My First [Re]design
Man & Machine • 27 September, 2019
In this project we were asked to evaluate & re-design an existing Irish website. The rationale for the re-design needed to be driven from an overall experience as well as a usability perspective.
Scouring the internet for woeful looking websites, we came across & settled on Irish Trails. A directory for discovering nature trails in Ireland (which has since been taken down).
What do the people want?
Starting off, we worked on coming up with two user tasks to evaluate the website. We organised our findings on a research board using the following:
- Heuristic evaluation
- Guerrilla usability testing
- UI inventory
We then took to the wall, creating user experience maps based on the user tasks. We identified opportunities for improvement & oh so many pain-points using the following:
- Usability testing
- Task analysis
- User journeys/experience mapping.
Starting to build
The next step in the process was to organise the website's information. We used card sorting techniques with users to figure out the structure.
Moving onto sketching, we began iterating low-fidelity prototypes. Various user flows were tested based on the users needs & goals.
Making things presentable
For the final submission, we needed to present an interactive prototype using a combination of rulers, sharpies & newly acquired stanley knife skills.
Learning
In one short week, I had my first exposure to the fast paced, iterative IxD environment. It was stressful but satisfying.
As a software engineer, cutting, shaping & colouring elements was very cathartic. It sounds silly, but whenever I built software in the past, there was never any opportunity to just sit down with someone & document the plethora of emotion.
We sketched & tested & sketched again. It was a fairly fun week.