Research & Strategy
Research & Strategy
Research & StrategyUser research in web development involves the same sort of thinking that goes into the design of any functional object.
Car designers consider who will be driving, how fast they want to go, what sort of shape appeals to them and how they like to drive. Web designers are no different. They use user research to identify precisely what target audiences want to achieve online, and how they want to go about it.
Shift can:
- use a range of methods to draw an accurate model of your audiences’ needs and how they behave online
- ensure user requirements translate to a design that looks and functions in ways that appeal to the people you want to reach
- help you gear your site for future as well as current trends in user behaviour.
User research methods
Research is at the heart of Shift’s user-focused approach. Our research starts with identifying who your audiences are and what they want to achieve on your site. This provides an important benchmark to guide decisions on design, functionality and content as the project progresses.
At certain points in the project we’ll dig deeper to identify patterns of user behaviour, to make sure the design is evolving in a way that is going to work for your target audiences.
Our process draws on established methods as well as techniques exclusive to Shift. These include:
- focus groups
- persona development
- card sorting
- low-fidelity prototyping
- Collaborative User Experience – a collection of heuristic evaluations to show patterns and themes
- task-based user testing
- shadowing – observing people performing tasks in their own environment.
Behaviour trends
Shift regularly conducts audience analysis and user research for clients in a range of industries. This involves both observation and analysis and we’ve been honing our methods for over 10 years.
Our research has highlighted two key trends to watch:
- Attachment to existing technologies
To a large extent, people go with what they know. Existing technologies such as email, messaging and web-based search engines are already integrated into our daily lives. New technology needs to be introduced in ways that educate and empower people to use it effectively.
- User participation
The creation and sharing of digital content continues to grow. People are increasingly taking advantage of sites that enable them to contribute to communities, such as international photo archive Flickr and online music community MySpace.
User research: the real results
The best way to measure the effectiveness of user research is to monitor feedback after you have launched your site. This has proven to be the case for sites Shift designed for the Ministry of Culture and Heritage (Te Ara), Tourism New Zealand, Toyota New Zealand and Lincoln University.
Users of these sites can easily find the information they’re after, and find the experience satisfying and rewarding. We have had many emails from people telling us how much they love the Tourism New Zealand website. That positive emotional response was always part of our plan.