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In This Section
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Usable Web Sites.
We can help you navigate the choppy seas of Web site usability, and we've got a track record of success with the public sector to prove it.
Whether you need a part-time usability consultant to partner with you for the long-haul, or a project-based specialist to provide an independent assessment of your site's usability, you can rely on us.
Our certified usability analysts
know the ins and outs of human factors engineering principles. From site scorecards that benchmark you against best practices on evidence-based design theory, to task analysis that measures the usability of your critical tasks for success ratios, time and clicks to goal, your Web site will shine like a gem when we're finished. Read up on our favorite projects here.
On This Page:
The AF Portal at the USAF: Usability Consultant
Council on Competitiveness: Task Analysis + Expert Review
Daughters of Charity: Expert Review
Before the Firm: the 1st Generation of energy.gov
The AF Portal at the USAF:
Usability Consultant
While serving as a portal strategist with the US Air Force GCSS-AF Portal team from August 2002 to 2007, Emerald Strategies founder Kathy McShea was the primary user experience advocate and authority on the HQ team.
She championed a usability focus to the redesign of the Next Generation Portal to provide users with fewer clicks to content, decreased time to task and a higher success rate on core tasks as measured by a series of usability studies.
| :: | Authored two editions of Web content guidelines for Content Managers to provide a training resource to address content usability and improve user satisfaction |
| :: | Created Key Performance Indicator and user feedback framework to analyze and target improvements |
| :: | Leveraged federal expertise on standards for Web content and call centers to guide a plan to improve the AF Portal help desk to help correct caller access and delay issues |
| :: | Led effective marketing campaigns to create a message - Get on the same page - that reflected the business case of the site in order to spread the word about AF Portal adoption |
| :: | Provided leadership and support in requirements gathering and program direction |
As part of the roll-out of the Next Generation AF Portal we also produced a short video to explain improvements that had been made and encourage people across the AF Portal to register for accounts. The video clip is available for viewing below.
Council on Competitiveness: Task Analysis
ES was brought in by Songmasters LLC, a brand marketing consultant to the Council as part of an effort to revitalize the brand image and communications profile -- including website improvements -- for CoC. In this role, we made recommendations on the look, organization and interactivity of their Web sites.
ES conducted heuristic reviews to evaluate and recommend changes to three Web sites managed by this organization. The evaluations were based on over 100 best practice criteria. These recommendations become the to-do list of improvements and enhancements to the Web sites.
In addition, ES conducted a usability test with task analysis on critical tasks for the primary site to test it’s effectiveness with seven representative end-users. User task analysis is a method to gain both qualitative and quantifiable data on users’ behaviors and opinions. Quantifiable data includes the users’ time, clicks and ability to complete tasks on the Web site. The qualifiable data is from the user’s ratings of satisfaction or confidence levels after each task.
Finally, ES accomplished development work to deliver enhancements to its shopping cart and newsletter sign-up, and delivered a research paper on digital rights management.
Daughters of Charity: Expert Review
Emerald Strategies, Inc. partnered with the Emmitsberg Province of the Daughters of Charity, a Catholic order of nuns serving the poor, to conduct an expert review of their Web site. The methodology will consist of a tested scorecard instrument that compares the site performance with four areas of concern:
:: Adherence to evidence based design theory in the field of human factors engineering, also known as usability
:: Compliance with Section 508 guidelines published by the Department of Justice for online accessibility to the disabled
:: Inclusion of “must have” content developed by ES from a user perspective
:: Following Content guidelines for best practices in appropriate and inappropriate content activities, such as copyright rules
The site review against the best practice scorecard will be done by a certified usability analyst and supplemented by an online evaluation tool to help validate the results.
The scorecard results was analyzed and presented to the client as a Powerpoint slideshow. A technical briefing with the Usability Analyst was delivered in person to present the findings of the usability study, our analysis of what the data shows and respond to stakeholder questions that resulted from this research.
This briefing was part of the internal communications work necessary to build a foundation for making improvements to the site and starting a conversation about adopting standards.
Before the Firm:
The 1st Generation of energy.gov
Before founding Emerald Strategies, Inc. Kathy McShea was a leader in making federal Web sites more usable while serving as Director of Consumer Information at the US Department of Energy.
When she arrived, the site was named www.doe.gov and the information architecture largely followed the organizational chart of the agency. She spearheaded a cross-cutting team of Web publishers to create the first generation of www.energy.gov where information was organized in a consumer-friendly topical navigation. Shortly after the new consumer portal was launched, the old site was retired, with traffic redirected to the new URL.
The Web project was done in parallel with a first of it's kind Management Review of the agency's departmental document clearinghouses and toll-free hotlines and call centers. The review's goal was to build a foundation for integrating one-stop-shop access to consumer resources. One outcome of the review was the launch 1-800-dial-DOE to provide an easy to market consumer gateway to the most popular clearinghouses at DOE.
The new look and feel was designed to tell the story of a friendly agency dedicated to working for America's consumers. The new URL made it easier and more intuitive to find online. The result? Before the majority of the traffic was from the dot gov domain. After - the dot com traffic quadrupled. By re-charging the Department of Energy site with a usability focus, we succeeded in promoting better delivery of existing services to a bigger audience at a reduced cost.
The launch of the site was accompanied by an innovative marketing campaign with a humerous PSA about energy efficiency and posters that appeared in mass transit systems in ten major cities.
The core theme of the Web site and the marketing effort was "put energy.gov to work for you" which was a story addressing perceptions that the agency was irrelevant to people's lives and failing to function properly.
You can watch the PSA ad at below; It begins with two spots focused on power outage awareness, the first of which is in spanish. The last spot features Norm the "helpful energy guy" with energy saving tips. The feel of all spots is funny, relevant and friendly.
