Paul Rouke and PRWD on User Centered Design

Just a quick update from PRWD HQ.

After just completing work for the N Brown group, our very own Usability expert, Paul Rouke, was head-hunted not only once but twice in the same day! Don’t worry though he’s not going anywhere, but as an upshot PRWD might be working with a major player in the British food retail market. Not to mention currently strengthening a partnership with a Manchester based (2008 NMA award winning) digital agency, who work with some major sporting authorities. Things are moving very fast, my feet have barely touched the ground in my first two weeks here and it shows no signs of slowing down.

So its been almost 3 months since I first started blogging and a lot has happened. In a way I feel it has provided a kind of butterfly effect for me personally and my digital agency, so much so that our new business cards and stationery promote this blog as a resource for best practice advice on usability, user experience and information architecture.

So below I have provided a personal summary of why the inception of this blog has being a real success on a number of levels…

1. I have really benefited from focusing some of my energy specifically on my core skills on user centred design and usability
2. I am really happy with the articles I’ve been writing, with a good mix of purely my own thoughts along with comments and links to other relevant and interesting articles
3. When I’m promoting my user centred design and usability services, in addition to promoting my digital agency website I pass on my blog details which gives a prospective client or associate a much clearer idea of my experiences and expertise which I can bring to a user experience project
4. I am now starting to develop an online identity (a quick search for myself on Google (I can’t be alone in doing this surely!) provides an indication of where I have been and what I have been commenting on recently) along with establishing strong networks of great people
5. I have stepped up my visibility at industry events such as Internet World, Business Startup Live and Open Coffee
6. I have started taking on some exciting projects with forward thinking and innovative clients through PRWD which will allow me personally to further focus on my core user experience and interaction design strengths rather than including actual web programming, as we are looking at taking on highly skilled developers using the likes of Ajax and Ruby on Rails
7. PRWD’S clients are really benefiting from services we have provided, such as significant increases in online enquiries and search engine rankings
8. And not to forget whilst still working very hard I am trying to find a better work/life balance, which is beneficial to my wife, myself and friends and family alike - view a comment I made on this subject recently

So to rewind back to my very 1st post, I certainly won’t be blogging back, instead I’m looking ahead to what should be a very productive and rewarding 2007 (for the 6 months or so that are left!). I certainly intend on posting many more articles on all areas of online user experience which I am passionate about in order to continually build this resource of best practice advice and personal commentary…

Finally, if you’ve got this far thanks for reading, and I’ll be very interested to find out how you have found my blog so far?!

I’m off to London this evening in readiness for what should be a very interesting and productive few days at Internet World 2007 at Earls Court.

I’m looking forward to the break from what is currently a hectic time with both my agency business and my pursuit of focussing more on specific user experience and usability projects, including the establishment of this blog (my target of at least 1 posting per week is already slipping, but I have plenty to write about in the next few weeks which should make for interesting reading).

Internet World Objectives

Along with meeting a few clients who will also be reaping the benefits of the knowledge sharing and fascinating keynote speeches, I’ll be looking in particular to attend some of the sessions on usability and accessibility by the likes of Nomensa, Bunnyfoot and Charlotte Tookey, the Senior Marketing Manager of Tesco.com.

Its always good to find out what other practitioners of user centred design, user testing and usability in the main are both working on and finding out what latest research has been used in support of key decisions made for large blue-chip businesses.

In particular, with being a frequent user of both Asdas and Tesco’s online shopping facility, my opinions on the scope for enhancing the user experience on these kind of shopping sites may in fact co-incide with changes Tesco may be embarking on to further strengthen their position in the retail market.

All in all it should be a very eventful few days and I’ll look forward to providing some of my opinions on the speakers and exhibitors later this week (time permitting).

As a final note if anyone would like to meet me for a coffee over the course of the next 2 days my contact details are within the CV section of this blog.

So here it is, my first blog posting which I expect will be the start of a significant and enlightening change to how I’ve been promoting my experience, thoughts, work and services to the online world…

It makes sense for me to provide an insight into what has finally prompted me to start my own personal blog, so here goes:

Why start blogging now?

• A release from establishing PRWD, a full service design agency - allowing me to focus my thoughts specifically on usability and user experience, rather than a combination of lead generating, client meetings, proposal writing, contract writing, invoicing, account managing etc (you get the picture!)
• Somewhere to share thoughts and experiences with likeminded professionals - as I subscribe to and link to more usability and user experience blogs, such as http://www.usabilitynews.com and http://www.iqcontent.com/blog/ I will be actively promoting and reading about specific news on usability and user experience, something that isn’t possible when I spend all my time at PRWD
• The start of a useful resource for blog subscribers interested in these topics - this will take time, but with my passion for this subject there is no reason why this blog can’t develop followers

Who has encouraged me to start blogging?

1. Craig Hanna - Training Director at E-consultancy (a fantastic resource for best practise online marketing, E-commerce and training) - having previously established a full service agency Craig has provided invaluable advice and support as I seek to establish both my business and myself as a user experience professional - thanks alot so far Craig!
2. Ian Jindal - an entrepreneur, corporate executive and advisor - Ian was head of E-commerce at Littlewoods Shop Direct during 2004-2006, which covered 2 of my 6 years also working at Littlewoods Shop Direct as lead user experience designer, and following an intresting and at times enlightening speech at a Digital Shorts event in mid Jan, I re-introduced myself to Ian. On finding out my aspirations to increase my exposure to the online community and promote my skills and services Ian strongly advised that starting my own blog would be a very useful marketing tool - so many thanks for your time Ian and I look forward to catching up with in London soon
3. Ashley Friedlein - CEO at E-consultancy - Along with Craig Hanna at E-consultancy Ashley has been willing to spend time with me sharing his views and offering advice on how better I can market my services and grow my business - many thanks Ashley and also for your referrals you have provided
4. Some of the people running Manchester Digital, of which I can’t remember their names - to quote one of them, “if you are so passionate about user experience and usability you should start blogging about it” - and here I am starting to blog (although this post isn’t exactly rich in this particular subject!)
5. Mischa McLachlan - User Interface, Web and Icon designer - having managed Mischa at Littlewoods Shop Direct, I had no hesitation in asking Mischa to carry out design work for PRWD, something he continues to do for a variety of PRWD’s clients, whilst he continues to develope his exceptional and specialist ability in the art of Icon design. Whilst supporting PRWD exhibiting at ‘How Intelligent is Your Business‘ Mischa encouraged me to start blogging on these topics, and after giving the usual excuses of not having enough time, what can I write about etc, I realised that it really is time for me start blogging - so a big thanks to Mischa who provided the final push..!

I did plan on writing about what kinds of things you can expect to read about if you subscribe to this blog, but a combination of realising the length of this 1st post and my attendance at a sportsman dinner for my football club Old Bolts in around 1 hour, I need to go and done my tuxedo and shine my shoes.

Expect more posts soon as I really get into this blogging lark, and thanks for reading.