Masterclasses

Optimum.web runs specially tailored usability masterclasses to train delegates in all aspects of usability, based on the principles of HCI (human-computer interaction).

Site owners in both the private and public sectors have begun to appreciate the contribution superior usability can make to site performance - and if a site is not meeting the needs of its target users, it is not performing at an optimal level.

Despite the fact that usability has greater priority now than ever before, some 70% of high profile sites are not assessed rigorously or regularly.

The opportunity to win competitive advantage through offering superior usability in the way that companies like Amazon and easyjet have shown is still a very real possibility in many markets.

To help owners, developers and designers understand more clearly the advantages of integrating human factors into all stages of site design or redesign, optimum.web's senior consultants regularly lead usability masterclasses.

Each event focuses on the user issues facing a specific business sector to maximise the benefit attendees receive.

Why attend?

Discover why:

• usability has a direct impact on site success
• too many sites are designed for designers rather than users

Find out about:

• recent important research into web site usability
• the major determinants of web site usability

Learn how to:

• build usability into web sites
• evaluate the usability of your own web site

Develop sites that:

• deliver an improved user experience
• hold users’ attention for longer
• encourage more frequent visits
• prompt higher spending levels (potentially at higher prices)
• impact favourably on corporate or brand reputation

Who should attend?

Professionals involved in the development, design, implementation and marketing of web sites in either the e-Finance, e-Commerce or e-Government sectors. Additionally, design agencies, new media marketeers, internet executives, web designers.

What you will take away from your Masterclass:

• The basics of human-computer interaction (HCI), the discipline that underpins usability
• The need for iteration and evaluation within web site design
• How task analysis techniques can ensure an intuitive top level design
• Important new evidence from recent web usability research
• Major guidelines for usable web site design
• Important issues for users with special needs
• Practical experience in web site usability evaluation
• A detailed handbook for later reference

By attending, optimum.web will give you the knowledge and understanding to return to your organisation and successfully implement enhanced usability within your web site.

Our Masterclasses are tailored to meet the needs of specific business sectors, including:

e-Government Masterclass

If usability is important in the e-Commerce world, it is essential in e-Government at both the information and transactional levels. E-Government has four guiding principles: building services around citizens’ choices, making government and its services more accessible, social inclusion, and using information better. When people interact with government they want to do so on their own terms. This includes providing services for minority language groups and those with disability or limited mobility. Citizens require high quality online services that are accessible, convenient and, above all else, usable.

e-Commerce Masterclass

Within e-Commerce, technology and creative design are no longer seen as the driving forces in site development. Rather, they are now viewed as the means to meet customer needs - combined with effective usability. E-Commerce companies with highly usable sites benefit from customers who return again and again, even paying a premium for products. Nonetheless, the majority of people who visit e-Commerce web sites still do not complete a transaction. If only a small proportion of these can be encouraged to do so through improved usability, a company’s sales turnover can be greatly increased.

e-Finance Masterclass

In the new e-Finance arena power resides with the customer. No longer is personal contact the key to relationship building. To achieve customer loyalty financial institutions are recognising the role usability plays within e-Finance applications to replicate and exceed the personal service provided through traditional channels. The environment in wholesale and investment banking may be different, but usability is still a crucial part of effective e-CRM.

Please contact us for more details of our Masterclasses.

Session 1 - Usability: why it matters

The introductory session will explain the central importance of usability and identify the needs and requirements of internet users.

Session 2 - Life cycle of site design and improvement

Here we will focus on the process of usable web site design and show how to create a virtuous development cycle. In effective web site design ‘the work never stops’ and in this session optimum.web will: define HCI and models of interaction; show the need for iteration in design; explain crucial tools for effective design; outline approaches to usability evaluation.

Session 3 - Guidelines for usable designs - how to apply the rules and when you may need to break them

Empirical evidence from many years of internet usage has led to the specification of optimum.web’s heuristics for effective web design. This session will outline the major guidelines for design supported by case studies from the specific sector (e-Finance, e-Commerce and e-Government). The heuristics cover issues at both the site level and the page level.

Lunch break

Session 4 – International and universal access

Some web sites are designed for a particular target user group, whilst others need to be accessed by all. The requirements for universal access are increasingly important to today’s society. This session will cover guidelines for the effective design of international web sites, as well as requirements to meet the DDA (Disability Discrimination Act).

Session 5 - An evaluation exercise

In this session delegates will be able to apply the knowledge gained in the masterclass to the evaluation of a selected web site from the sector under focus.

Session 6 - Creating an effective usability programme

In an ideal world tools and techniques for the design and testing of usable web sites should be implemented at all stages of development from the initial concept stage, through early prototype evaluation, usability testing prior to launch, usability monitoring after launch and, ultimately, redesign.

The final session will review the range of methods available to ensure delegates are able to integrate usability into their own web site development programme – at whatever stage they have currently reached.

To organise a Masterclass for you and your team, contact us.