as consultants, subcontractors or employees.
Sage Research & Design

OUR TEAM
DEDICATED PROFESSIONALS WITH UNBEATABLE EXPERIENCE
Shannon Halgren, Ph.D.
Founder of Sage Research & Design
-Product User Experience
-User Research
-Interaction Design
Anna Rowe, Ph.D.
-User Research
-Interaction Design
-Information Architecture
Anne Russell
-Visual Design
-Web Design
Skye Lee
-Product User Experience
-Product Strategy
-Business Development Sage Research & Design

CONTENTS
WHAT WE DO
EXPERIENCE
WORK EXAMPLES
OUR PLEDGE
IF YOU LIKE WHAT YOU SEE
CONTACT INFORMATION
Sage Research & Design

CLIENT #1
Client
Start-up company with a family of hardware & software
products for monitoring & controlling household energy
consumption
Their problem
They were creating in-home products to be used by broad
user groups and felt that their customer’s user experience
was going to make or break them
Constraints
Low budget
Fast turn around needed
Most in the company were new to UX principles
Sage Research & Design

CLIENT #1
What We Did…
Interaction Design
Expert UX Review
Iterative User
Created specifications
Strategic Planning Reviewed all
Research
for thermostat and in-
product UIs for
Created a 6 home display UIs
Focus Groups
obvious UX issues
month user
Advised on website UI
research plan Usability Studies
Focused on how to design & made design
Educated execs make the family of change Home Visits
on how to fold recommendations
diverse products
UX processes Participatory Design
have the same
into their dev. Advised on printed and
Sessions with users
cycle look and feel online help content
Helped hire a
senior level UX
Sage Research & Design
employee

CLIENT #2
Client
Start-up web application with over 10 million members
Their problem
They knew they had user experience issues – most of
their customers hadn’t used the site much beyond
signing up. But, they couldn’t articulate what the issues
were or figure out how to eliminate them
Constraints
Low budget
Fast turn around needed
Only 1 junior UX employee on staff
Sage Research & Design

CLIENT #2
What We Did…
Wireframe Key Flows
Make Design
New flows designed
Change Consultation
based on UX review
Recommendations
Blind Expert findings & Visual design
UX Review Based on UX recommendations
Interaction design
review and
Evaluate true Key marketing
new user informational messages integrated Marketing messages
experience into design
meetings with the
Junior employee
Evaluate web Designs reiterated and
client
mentoring
site messaging co-designed with the
Prioritized action
effectiveness product team
items were
Top UX issues
included
delivered Sage Research & Design

CLIENT TESTIMONIALS
Testimonials
Chung Meng Cheong, VP of Products, Jaxtr, Inc.
\"Thank you Skye and Shannon for taking us as a client. You have helped raised our understanding and
expectations for a good user experience, and gave us a great design that will get us there.“
Tim Enwall, CEO, Tendril Networks, Inc.
\"I hired Shannon when I was with Access Graphics and again for Tendril Networks. We found Shannon's
input very helpful and appreciated that she found a way to work within our tight budget. You'll see upon
reviewing her credentials that it'd be pretty hard to find a more qualified and experienced user interface
expert. I highly recommend Shannon.\"
Elissa Darnell, Director of User Experience, eBay, Inc.
“It was a wonderful experience working with Shannon. She took on a challenging project for us with an
uncertain outcome. Her research expertise resulted in a final product that far exceeded my expectations.
The creativity and customer focus Shannon brought to my project was impressive! I look forward to
working with her again..”
Sage Research & Design

CONTENTS
WHAT WE DO
EXPERIENCE
WORK EXAMPLES
OUR PLEDGE
IF YOU LIKE WHAT YOU SEE
CONTACT INFORMATION
Sage Research & Design

OUR PLEDGE
We believe in…
Doing the work ourselves
We don’t farm out the work to less experienced employees
Being flexible
Projects and goals change, so can the Statement of Work
once work has begun
Frequent updates
We present our work and solicit feedback often
Client satisfaction
We’ll do everything in our power to make your project a
success and leave you wanting more!
Sage Research & Design

CONTENTS
WHAT WE DO
EXPERIENCE
WORK EXAMPLES
OUR PLEDGE
IF YOU LIKE WHAT YOU SEE
CONTACT INFORMATION
Sage Research & Design

IF YOU LIKE WHAT YOU SEE
Next Steps…
Schedule a “Fact Gathering” meeting
Meeting Goals
Project Introduction
Discuss your needs
Gather information to develop a Statement of Work
We prepare a SOW (Statement of Work)
Contains what we’ll do (in detail), schedule, & costs
This can be an iterative process
Red tape
You sign the SOW, we sign your papers
Work begins!
Sage Research & Design

CONTENTS
WHAT WE DO
EXPERIENCE
WORK EXAMPLES
OUR PLEDGE
IF YOU LIKE WHAT YOU SEE
CONTACT INFORMATION
Sage Research & Design

CONTACT INFORMATION
Sage Research & Design
720-221-7003
info@sage-research.com
www.sage-research.com
Our website provides more details about our services,
experience and links to our full bios and resumes.
References available upon request.
Sage Research & Design