A pragmatic, business-focused approach to user experience design.
We've learned a lot over 28 years in the personal computer software business. We know that a great UI that ships beats a perfect UI that doesn't. We know that people can have worthwhile opinions about their product's interface whether they're trained in interface design or not. We know that "easy to use" is easy to say, and that if usability was just "common sense," good UI would be a lot more common.Passion, not dogma.
We believe wholeheartedly in user-centered design. but we know that business needs also influence the interface. Users' needs and business goals are rarely in conflict, but they are often in competition. We'll listen closely to your users, but we'll also want to hear people from marketing, product management, engineering, support, and documentation. That way we get a product that users will love and the whole organization can be excited about, too.Innovative yet practical ideas.
We're up to speed on the newest development and user interface technologies, and we've been designing software for a long time, so we know what works well and what doesn't. Creative, innovative solutions to challenging problems are what we love to do, but our engineering background helps us know what will be practical given your time and budget constraints.Straight talk.
Like any field, usability has its rituals and jargon that can be difficult for non-practitioners to understand. When working with our clients, though, we try to communicate as clearly and simply as possible. We think usability-related work products (such as test results, review reports, and prototypes) should be usable for the developers, marketers, and other people who need them.Agility and responsiveness.
We're a small shop, so we can often start working with you within a day or two of initial contact (depending on our workload, of course). We'll come up to speed and start contributing quickly. We like using online collaboration tools (whether yours or ours) for rapid and effective interaction and to keep our work transparent, providing useful results and getting feedback all along the way.Flexibility.
We're easy to work with, too. We're glad to quote both fixed-price and hourly projects, and we can work on-site, remotely, or a combination of both. Whether you're doing Agile development or a more traditional approach, we'll fit into your process so your schedule and plans aren't disrupted.Sounds interesting? See which of our services might serve you well, or contact us with any questions you might have.
