Frontend is a User Experience Design consultancy, helping our clients deliver better products and services to their customers. We provide a complete range of user centred design services for websites, web applications, software, digital devices, mobile applications and print. From initial research to creative design and testing, Frontend ensures your product or services meet the needs of your target market.
User centred design places users and customers at the heart of the design and development process; creating superior products & services, reducing costs and protecting your brand. Our process includes user requirements gathering, design solutions and validation. Design and validation is carried out in several iterations; ensuring solutions meet user needs before final implementation.
Whether designing a software application, social networking website or the user interface for a digital music player, understanding the requirements of target users is critical. Accurate insight into their needs, key tasks and contextual environment enables you to create excellent customer experiences. Our range of user research services include:
Frontend provide state of the art user research facilities including picture-in-picture participant recording, client viewing facilities and eye tracking. We have extensive experience in developing user research and user modelling programmes for clients such as Barclays Bank, AIB, O2, the BBC and HP. Frontend also provide full design services to interpret user research into tangible solutions.
We love problems. For us problem-solving is at the very heart of the design process. Once we identify what the challenges are, we start thinking about a better way - sketching ideas, task flows and visual layouts, depending on what's required. Regardless of market or technology we can apply our user-centred design approach to create innovative and effective design solutions. Find out more from our case studies.
Our design team can deliver solutions in a wide range of formats:
Testing designs with end users is central to Frontend's approach. User testing involves the assessment of the design by observing REAL USERS performing key tasks. It provides timely insight into the effectiveness of proposed designs and pinpoints where improvements can be made.
User testing can be conducted at any stage during the development process - although to minimise the risk of redevelopment testing earlier is often better. Frontend provide complete prototype development services for user testing and can advise on the best approach. We can test sketch designs, wireframe interaction, design mock-ups or fully implemented designs providing you with the insight you need when you need it.
Frontend provide state of the art user research facilities including screen capture, picture-in-picture video and client viewing facilities. We can also provide eye tracking as part of our user testing service. Frontend take care of all participant recruitment needs and our specialist usability team have considerable experience in developing effective test methodologies. Most importantly, our multi-disciplinary team not only identify usability issues, but also provide practical redesign solutions where needed.
Frontend's design validation and user feedback gathering services include:
Every year millions of electronic products are returned by consumers. In reality only 5% have flaws; 27% are returned because purchasers changed their minds, while a massive 68% of returns are because users think that the product does not work - or at least not the way they expected it to. The cost of poor out of box experience is USD13.8 billion per year in the US alone.
Frontend specialise in designing effective Out of Box Experiences (OOBE), from the product packaging through to instructions and first-time ease of use. We define customer journeys that are easy to follow, reducing the risk of user error and subsequent calls to technical support. A smooth OOBE creates a lasting impression with your customers and strengthens your brand perception.
Frontend's Out of Box Experience service includes:
"Retailers and vendors could save a fortune if they spent more time producing instructions that were easy to understand and marketing material that did not promise the moon on a spoon"
Customer Experience is core to any business where profitability is the reward for creating satisfied customers. Knowing your customers needs and ensuring their satisfaction is an ongoing process.
Frontend can help ensure that your organisations internal development processes are truly customer centric. We can work with you to determine how to cost effectively involve end-users in the development cycle.
Our flexible strategy programmes includes:
All senior consultants from Frontend have a minimum of ten years practice in industry with extensive practical experience.
Frontend provide Eye Tracking as part of our user testing and market research services. Eye Tracking provides unique methods to evaluate how users and consumers perceive designs, media and messages. Using non-intrusive, specialist equipment users gaze patterns are tracked by reflecting invisible infrared light onto the eye, recording the reflection pattern with a sensor system, and then calculating the exact point of gaze using a geometrical model. This allows user's visual behaviour to be followed even if they are not verbalising thought processes.
Knowing where users are looking is invaluable in identifying the origin of usability problems, design effectiveness and user behaviour. It allows you to stop guessing and start knowing what users are really doing rather than what they say they're doing! Any redesign recommendations are backed up with evidence from the real world presented as compelling visualisations, reports and video clips.
Eye tracking can be used to evaluate almost anything including: