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Application design is a very important and needs careful analysis and needs to follow the steps as follows:

1. Customer Research - The most important aspect of usability is gaining a first-hand perspective of what your customers are trying to achieve. This goes beyond the current requirements and explores the deep, often unstated needs of your customers.

A combination of ethnographic research and focused task analysis allows us to assemble and prioritize the features, information and presentation requirements of your software or device.

Customer research is valuable throughout the development life cycle. At the concept stage, it frames and prioritizes functionality. During the design phase, it provides the basis for an appropriate user interface.

A typical research activity involves at least 3 customers (or potential customers) and a cross-section of the stakeholders. We'll learn who they are, what they do, how they do it, and how your software can make life easier.

Deliverables:

* Facilitated Interviews
* Ethnographic Analysis
* Task Analysis
* Summary of Findings
* Recommendations

2. Requirements - Requirements can be written at different levels of detail, depending on your development process and corporate culture. We're comfortable writing requirements at any level of detail, from CEO to QA.

Requirements have to be complete, well-structured, and written for the appropriate audience. We have the experience to get it done right.

A typical requirements definition activity spans several weeks and for a major product can extend for several months. That might seem like a long time, but it isn't. You're going to do all that work anyway, so you may as well do it up front. We learned that the hard way years ago.

Deliverables:

* Detailed Interviews
* User Interaction Summary
* User Interface Storyboard
* Requirements Specifications
* Recommendations

3. Prototype - Building a prototype is a very rewarding exercise. You get to see your dreams come alive in a variety of ways. Our prototyping activities include usability design, because it’s the only way to develop a meaningful prototype.

We can start with a clean sheet of paper and create brand new designs, or we can use your existing software or requirements as a guide.

The prototype development process results in a detailed, graphical walkthrough of a given set of user tasks (or of the entire system). This can range from a series of PowerPoint slides to a fully interactive, web-based system.

The next step is to conduct usability testing, and obtain feedback from customers. Since they get to participate in the process, your customers will be falling in love with your new software.

Deliverables:

* User Interaction Summary
* Initial Concept Sketches
* Screen Designs
* Integrated Prototype
* Recommendations

4. Expert Review -Expert reviews (also known as heuristic reviews) can be performed at any time, on your existing device, web site or application, to identify areas for improvement. In accordance with the ISO 9241 standard for usability, our team will assess every screen for functionality, layout, navigation, workflow, fitness to purpose, ease-of-use, performance, and anything that might annoy your customers. If you've already got some new designs in the works, let us have a look at them. If we spot any problems, then they can be fixed while the fixing’s still cheap and easy.

Deliverables:

* Summary of Findings
* Recommendations

5. Usability Testing - After you've done your homework on customer research, made decisions about the functionality and developed prototypes for various implementation approaches, it’s time to test the assumptions you have made.

We conduct formal sessions with your end users and other stakeholders, looking for sources of confusion. We measure how long it takes users to respond, and we see how users feel about the layout and navigational choices made. We also capture facial expressions via video and review them later, which is especially helpful for complex workflows or multi-step sequences on screens.

Usability testing is valuable throughout the development life-cycle. During the prototyping stage, it helps us see what’s working and what’s not. We can then adjust a design and quickly re-test it to see if we got it right. A final test before launch ensures that your device, web site, or application is truly ready.

We use state-of-the-art testing facilities designed to capture every frown, hesitation, raised eyebrow, and smile. Or we can bring our team to your place and observe users in their natural habitats.

Deliverables:

* Video Recordings
* Observations
* Recommendations

6. UI Design - Ugly interfaces make software harder to use and cost you money — it’s that simple. With our experience researching users and testing software, we like to think we've learned a thing or two about good design. Sure, we know how to use white space, we understand color theory, page layout, how the eye behaves… all of that. More importantly, we know the difference between what your users will accept, and what they will love.

Deliverables:

* Concept Mockups
* High Fidelity Mockups
* Interaction Specifications
* Visual Style Guide