Usability assessment and redesign concepts on FaceTime, The Daily Telegraph, QuickBooks Online

1. Usability assessment & Redesign concepts
on FaceTime, The Daily Telegraph, QuickBooks Online
submitted by
Divya Davis
hello@divyadavis.com | 0470 640 160 | www.divyadavis.com

2. FaceTime (mobile application)
FaceTime defies time and location to shrink
the world for Apple users. It is fastest and
easiest way of connecting with friends and
family while on the go. It is cost effective,
high in quality and incredibly simple.
What is FaceTime today?
What needs improvement?
• Ability to browse through contacts
• Follow up on missed calls from recent
conversations
• Ability to add friends to ongoing
conversation
• Ability to send media, record conversation

3. Redesign concepts
• Introduce FAVOURITES (for speed
dialing), CONTACTS (browsing
through phone contacts) and RECENT
Conversation (FOLLOW UP on
recent/missed calls)
• Video and Audio calls on the same
recent list
• LATEST CALL DETAILS appear on the
recent list; on details page, list the
conversation history with the contact
• Introduce SHARE MEDIA (photo,
video, mp3) with the contact while
conversation is on
• RECORD the FaceTime session
• ADD more CONTACTS to an ongoing
conversation
After the research, wireframes and prototypes were
created to figure out the simplest way to search for
contacts and follow up on recent conversations. The
intention is to create a more user-friendly FaceTime to
give richer experience to the users.

4. Easy navigation through the recent
FaceTime calls.
Easy to browse phone contacts to
start a FaceTime conversation
Speed dialling from the favourites
Grouping recent calls from individual
contacts with timestamp and data
consumed
Easy to share pictures, videos and audio files with
the contact/group during the FaceTime session
Record FaceTime Conversation
Easy to conference people

5. The Daily Telegraph (desktop site)
News websites face the challenge of displaying huge amount of
content on the home page, which creates usability and
navigational challenges. News websites should be able to use
adverts being non-intrusive to the reader. ‘The Daily Telegraph’
is one such candidate.
What is ‘The Daily Telegraph’ today?What needs improvement?
• Delays in loading images, videos
• Intrusive adverts; same ads repeated
on left and right panes
• The top navigation disappears on
parallax scrolling; no search options
other than top menu and footer
• Non-responsive pages
• Improve readability
www.dailytelegraph.com.au

6. Redesign concepts
• Simplify navigation and minimize the number of
steps user need to do to complete a task
• Consistently apply F-PATTERN LAYOUT to allows
web-surfers to scan content naturally
• Use THUMBNAILS and AVOID ANIMATION on
the home page to aid faster loading
• Apply PROGRESSIVE OPTIMISATION to load
images progressively starting with low
resolution until fully loaded.
• Introduce STATIC LEFT NAVIGATION BAR to aid
easy search in parallax scrolling
• Place Adverts to right sided bar and headers;
Ads to be NON-INTRUSIVE
• Introduce breaking news on the left pane with
PROGRESSIVE DISCLOSURE to maintain user’s
focus
Wireframes and prototypes reflect the learnings from
the research. The F-pattern layout and static left nav
ensures optimal readability. Concepts of progressive
optimisation and progressive disclosure helps to
maintain user focus.
F-pattern layout

7. Consistently applied F-
pattern layout for the
home page
Choosing dark text on a
white background to
improve readability
Use of thumbnails for
faster loading
Static left nav and main stories
to aid easy search while
supporting parallax scrolling
Alternatively, applied GRID LAYOUT as it creates
sharp look and is effective ways to manage and
organize a large amount of content
Clear structure and rich interactions; Grid allows
readers to focus on important news

8. QuickBooks Online (desktop site)
QuickBooks Online is a cloud based financial
management software. Its designed to slash the time
small businesses spend managing their finances.
800,000+ small businesses uses QB Online worldwide.
What is QuickBooks Online today?
What needs improvement?
• Large and blurred video thumbnails
taking up valuable real-estate
• Content heavy marketing message;
Require rewording and avoid repetition
of content
• Sliders used to highlight features;
requires multiple clicks to browse
through the features
• Three attempts to get to the free trial
sign up page
www.intuit.com.au

9. Redesign concepts
• SINGLE CLICK free trial SIGN UP
• Use CRISP THUMBNAILS for the video; on clicking the thumbnails, pop-up a window which
runs the video
• STRIKE A CHORD with readers with connected story
• Use INFOGRAPHICS and less words
• Avoid scrollbar and list features one below the other to AVOID ADDITIONAL CLICKS
• Make ‘Try it FREE’ the primary action for improved conversion
• REMOVE REPEATED content and FAQ’s from the home page
• Use PROGRESSIVE DISCLOSURE to mention system requirements
Find here the details of the Heuristic Analysis of QuickBooks Online trial sign up process

10. Thumbnails used for
video
Main features listed one below
the other to avoid additional
clicks
Single click sign up form
Focus shifts to sign up form when the
user clicks on ‘Free Trial’ from any
part of the home page
Collapsed system requirements