Blog

June 29th, 2011

Insight Article, Internet Strategy, User Research

As User Experience consultants, we spend a lot of time on extraordinary websites. There are two things we’ve noticed about these websites, first is that they belong to the most successful organizations in their industry, and second is their ability to deliver an engaging and valuable online experience across many diverse audiences. What’s clear is that they’ve taken the critical step of identifying their distinct audiences and immediately providing them with the pathways and specific calls to action that help them quickly locate the content they desire.

For Hospitals and Healthcare organizations, this “best practice” has special application. These organizations in particular serve a unique and diverse set of audiences. Understanding those groups, their needs, perceptions, and how they look for information, is essential to architecting a site that will serve each of them while maintaining brand integrity. (more…)

Chad Van Lier

June 27th, 2011

Internet Strategy, Marketing, Social Networking

Our clients frequently ask us how they should educate their employees on using Social Media.  To answer this, we really have to approach the question from two perspectives. One perspective is simply as part of a broader Internet use policy, to help employees stay safe and protect information assets. Another perspective is to encourage employees to support their business in their daily online activities, should they choose to do so. This is essentially giving employees as “social media enthusiasts” the tools and guidance they need to help them positively contribute to the overall online marketing efforts of their employer.

(more…)

Ted McLaughlan

June 20th, 2011

Application Development, Interaction Design, Technology, Usability, User Experience Design

What’s the Context?

Tablets aren’t huge smartphones (and they aren’t quite “flat PCs”, no matter what Steve Ballmer says). One of the biggest set of differences between designing for tablets and designing for phones is the context: the how, when and why. Unlike the tablet, the phone is much more likely to be used on the go. Sure, you keep your phone by your bed, check Facebook or your email, maybe hit a website or two before you hit the sack, but users are much more likely to use their tablets for longer periods of time. This prolonged interaction on tablets is more involved, with users sitting down and focusing on what they are doing. A tablet is actually more like a portable gaming device than a mobile phone.

(more…)

Kevin Doyle

June 16th, 2011

Video

Last week NavigationArts nearly doubled our headquarters’ office space to accomodate our expanding team.  We switched up some office locations to promote cross-team collaboration and get further entrenched in our nerf dart warfare.

(more…)

John Manicke

June 14th, 2011

Technology

Not every Sitecore environment is the same, and when it comes to deployment environments, the extreme variations in networking and access can interrupt your usual working process.  Even the most robust of continuous integration systems that seamlessly test, compile and deploy code automatically –  say a CruiseControl.NET server running well-tuned NANT scripts –  can be “codeblocked” by managed environments like Citrix or restrictive VPN clients that often don’t play well with each other.

(more…)

Alan Gallauresi

June 13th, 2011

Marketing, Social Networking, Technology, Web Content Management

Drill in hand, my dentist asked me what I was writing about today. “Error messages,” I said.

He groaned from behind his mask. “Those confusing messages with the numbers?  The topic made him nervous. “I wish I could get all that stuff. My grandkids do.”

I told him what motivated me from a content and marketing perspective: Why do some websites shoot off numbers or carelessly worded error messages, even at the risk of inciting dread in the people who help pay their bills? Why, especially, when the users who encounter error messages on a site are the epitome of a captive audience?  Instead of disregarding a visitor’s search error or a server meltdown, embrace the marketing opportunity.

(more…)

Elizabeth Gibbens

June 7th, 2011

Information Architecture, Marketing, User Experience Design

During a recent solution strategy session for one of our large enterprise clients, a need developed for creating visual prototypes and simulations illustrating the end-state of the enterprise system to be built. The system, or really “solution” (since the ROI would be derived not only from IT, but also from organizational change, process re-engineering, and physical and digital asset value realization), included many audiences and stakeholder roles plus many distinct (though integrated) business services. “Services” is the key term here, not “applications” or “websites”.  These business services are used by customers, governed by the company through managed agreements, and supported by information technology.

(more…)

Ted McLaughlan

June 6th, 2011

Internet Strategy, Marketing, Social Networking, Technology

If you haven’t noticed yet, Google has begun to take over the world (again).  The latest in a string of popular products, both online and physical, are being rolled out in the coming weeks.  While most of us are focusing on the Facebook like +1 addition, the true nugget comes in low cost notebooks that feature the Chrome OS.

(more…)

Dustin Collis

June 1st, 2011

Application Development, Interaction Design, Technology, User Experience Design, Visual Design, Web Development

Where is the web going? If I told you I knew, I’d be lying. The web changes so fast, it’s hard to predict where or even what it will be a few years from now. Which is great. The web should be an ever changing ocean of ideas and innovation. Sometimes as developers, we tend to complain about old browsers or people without JavaScript, and forget to think about how far we’ve come.  So, with that in mind,  I thought I’d take a moment to go over some of the really cool stuff we’ll be seeing a lot more of on the web in the coming months and years.

(more…)

Matt Heiner

June 1st, 2011

Technology, Usability, User Research

At the ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems this past May, Dr. Roel Vertegaal, Director of Queen’s University Human Media Lab, and his team unveiled a prototype of the world’s next generation smartphone – the PaperPhone. 

(more…)

Toral Contractor