Name: James Mbuli
Age: 27
Occupation: Chauffeur
Relationship: Single
Uses the internet for: His programming studies, blogging
When he doesn’t feel like studying, James often surfs the internet for hours. He now considers himself a bit of an expert, and has started a blog on general internet use.
When he got to your website, he described it as “hard to use”.
Make sure your website works – before James finds it
The problems James found could have been prevented with functional prototyping. These “sample sites” can be tested with users before it’s exposed to the criticism of general site visitors.
Umlungu does functional prototyping
A functional prototype is worth months of analysis and design time. We can provide functional, working interfaces to establish:
- usability,
- communication,
- effectiveness of design and
- technical decisions.
What this means to you
You save time and money by seeing how your finished product would function.
- Problems with usability are identified and eliminated before your website goes live.
- From here it’s just a hop, skip and a jump to getting the end product that really works – for you and your intended audience.
We fast-track success – our prototypes put into action what our competitors are still putting down on paper.
Prototyping is just one step in our process. Talk to us to help you decide the best course of action for your specific needs.
Name: Margaret Goldblatt
Age: 64
Occupation: Retired
Relationship status: Widow, one child, 2 grandchildren
Uses the internet for: Online shopping, checking Lotto results
Margaret has a lot of time on her hands and spends most of it surfing the internet.
Margaret feels she’s unique – as do all of your website’s visitors.
That’s why she was so upset that she couldn’t contact you through your website.
Let Margaret help build your website
The most important people to your website or interface are the people who use it. That’s why you need to find out who they are, and how they experience your site or interface.
Umlungu does user testing
Our user testing has proven to be extremely successful, because:
- We have developed tried and tested methods over the years.
- Our experience and knowledge of the digital world means we can match the right methods to the right problems.
- We use specialist software.
What this means to you
- You’ll find out exactly where your interface needs to be improved for better usability.
- You’ll know in no uncertain terms which development and design direction you should take – before you spend money on development.
User testing might not be the only solution for you. We prefer to offer you a unique solution. Contact us to talk about what you need.
We recently finished a project for the Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) to help them understand the use of their websites (gov.za, info.gov.za and services.gov.za). We pointed out and interpreted the successes and failures of the websites and provided concrete, practical recommendations on how to move the websites forward.
The process on our part included expert analysis, competitor analysis, user testing, and the design of three functional prototypes as a suggestion for the way forward. We worked with Frances Gordon from Simplified, who evaluated the communication on the three sites.
We’re happy to say that the GCIS has given us immensely positive feedback. We wish them all the best in implementing the suggested changes to their sites.
Don’t you just love it when a plan comes together?
We at Umlungu were reeling with the recent news that the city of Durban spent R6.5 million on a new web portal related to the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
No matter how we approach that figure, it simply doesn’t make sense. We completely agree with other industry professionals who have said that the site could have been developed for 20% of the current cost – that would put it at around R1.3 million. (Even then, it had better be able to do the dishes.)
On top of that, the city, as well as the company who did the development (AdaptIT), are keeping mum on the tender process – or whether there even was one!
Why not judge for yourself? The site can be found here. Related articles on the subject can be found here.
Helped GCIS, along with Simplified, understand the successes and failures of the websites (gov.za, services.gov.za and info.gov.za) and provided concrete recommendations – including three functional prototypes – on how to move the websites forward.
Built the administration system behind the interface.
