Session Six: Usability/Branding
The objective of this session is to do an overview of online usability and the brand environment. We will discus the user's viewpoint of the site functionality and message delivery, and the approach of user testing and questions to be administered.
In this session we will also address aspects of the visual language, which are key elements needed to create the brand.. We will discuss developing systems of team communication to maintain consistent graphic implementation, along with freedom to express specific content.
The goal of this session is to give the student concrete methods of user-testing and to gather clear direction in order to create a visual language that is appropriate for the site's goal.
Assignments
User-Testing of Static Prototype—Term Assignment
The term project team will pick three relative sources to test each member static presentation. The team will be responsible for developing and administering a user-test. The objective is to take the consensus of the test results and develop a visual branding systems for the final site. The team will then create the pages for the final site using this revised visual system. The team will provide the following deliverables:
• Results of the usability studies.
• Prototype of home page and secondary screen.
• Visual language board including grid, typefaces, color palette and supporting graphics
Recommended Reading for Usability Studies
• Don't Make Me Think, Krug, Steve, Circle.com 2000
• Sources of Power: How People Make Decisions, Klein, Gary, MIT Press, 1998
• Web Site Usability Handbook, Pearrow, Mark, Charles River Media, Inc., 2000
• Homepage Usability: 50 Websites Deconstructed, Neilsen, Jakob and Tahir, Marie, New Riders Publishing, Indianapolis, November 2001
Recommended Sites
Usability
www.useit.com
www.tomalak.org
www.user.com
Branding
Adbusters—http://www.adbusters.org/magazine/21/branding.html
CoreBrand—http://www.corebrand.com/
Article on Branding and Usability!—http://world.std.com/~uieweb/branding.htm
