Through the Ixxus integrated creative, design and technology approach accessibility and usability concerns are built into the very process of creating information management solutions. Ixxus uses both considerate design and validation tools through the various stages of the development lifecycle to ensure accessibility requirements are met.

User Profiling

Our method for designing engaging, useable and intuitive web experiences begins around the end-user. For us, nothing is more integral to any project than the people who will be interacting with the websites, intranets and extranets we design. Questioning and understanding the end-users attitudes towards technology and how they go about working, searching and browsing on the web allows us to develop tailored, relevant and useful systems. Customer segmentation data and market analysis from the client can also provide valuable input into the process. In most cases, there are several users, each with unique attitudes and motivations – these groupings of users are what we call User Landscapes.

User Interface Exploration

This is where we get the magic markers and flipchart out. A team workshop with the client kicks off a session where we articulate high-level functional and business requirements. The output is represented in a series of roughly sketched user interfaces. By stringing these sketches together we begin to illustrate user journeys. These user journeys are a means to test tasked-based scenarios. The series of sketches produced in the workshop provide a basis for rationalised i-boards that feed into a functional specification document.

Sitemaps

Every web development needs a map to inform the team how a site hangs together. A sitemap is a snapshot of the scope of the project, referencing at a high level the functional requirements and the organisation of content.

I-Boards

These are essentially screen wire-frames - a diagrammatic representation expressing the functionality of a screen. i-boards derive from the sketched outputs of the ‘User Interfaces Exploration’, but have gone through iteration to obtain a further level of functional and navigational detail. They typically form the visual aspect of a functional specification, but can also provide a high-level brief to our designers. i-boards also work well when mapped out in paper form on the project team wall, creating a giant paper prototype of the site, allowing team-members and clients to have a full and open view of the project.

Mood Boards

By creating mood boards we are able to define the visual themes that can be chosen to develop the look and feel of the user interface. Mood boards typically contain imagery, associated brands, colour palettes to create a definitive visual theme. The visual theme is applied to a sample screen design to provide a glimpse of the general ‘look and feel’ of the site. Naturally these visual themes are sympathetic to the client’s brand and at the same time act as online translations of the brand.

Graphical User Interface

Taking a chosen mood board as a starting point, we are able to apply its visual direction to the specified i-boards to create graphical user interfaces. We set out to template the user interfaces by defining page archetypes – these are key screens that feature screen elements such as page headings, labels, tables and navigation. By applying the visual direction, or look and feel, to a range of page archetypes will give the client an accurate view of how the finished site will look.