User Experience

We want our products to be easy to use and as enjoyable as possible. We want the user to embrace all facets of our company, all through the experiences they have with our products and services. These objectives can be achieved through successful User Exerience and User Interface Design.

User Experience and User Interface Design is a multi-faceted role. It is responsible for the transference of a product’s development, research, content and layout into an attractive, guiding and responsive experience for users.

Discovery & Analysis

The Foundation of Your Project

Before putting together the physical aspects of your project, you must start with a basic foundation of knowledge. The first step in UX/UI Design is understanding your audience, your competition and what your goals are for your users. What is your competition doing that your clients like? What is your competition doing poorly? What features do you your users prefer, and can those features be improved upon? Is there a better way to do things? Are your ideas intuitive for your end user?

Many companies and designers ignore this step, and jump right into prototyping (some skip directly to the visual design phase). By skipping this initial phase, you may create a poor product. Your users may find it difficult to navigate through your site/application, or require lengthy instructions on how to do certain tasks. Your users may end up looking at your product as inferior and go to your competition instead.

We do the research, we ask the questions, and we work toward building the best product there is (be it a website, an application, or another project).

Prototyping

Sitemap & Wireframes

Designing a website or application can be a daunting process, only made more complicated by the volume of information that sometimes needs to be incorporated.

SITEMAP

A sitemap is a preliminary planning tool that can help organize and clarify your content, as well as help you eliminate unnecessary elements. Upon the creation of the sitemap, clients are able to visually see the scope of the project and the organizational structure that will be used. A successful sitemap will allow you to clarify your site's purpose and goals, streamline processes, avoid duplicate content, and get everyone in your organization on the same page.

WIREFRAMES

With a basic guideline of your site structure, we then proceed to create the site's wireframes. Wireframes are page schematics or screen blueprints - a visual guide that represents the skeletal framework of a website. The wireframe usually lacks typographic style, color, or graphics, since the main focus lies in functionality, behavior, and priority of content. In other words, it focuses on what a screen does, not what it looks like (see the Visual Design phase, next).

Visual Design

Style | Look & Feel

With your initial research, sitemap and wireframes, you can then proceed to your visual design. The design is discussed with the client - based on initial research and client preferences. Using the wireframes as a base, we add color and style, embracing the company's vision and making the project more aesthetically pleasing.

Some companies like to go directly into the design phase, skipping any of the preliminary phases. Some even proceed into the programming phase without giving the client a clear representation of the final product. As a project is developed, a company's vision may change ... or parts may seem redundant or excessive ... or the designer may not have a clear view of the client's goals & needs. The preliminary phases (sitemap and wireframes) address these issues early on. If a company decides to make changes during the design, or programming phase, it will cost considerably more to go back and fix these issues.

We discuss your company's needs and effective techniques that are used in the industry, including successful design strategies and user-friendly techniques. We then proceed to create several design examples for the client to review. Upon completion, and client approval, we then move forward further into product developement. If this is a website or application, we will then discuss programming (we have a team of developers available, or we can work with your own developers).

Website Examples Application Examples