The result is so stunning and beautiful that I had to try it myself at home. I rearranged by books by colour (see image) and was surprised by the patterns that emerged. First of all, I noticed that the majority of books I owned were black or white. The book colours also seem to suggest the nature of the book’s content, e.g. the black titles ones were more male and action orientated (The Godfather by Puzo) whereas the white ones were more poetic (Wind-up Bird Chronicles by Murakami).

You may think that this makes findability impossible and you would be right. It takes about 5 minutes to find a specific book and I have to learn where they are positioned on the shelf. However, I now seem to find more interesting books to read than ever before. Previously, I would have skipped certain areas of the bookshelf because I knew where to find the book I was looking for. Now books that I may have overlooked or ignored keep popping up in the most unusual places and inspire me to read them. It has changed the usability of my bookcase.

I’m off now to get some more yellow books which I think is a great state of mind when looking for new reading material. 

A new look for organising your books

• there are two main 3D Secure providers; Verified by VISA and MasterCard Secure Code
• both are using similar technology that ‘pops up’ in a transaction process
• the 3D Secure page is, and looks, very disconnected from the transaction process and is typically unbranded
• the 3D Secure page is not always part of the transaction process (seemingly random but we think that the credit card companies determine who will see one and who doesn’t)
• users are generally not warned that a 3D Secure page can/will be part of the transaction process

Because the 3D Secure page is not always part of any given online transaction process users are surprised to see it. Mostly the surprise is negative and users may think that it is a phishing page and distrust it which is ironic.

We concluded that it is a question of how much the user trusts the brand when the 3D Secure page comes up. For example, if Amazon would introduce it (they don’t in the moment) nobody would question it. However, is a small unknown website that introduces 3D Secure to reassure their customers will have mixed results.

Also, previous research showed that users who regularly shop online were familiar with the process and completely resigned to it. Those who were not frequent shoppers were more troubled by it as they were not familiar with the prompts, the concept and missed some of the pathetically small calls to action.

I haven’t seen any stats but I think the drop-off rate would be quite high. I’m sure there is a reason why 3D Secure separates, but from a customer perspective I don’t like it. Wouldn’t it be nice if 3D Secure could be integrated in any given process? I think YES and I’m sure most customers would agree. Don’t you?

In short, no, it’s not but this question regularly comes up. I recently discussed this issue with our User Experience consulants and got some consistent responses:

“Keep it as one field per line. People will be able to use the forms more easily by having one flow rather than having to read across and down. I would have thought there would be a higher instance of people missing fields with two or more rows.”

“Not only will having two drop-downs on one line look more cluttered/complicated etc, but it will be less efficient as users will have to go left to right as well as down the form.”

“A long vertical list is better as it maintains focus and reduces error rate. No official stats, but just my observations from previous testing.”

This confirmed my recommendation: Keep one field (e.g. text fields, dropdown menus) per line and think of reducing the fields on the page instead. If the form is really too long and all the fields are necessary (and most of the time they are not) the form should be split in two and have a Step 1 and Step 2.

From an accessibility point of view two dropdown menus next to each other do not violate the DDA guidelines, however, it will make the form more difficult to read.

I hope this proves useful the next time you review the layout of an online form.

Before we begin helping clients develop their websites, we try and learn as much as possible about the business, its objectives and its customers. This is because we are a user experience and research firm, not merely a design agency. Many companies will pay for a redesign that is essentially just a makeover that shuffles various content elements around to provide a new look and feel. This approach fails to measure the quality of the user experience when interacting with a website, and will miss even basic issues with navigation, such as inappropriate titles and taxonomy.

We take a user centered approach to design that examines exactly what a site needs to do to improve the experience of those who use it. We undertake benchmarking and user testing to see exactly how customers are interacting with a site. We look at competing sites in the same market as our clients, to see what they’re doing. We also study best practice sites, such as Amazon, or Flickr.

This is what we term the ‘discovery phase’. Sometimes we uncover content that a client didn’t remember it was hosting, or find long forgotten functionality that is no longer working. None of this is good practice. We conduct site audits and click on any and everything. If a site is particularly vast, we might suggest delving only as far as sections and sub-sections within the main site is the best use of time. Once we have gained a deeper understanding of what a client actually has on its site, we can begin building a site map, or an organisational chart that reveals whether all content is in its optimum place. We validate this with card sorting exercises to ensure customers are aligned with our thinking.

Think of this process as if we were taking all the goods from a supermarket out into a car park, then restack the shelves in the most logical way for customers. This is done by breaking content down into cards, Post-its, objects in online tools – it doesn’t matter as long as it makes sense when we show our thinking to a sample of real customers, this helps to establish trends of opinion. In this way we are able to either validate current structure or create a new recommended site map as a basis for the design phase.

In the design phase we use wireframes on Visio, PowerPoint or even whiteboards. At this stage we still work in greyscale, but we are able to define elements and inform navigation. A new recommended sitemap will reflect this as well as the improved taxonomy, enabling customers to find things more easily and enjoy their experience more. Multiple wireframe iterations and rounds of user testing refine the process before it is handed over to a graphic designer to lay on brand identity and image. The graphic designer benefits from the groundwork and has a purely design exercise, retaining all the navigation, organisation and content rationale of the wireframes while ensuring colour, palette and sufficient scalability.

So this is how we do User Centered Design. It’s a sound methodology that has been rewarded with many success stories. If a client comes to us with a site that isn’t performing and a set of targets, this is how we get them to where they need to be. Can a serious business afford not to do this? Well, we believe that it is vital to get user input into design and functionality of all services, otherwise redesigners aren’t informed, they are simply based on assumptions – a dangerous strategy. A business does know its customers, of course, but without user testing, these impressions can’t fail to be at least partly a reflection of internal opinions that require independent verification.

At Foviance we understand the complexities involved through experience, and know that user testing of services in the early stages will definitely save money and time – wireframes are cost-effective and easy to change compared to a finished site. Sometimes it pays to bring in a specialist. Everyone is a photographer, but can everyone take professional quality pictures every time?

• User Interface (UI)

A User Interface (UI) is the interface by which a computer user is able to interact with the computer. It describes the way that the user uses input devices such as keyboards and mice, the way the information is portrayed on screen or on the output device and therefore determines how an application program or a Web site invites interaction and responds to it.

A Graphical User Interface (GUI) offers graphical icons, and visual indicators, as opposed to text-based interfaces, typed command labels or text navigation to fully represent the information and actions available to a user. The actions are usually performed through direct manipulation of the graphical elements.

• Information architecture (IA)

Information architecture is the art and science of organising information, usually via a strict taxonomy, so that it is findable, manageable and useful. In web design, the term describes the organisation of online content into categories and the creation of an interface for displaying those categories. Information architecture is concerned with the relationships between internal page elements, as well as the relationship between individual pages.

• Visual Identity (VI)

Visual Identity is the sum of all the visual elements used by an organisation or company to distinguish itself from its competitors.
The symbol, colours, formats and other visual elements of the brand signature.

• User Experience Design (UED)

User Experience Design is concerned with the experience of using a product as a whole – from first contact to interaction to reflection on that interaction. The term “user experience” refers to a concept that places the end-user at the focal point of design and development efforts, as opposed to the system, its applications or its aesthetic value alone. It’s based on the general concept of user-centered design (UCD).

• User-Centered design (UCD)

User-Centered design is a highly structured, comprehensive product development methodology driven by: (1) clearly specified, task-oriented business objectives, and (2) recognition of user needs, limitations and preferences. Information collected using UCD analysis is scientifically applied in the design, testing, and implementation of products and services.
When rigorously applied, a UCD approach meets both user needs and the business objectives of the sponsoring organisation.

This also brings us round to another blog posting on job titles within the User Experience (UE) design field.