This was a redesign effort for Sureprep, a tax document automation solution provider in the US. and this effort was aimed at positioning the website as a best-in-class product advisor. When we were about to start the project client supplied us with a hand-ful of examples which they thought were good designs.
As a UXer we did have the responsibility of explaining them the short-falls of example based approached and convinced them to go for a research based approach. Is it not cool to be little ahead than just following the front-runners? At HFI we always emphasized and prioritized the background research, good and bad examples and the science behind the interactive experience.
Stakeholder interviews
We carried out series of Interviews with stakeholders to undertand
:: Business & industry :: Company & branding goals :: Key goals & vision for the new website
:: Business & industry :: Company & branding goals :: Key goals & vision for the new website
User interviews
User interviews helped us get an understanding of users’ overall impression of the site, their thought process around specific tasks, key problem areas, user needs directly from the users.
Persona
To crystallize user data and to make it available for the entire team strong we developed personas that captured most behaviors of the real users of the webstie.
Ecosystem
The next step was to craft the eco-system of users. This eco-system chart was crucial to understand the context-of-use of the website, and other applications.
Initial information architecture
A quick and an not-so formal card sorting exercise guided the information architecture of the website. It showed us how users categorize information in a logical manner, especially when the team did not have a deep domain knowledge.
Wireframing, Prototyping and user testing.
Wireframes took multiple iterations and the final set of wireframes to create prototype was finalised. The prototypes were tested with the end-users for their feedback, likes and dislikes. Tweaks were made to the final set of wireframes and were handed over to the visual design team.
Visually treated homepage
We had a visual design team that took brand guidelines from Sureprep and made this final deliverable.
The final formative testing gave us the confidence that the Sureprep's novice users found the site to be very helpful in decision making, especially because of the sandbox environment introduced in the new design. Product comparison was also made easy and that helped them to make quick and informed decision as well. The new design also brought down the number of customer care calls.
