Information Architecture & Web Usability Services

Research has shown that poor site design causes massive user frustration and lost traffic. It's no coincidence that 80% of users abandon their shopping carts before completing a transaction. More than 83% will surf away if they don’t find what they’re looking for within 4 mouse clicks. Do it right the first time. Whether your site is in the planning stage or an established Internet destination, it's vital to place user needs first.

BrainWave offers a suite of services to ensure that your organization's web site meets user needs and fosters positive user experiences:

• Usability testing and prototyping
• Usability content review and edit
• Web usability training (when you'd rather do it yourself)

If your web content doesn't align with user needs, the slickest web design in the world will make no difference.

Overemphasis on cutting edge technologies can compromise communication and place unintended obstacles before users. These obstacles can cause the typical user to simply click away to a competitor's site. For persons with disabilities, such obstacles may make access difficult or even impossible.

Web publishers can no longer afford to ignore emerging standards of usability and accessibility. Remedies necessary to accommodate people who use assistive devices can be as simple as the inclusion of link titles and image ALT tags. Recent developments — including several pending lawsuits — confirm our belief that this subject will emerge as a key issue in the months and years to come. Ultimately, organizations may have no choice but to comply with usability and accessibility standards, especially where public funds are involved.

In anticipation of this trend, we have devoted considerable time and resources to investigating this issue. It is this concern which led us to increase our focus on web usability projects and which prompted the re-design of this web site. Why take a chance with yours?

BrainWave team members have gained recognition for our work in the area of web usability consulting, testing, and training. Informed by the work of Jakob Nielsen and other proponents of Web usability and accessibility, team members have overseen the design and implementation of user test beds at various levels of complexity and have been retained to evaluate and/or overhaul site content to conform to current usability standards and practices.

BrainWave principal Pam Blackstone is known for her expertise in this area. She has written numerous articles on the subject and teaches a popular course on this topic.