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	<title>Paul Rouke and PRWD on User Centered Design</title>
	<atom:link href="http://www.paulrouke.co.uk/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
	<link>http://www.paulrouke.co.uk</link>
	<description>Usability Best Practice for E-commerce and Software Development</description>
	<pubDate>Fri, 04 Jul 2008 15:33:45 +0000</pubDate>
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		<title>Strapline Brainstorming for UCDcommerce</title>
		<link>http://www.paulrouke.co.uk/2008/07/04/strapline-brainstorming-for-ucdcommerce/</link>
		<comments>http://www.paulrouke.co.uk/2008/07/04/strapline-brainstorming-for-ucdcommerce/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 04 Jul 2008 15:33:45 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Paul Rouke</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[UCDcommerce]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Remarkable]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[retailing]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[ucd]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.paulrouke.co.uk/?p=123</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Following the recent launch of our UCDcommerce platform, we&#8217;re now beginning to brainstorm potential straplines for the platform, which will feature on the new logo (hold your horses, we&#8217;ve not got to that yet!) and website (when designed and developed).
Straplines Following My Blue Chip Retailing Background
To recap on my reasons why I decided to begin [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Following the recent <a href="http://www.paulrouke.co.uk/2008/04/17/prwd-launch-our-1st-best-practice-driven-e-commerce-site/">launch of our UCDcommerce platform</a>, we&#8217;re now beginning to brainstorm potential straplines for the platform, which will feature on the new logo (hold your horses, we&#8217;ve not got to that yet!) and website (when designed and developed).</p>
<h3>Straplines Following My Blue Chip Retailing Background</h3>
<p>To recap on my reasons why I decided to begin developing UCDcommerce 12 months ago, this came off the back of my 7 years commercial experience in User Centered Design for <a href="http://www.shopdirect.com/">Shop Direct Group</a>, the UK&#8217;s biggest shop at home group. PRWD certainly wasn&#8217;t going to settle for any off-the-shelf or mid level e-commerce platform, instead we were going to be in complete control of how our platform will evolve, based upon client, but most importantly users, requirements.</p>
<p>With a continual evolvement of UCDcommerce planned, my initial strapline ideas very much revolved around our aim to deliver enterprise level e-commerce solutions to blue chip clients (both existing and new), and I must admit I was very happy with these 1st ideas.</p>
<p>If you&#8217;d like to see my ideas 1st hand, download a <a href="http://www.prwd.co.uk/assets/pdf/UCDcommerce-strapline-ideas.pdf">pdf mindmap of my initial strapline ideas</a> for UCDcommerce.</p>
<p>Alternatively I&#8217;ve listed them out below:</p>
<ul>
<li>blue chip e-commerce intelligence</li>
<li>user centered enterprise e-commerce</li>
<li>remarkable e-commerce solutions</li>
<li>harnessing consumer intelligence</li>
<li>user driven e-commerce</li>
<li>where business goals meet user goals</li>
<li>consumer driven e-commerce</li>
<li>engage, convert and retain customers</li>
<li>results driven e-commerce</li>
<li>enterprise level intelligence</li>
</ul>
<h3>What do mean they are corporate and boring!?</h3>
<p>Following my personal initial brainstorming the team got together, and although the consensus was that these straplines certainly encompassed the vision and strategy for UCDcommerce, they have a strong leaning towards being corporate and ultimately boring. In addition Katie felt that although users/consumers are key drivers for our platform, these straplines lacked more of a commercial focus. To quote Katie,</p>
<blockquote><p>&#8220;Most of these straplines aren&#8217;t selling the benefits to the seller, only the user, <strong>and they could be more fun!&#8221;</strong></p></blockquote>
<p>Not one for ignoring constructive criticism, I embraced our teams views and we swiftly moved on to thinking of how to combine the user benefits and the commercial objectives for our User Centered Designed e-commerce platform. </p>
<p><em>Oh and adding some fun and personality into the strapline where high on the agenda!</em></p>
<h3>Straplines Following Group Brainstorming</h3>
<p>You can download a <a href="http://www.prwd.co.uk/assets/pdf/UCDcommerce-group-strapline-ideas.pdf">pdf mindmap of our group strapline ideas</a> for UCDcommerce.</p>
<p>Alternatively, they are listed out below:</p>
<ul>
<li>converting shoppers to buyers</li>
<li>driving shoppers to buy</li>
<li>from shoppers to buyers</li>
<li>from surfing to spending</li>
<li>user experience drives sales</li>
<li>more than a shopping solution</li>
<li>selling, the right way</li>
<li>consumer driven e-commerce</li>
<li>engage and convert shoppers</li>
<li>because happy users spend more</li>
<li>because satisfied users increase sales</li>
<li>because users want to enjoy shopping</li>
<li>if they enjoy shopping they&#8217;ll buy</li>
</ul>
<h3>And the new strapline is&#8230;</h3>
<p>We&#8217;ve not decided yet! Alongside the strapline we are developing the long term strategy for UCDcommerce, and therefore we&#8217;re making sure that we don&#8217;t rush in making the right decision.</p>
<p>We&#8217;d be interested in finding out your views on which straplines resonate best with you, <em>knowing that UCDcommerce is all about delivering user centered shopping experiences which provide engaging shopping experiences, resulting in increased conversions, referrals, basket sizes and repeat visits for our clients</em>.</p>
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		<title>The Dawn of a New Era at PRWD</title>
		<link>http://www.paulrouke.co.uk/2008/07/03/the-dawn-of-a-new-era-at-prwd/</link>
		<comments>http://www.paulrouke.co.uk/2008/07/03/the-dawn-of-a-new-era-at-prwd/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 03 Jul 2008 13:38:50 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Katie Brunt</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[PRWD]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Usability]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[User Experience]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[marketing]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Remarkable]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.paulrouke.co.uk/?p=122</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[It’s only a taster of what in store, but comes not a moment too soon.
The PRWD website is getting a much needed makeover and will, over the next couple of months, grow in terms of rich media content to include interactive pages, video and bags of personality. It will not only act as a great [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>It’s only a taster of what in store, but comes not a moment too soon.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.prwd.co.uk">PRWD</a> website is getting a much needed makeover and will, over the next couple of months, grow in terms of rich media content to include interactive pages, video and bags of personality. It will not only act as a great platform for selling the business and what we do here at PRWD but will also act as a great source of information on current industry topics and research. The site will be a ‘place to stop by’ on the web with its regularly updated content, keeping both our customers and blog subscribers up-to-date and informed. </p>
<p>Paul Rouke, founder of PRWD, admitted that the revamp was long overdue but as the business quickly rocketed into its new market place with some very big clients on the books, the website took the back burner.</p>
<blockquote><p>&#8220;With Katie coming into the business as our marketing and brand development executive, she has wasted no time in highlighting the areas (and there are certainly quite a few of them!) where the business needs to significantly improve from a branding and marketing perspective. Not only does the business site need some much needed personality, it was completely lacking in informing visitors of our expertise and credibility in the Usability and Web Development industry, as well as not shouting about some of our exceptional blue chip client wins.</p>
<p>With our new blog design and now the now business homepage both live, visitors can at last begin to fully appreciate the work we are doing and the expert people that are behind PRWD.&#8221;</p></blockquote>
<h3>Light at the end of the tunnel</h3>
<p>Having taken on several new members of staff over the past couple of months we are now able to begin addressing the website so that it does PRWD justice.</p>
<p>I think you’ll all agree the new homepage for the website make a huge difference. We hope you enjoy it. </p>
<h3>Our new homepage&#8230;</h3>
<p><img src="http://www.prwd.co.uk/assets/images/prwd-new-homepage.jpg" alt="PRWD's new homepage" /></p>
<h3>And what we used to have&#8230;</h3>
<p><img src="http://www.prwd.co.uk/assets/images/prwd-old-homepage.jpg" alt="PRWD's old homepage" /></p>
<p>The website’s preview will be launched later today, with the major rebuild underway and likely to go live later this summer. We’ll keep you posted. </p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<item>
		<title>Busy Busy Busy</title>
		<link>http://www.paulrouke.co.uk/2008/07/02/busy-busy-busy/</link>
		<comments>http://www.paulrouke.co.uk/2008/07/02/busy-busy-busy/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 02 Jul 2008 15:30:17 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Katie Brunt</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[PRWD]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Personal]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[head hunted]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[new business]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.paulrouke.co.uk/?p=121</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[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 [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Just a quick update from PRWD HQ. </p>
<p>After just completing work for the N Brown group, our very own Usability expert, <a href="http://www.paulrouke.co.uk/about/">Paul Rouke</a>, 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 <a href="http://www.prwd.co.uk/">PRWD</a> 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. </p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<item>
		<title>PHP Framework Comparison: Zend Framework</title>
		<link>http://www.paulrouke.co.uk/2008/07/01/php-framework-comparison-zend/</link>
		<comments>http://www.paulrouke.co.uk/2008/07/01/php-framework-comparison-zend/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 01 Jul 2008 12:03:27 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Rob Knight</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Tehnical Architecture]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Web Development]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[framework]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[php]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[zend]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.paulrouke.co.uk/?p=119</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I have recently been researching various PHP frameworks, for use in upcoming projects.  These projects are large-scale, enterprise PHP systems which are going to be developed and maintained over a long period of time, so making the right choice of framework is crucial.  Also important is the ease of development – how easy the different [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I have recently been researching various PHP frameworks, for use in upcoming projects.  These projects are large-scale, enterprise PHP systems which are going to be developed and maintained over a long period of time, so making the right choice of framework is crucial.  Also important is the ease of development – how easy the different frameworks make application development, and how they support rapid development, prototyping and agile development processes.  This post is the first in a series comparing the strengths and weakness of PHP frameworks.</p>
<p>The first two frameworks I have considered are the <a href="http://framework.zend.com">Zend Framework</a> (currently at version 1.5) and <a href="http://www.symfony-project.org">Symfony</a> (version 1.0, though <a href="http://www.symfony-project.org/blog/2008/06/30/the-wait-is-over-symfony-1-1-released">version 1.1 has just been released</a>).  I have considered a number of different factors and my judgements are very much a subjective view.  I have had plenty of experience of different software libraries, from coding C++ using the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Foundation_Class_Library">Microsoft Foundation Classes library</a> in the late 90s, to PHP using the <a href="http://drupal.org">Drupal</a> CMS/F (whether one considers Drupal to be a &#8216;framework&#8217; is a <a href="http://www.albin.net/drupal/cms-framework">matter of debate</a>) and Python using <a href="http://www.djangoproject.com">Django</a>.  In this time I think that I have learned to spot the strengths and weaknesses of frameworks and libraries, so, although subjective, my views aren&#8217;t totally uneducated.</p>
<h3>Zend Framework</h3>
<p>The first thing to say about ZF is that it wasn&#8217;t what I expected.  Having used Django and observed the general trend in web frameworks towards code generation and advanced <a title="Object-relational mapping" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Object-relational_mapping">ORM</a>, ZF was surprising in that it bucked this trend entirely.  If you want <a title="Create, Read, Update, Delete" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Create%2C_read%2C_update_and_delete">CRUD</a> code with ZF, you can write it yourself.  This, in itself, is not necessarily a bad thing, but it is slightly discouraging when you just want to get in and have a play about it with the framework.  In this day and age, the ability to rapidly assemble a working prototype is very important, and ZF could go further in making this easy.</p>
<h3>Features</h3>
<p>After a while of using ZF, it becomes apparent that my initial objection – that it doesn&#8217;t really speed up development during the very early phase of a project – is an intentional design choice.  The ZF developers refer to this as <a href="http://andigutmans.blogspot.com/2008/03/get-it-now-use-at-will-development.html">&#8216;use-at-will&#8217; architecture</a>; in old-fashioned software engineering lingo, we might say that ZF is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loose_coupling#Loose_coupling_in_computing">&#8216;loosely-coupled&#8217;</a>, in that the various classes it provides can be used separately, without reference to the rest of the framework.  This makes ZF a great choice for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refactoring">refactoring legacy code</a>, as you can just plug in those bits of the framework that you need, without having to modify anything else.  If all you really want is the (very useful) <a href="http://framework.zend.com/manual/en/zend.service.akismet.html">ZF Akismet class</a> (which interfaces with <a href="http://akismet.com/">Automattic&#8217;s Akismet service</a>), you don&#8217;t need to use the rest of the library at all.</p>
<p>In fact, after a while I started to think that the aims of ZF are actually somewhat different to the aims of other frameworks.  Most other PHP frameworks were funded and contributed to by developers who needed the functionality in their day jobs.  <a href="http://codeigniter.com/">CodeIgniter</a> came from the development of <a href="http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&amp;ct=res&amp;cd=1&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fexpressionengine.com%2F&amp;ei=0xpqSOGkDY3SmwOKuPHJDA&amp;usg=AFQjCNGpPjL_Te01PiwaO7v2uK6FLFnS6w&amp;sig2=JZZpjdFOVHovjrcuoZ6nMA">ExpressionEngine</a>, Fabien Potencier&#8217;s <a href="http://www.sensiolabs.com">Sensio Labs</a> created Symfony to power their in-house projects, Drupal was started by <a href="http://buytaert.net">Dries Buytaert</a> to provide a basic community website and forum and <a href="http://www.rubyonrails.org">Ruby on Rails</a> began life as a basic library of functions used by <a href="http://37signals.com">37 Signals</a> for the development of <a href="http://basecamphq.com">Basecamp</a>.  The Zend Framework, on the other hand, was funded by Zend specifically to create a strong, reliable PHP framework in order to give PHP a rival to Rails and Django.  It is, in effect, an &#8216;immaculately conceived&#8217; framework, designed from first principles to support the widest-possible deployment, rather than to solve specific common problems.</p>
<p>In this respect, ZF is more of a &#8216;library&#8217; than a &#8216;framework&#8217;.  It provides a set of classes that you can use as you see fit, taking out the ones that interest you, and leaving the rest.  What it does not really do is provide you with the basic foundational structure of an app that most other web development frameworks tend to do these days.  This is probably due to Zend&#8217;s different motivations in creating ZF – they are not a bunch of deadline-driven web developers trying to make their own jobs easier by creating a framework to build new apps with; instead they are attempting to create a set of classes that others can use in a whole variety of different ways, many of which the ZF developers cannot anticipate.</p>
<p>As such, ZF represents something similar to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_Template_Library">C++ Standard Template Library</a> – the object-oriented successor of the older C Standard Library.  Zend appear to be trying to give developers a new set of modern, object-oriented tools with which to build applications, perhaps replacing some of the reliance on the <a href="http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/001119.html">huge legacy PHP feature set</a>.</p>
<h3>Documentation</h3>
<p>ZF&#8217;s <a href="http://framework.zend.com/manual/">documentation</a> is poor.  There&#8217;s a reasonably good reference for each class, but there are nowhere near enough example applications and tutorials.  This is probably related to the fact that ZF classes can be used in isolation from each other and there isn&#8217;t always a clear way of constructing a basic app to make use of these classes, but this is no excuse.  For a developer considering ZF for the first time, it can be hard to see exactly how one is meant to make use of it.  What examples there are tend to be quite complex and focus on the arcana of the framework&#8217;s implementation than practical use cases.  This is my single biggest problem with ZF.</p>
<h3>Community</h3>
<p>The genesis of ZF also contributes to the slightly odd feel of the community.  Coming from a Drupal background, I&#8217;m used to a very self-reliant community, with a strong &#8216;do it yourself&#8217; approach to improving the software, the kind of ethos that, to me, signifies a truly great open source development.  The Zend Framework doesn&#8217;t have that yet.  Too often, the &#8216;community&#8217; seems to consist of &#8216;users&#8217; rather than &#8216;doers&#8217;, people who would rather <a href="http://blog.alcastle.com/2008/06/08/zend-framework-no-file-upload/">petition Zend to improve the software</a> than submit a patch or create a new module.  Open source projects, if they work well, are a bit like crowd-surfing at a gig – you throw yourself out there and hope that enough people decide to catch you.  At the moment, it&#8217;s not apparent that there are enough people to catch the Zend Framework, so it can&#8217;t make the leap.  The developers can&#8217;t quite let go of their creation, either because they are unwilling to, or because there&#8217;s not enough people there to catch it.  This does lead to some unfortunate examples of developers reacting personally to criticism, rather than the standard open source response of &#8216;fix it yourself if you don&#8217;t like it!&#8217;.</p>
<h3>Conclusion</h3>
<p>ZF&#8217;s strengths are clear – the code is well-written, covers a range of common web development tasks, including some areas neglected by other frameworks, and succeeds in making it easy for developers to incorporate ZF code into legacy projects.  These strengths alone make it an important piece of software that is likely to remain relevant for cutting-edge PHP developers over the next few years.  The framework&#8217;s weaknesses – that it isn&#8217;t really a framework – are easily addressable; it&#8217;s not hard to imagine someone creating the additional &#8216;glue&#8217; that would make ZF a viable framework in the mould of Rails and Django.  If that code came from the community rather than Zend, then it would be a sign of ZF blossoming into a truly useful framework.  And if this could all be documented, we might be getting somewhere!</p>
<p>Part two of this post will consider the Symfony framework.  Stay tuned!</p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<item>
		<title>Uncovering the Google User Experience</title>
		<link>http://www.paulrouke.co.uk/2008/06/30/uncovering-the-google-user-experience/</link>
		<comments>http://www.paulrouke.co.uk/2008/06/30/uncovering-the-google-user-experience/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 30 Jun 2008 10:32:26 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Paul Rouke</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[User Experience]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[google]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.paulrouke.co.uk/2008/06/30/uncovering-the-google-user-experience/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I&#8217;ve recently been reading the Usability Blog by Jesper RÃ¸nn-Jensen from Denmark, and he has come across a corporate post by Google on their User Experience Principles.
This really does make for a fascinating insight into how the worlds most respected search engine (and other web applications) treat usability and user experience. What this also allows [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I&#8217;ve recently been reading the <a href="http://justaddwater.dk/http://justaddwater.dk/">Usability Blog</a> by Jesper RÃ¸nn-Jensen from Denmark, and he has come across a corporate post by Google on their <a href="http://www.google.com/intl/en/corporate/ux.html">User Experience Principles</a>.</p>
<p>This really does make for a fascinating insight into how the worlds most respected search engine (and other web applications) treat usability and user experience. What this also allows you to do is look at each of their products and see how aspects of each one of their 10 principles has been applied.</p>
<p>Below is the full details of <a href="http://www.google.com/intl/en/corporate/ux.html">Google&#8217;s User Experience Principles</a>, taken from their site on the 30th June 2008:</p>
<blockquote cite="http://www.google.com/intl/en/corporate/ux.html">
<h3>
      Google User Experience<br />
    </h3>
<h2>Our aspirations</h2>
<p>
      The Google User Experience team aims to create designs that are <a href="#useful">useful</a>, <a href="#fast">fast</a>, <a href="#simple">simple</a>, <a href="#engaging">engaging</a>, <a href="#innovative">innovative</a>, <a href="#universal">universal</a>, <a href="#profitable">profitable</a>, <a href="#beautiful">beautiful</a>, <a href="#trustworthy">trustworthy</a>, and <a href="#personable">personable</a>. Achieving a harmonious balance of these ten principles is a constant challenge. A product that gets the balance right is &#8220;Googley&#8221; â€“ and will satisfy and delight people all over the world.
    </p>
<h3>
      Ten principles that contribute to a Googley user experience<br />
    </h3>
<p>
      <a href="" id="useful" name="useful"></a><strong>1. Focus on people</strong> â€“ <strong>their lives, their work, their dreams.</strong></p>
<p>      <span>The Google User Experience team works to discover people&#8217;s actual needs, including needs they can&#8217;t always articulate. Armed with that information, Google can create products that solve real-world problems and spark the creativity of all kinds of people. Improving people&#8217;s lives, not just easing step-by-step tasks, is our goal.</span></p>
<p>      <span>Above all, a well-designed Google product is useful in daily life. It doesn&#8217;t try to impress users with its whizbang technology or visual style</span> <span>â€“</span> <span>though it might have both. It doesn&#8217;t strong-arm people to use features they don&#8217;t want</span> <span>â€“</span> <span>but it does provide a natural growth path for those who are interested. It doesn&#8217;t intrude on people&#8217;s lives</span> <span>â€“</span> <span>but it does open doors for users who want to explore the world&#8217;s information, work more quickly and creatively, and share ideas with their friends or the world.</span></p>
<p>
      <a href="" id="fast" name="fast"></a><strong>2. Every millisecond counts.</strong></p>
<p>      <span>Nothing is more valuable than people&#8217;s time. Google pages load quickly, thanks to slim code and carefully selected image files. The most essential features and text are placed in the easiest-to-find locations. Unnecessary clicks, typing, steps, and other actions are eliminated. Google products ask for information only once and include smart defaults. Tasks are streamlined.</span></p>
<p>      <span>Speed is a boon to users. It is also a competitive advantage that Google doesn&#8217;t sacrifice without good reason.</span>
    </p>
<p>      <a href="" id="simple" name="simple"></a><strong>3. Simplicity is powerful.</strong></p>
<p>      <span>Simplicity fuels many elements of good design, including ease of use, speed, visual appeal, and accessibility. But simplicity starts with the design of a product&#8217;s fundamental functions. Google doesn&#8217;t set out to create feature-rich products; our best designs include only the features that people need to accomplish their goals. Ideally, even products that require large feature sets and complex visual designs appear to be simple as well as powerful.</span></p>
<p>      <span>Google teams think twice before sacrificing simplicity in pursuit of a less important feature. Our hope is to evolve products in new directions instead of just adding more features.</span>
    </p>
<p>
      <a href="" id="engaging" name="engaging"></a><strong>4. Engage beginners and attract experts.</strong></p>
<p>      <span>Designing for many people doesn&#8217;t mean designing for the lowest common denominator. The best Google designs appear quite simple on the surface but include powerful features that are easily accessible to those users who want them. Our intent is to invite beginners with a great initial experience while also attracting power users whose excitement and expertise will draw others to the product.</span></p>
<p>      <span>A well-designed Google product lets new users jump in, offers help when necessary, and ensures that users can make simple and intuitive use of the product&#8217;s most valuable features. Progressive disclosure of advanced features encourages people to expand their usage of the product. Whenever appropriate, Google offers smart features that entice people with complex online lives â€“</span> <span>f</span><span>or instance, people who share data across several devices and computers, work online and off, and crave storage space.</span>
    </p>
<p>
      <a href="" id="innovative" name="innovative"></a><strong>5. Dare to innovate.</strong></p>
<p>      <span>Design consistency builds a trusted foundation for Google products, makes users comfortable, and speeds their work. But it is the element of imagination that transforms designs from ho-hum to delightful.</span></p>
<p>      <span>Google encourages innovative, risk-taking designs whenever they serve the needs of users. Our teams encourage new ideas to come out and play. Instead of just matching the features of existing products, Google wants to change the game.</span>
    </p>
<p>
      <a href="" id="universal" name="universal"></a><strong>6. Design for the world.</strong></p>
<p>      <span>The World Wide Web has opened all the resources of the Internet to people everywhere. For example, many users are exploring Google products while strolling with a mobile device, not sitting at a desk with a personal computer. Our goal is to design products that are contextually relevant and available through the medium and methods that make sense to users. Google supports slower connections and older browsers when possible, and Google allows people to choose how they view information (screen size, font size) and how they enter information (smart query parsing). The User Experience team researches the fundamental differences in user experiences throughout the world and works to design the right products for each audience, device, and culture. Simple translation, or &#8220;graceful degradation&#8221; of a feature set, isn&#8217;t sufficient to meet people&#8217;s needs.</span></p>
<p>      <span>Google is also committed to improving the accessibility of its products. Our desire for simple and inclusive products, and Google&#8217;s mission to make the world&#8217;s information universally accessible, demand products that support assistive technologies and provide a useful and enjoyable experience for everyone, including those with physical and cognitive limitations.</span>
    </p>
<p>
      <a href="" id="profitable" name="profitable"></a><strong>7. Plan for today&#8217;s and tomorrow&#8217;s business.</strong></p>
<p>      <span>Those Google products that make money strive to do so in a way that is helpful to users. To reach that lofty goal, designers work with product teams to ensure that business considerations integrate seamlessly with the goals of users. Teams work to make sure ads are relevant, useful, and clearly identifiable as ads. Google also takes care to protect the interests of advertisers and others who depend on Google for their livelihood.</span></p>
<p>      <span>Google never tries to increase revenue from a product if it would mean reducing the number of Google users in the future. If a profitable design doesn&#8217;t please users, it&#8217;s time to go back to the drawing board. Not every product has to make money, and none should be bad for business.</span></p>
<p>
      <a href="" id="beautiful" name="beautiful"></a><strong>8. Delight the eye without distracting the mind.</strong></p>
<p>      <span>If people looked at a Google product and said &#8220;Wow, that&#8217;s beautiful!&#8221; the User Experience team would cheer. A positive first impression makes users comfortable, assures them that the product is reliable and professional, and encourages people to make the product their own.</span></p>
<p>      <span>A minimalist aesthetic makes sense for most Google products because a clean, clutter-free design loads quickly and doesn&#8217;t distract users from their goals. Visually appealing images, color, and fonts are balanced against the needs for speed, scannable text, and easy navigation. Still, &#8220;simple elegance&#8221; is not the best fit for every product. Audience and cultural context matter. A Google product&#8217;s visual design should please its users and improve usability for them.</span></p>
<p>
      <a href="" id="trustworthy" name="trustworthy"></a><strong>9. Be worthy of people&#8217;s trust.</strong></p>
<p>      <span>Good design can go a long way to earn the trust of the people who use Google products. Establishing Google&#8217;s reliability starts with the basics</span> <span>â€“</span> <span>for example, making sure the interface is efficient and professional, actions are easily reversed, ads are clearly identified, terminology is consistent, and users are never unhappily surprised. In addition, Google products open themselves to the world by including links to competitors and encouraging user contributions such as community maps or iGoogle gadgets.</span></p>
<p>      <span>A greater challenge is to make sure that Google demonstrates respect for users&#8217; right to own and control their own data. Google is transparent about how it uses information and never shares data outside Google without a user&#8217;s explicit consent. Our products warn users about such dangers as insecure connections, different privacy policies on other websites, actions that may make users vulnerable to spam, or the possibility that data shared outside Google may be stored elsewhere. Google is reassuring but truthful about data sharing so that users can make informed choices. The larger Google becomes, the more essential it is to live up to our &#8220;Don&#8217;t be evil&#8221; motto.</span></p>
<p>
      <a href="" id="personable" name="personable"></a><strong>10. Add a human touch.</strong></p>
<p>      <span>Google includes a wide range of personalities, and our designs have personality, too. Text and design elements are friendly, quirky, and smart</span> <span>â€“</span> <span>and not boring, close-minded, or arrogant. Google text talks directly to people and offers the same practical, informal assistance that anyone would offer to a neighbor who asked a question. And Google doesn&#8217;t let fun or personality interfere with other elements of a design, especially when people&#8217;s livelihood, or their ability to find vital information, is at stake.</span></p>
<p>      <span>Google doesn&#8217;t know everything, and no design is perfect. Our products ask for feedback, and Google acts on that feedback. When practicing these design principles, the Google User Experience team seeks the best possible balance in the time available for each product. Then the cycle of iteration, innovation, and improvement continues.</span></p>
</blockquote>
<p>My particular favourites in relation to Google are points 1, 2 and 3, on being <a href="#useful">useful</a>, <a href="#fast">fast</a> and <a href="#simple">simple</a>, and these 3 principles can&#8217;t be more accurately portrayed than in the main <a href="http://www.google.com">Google</a> homepage.</p>
<p>Google, as a Usability and User Experience professional, (not to mention an end user) I salute you!</p>
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		<title>PRWD take on Marketing and Brand Development Executive</title>
		<link>http://www.paulrouke.co.uk/2008/06/19/prwd-take-on-marketing-and-brand-development-executive/</link>
		<comments>http://www.paulrouke.co.uk/2008/06/19/prwd-take-on-marketing-and-brand-development-executive/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 19 Jun 2008 12:54:56 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Paul Rouke</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[PRWD]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[UCDcommerce]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[recruitment]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Remarkable]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.paulrouke.co.uk/2008/06/19/prwd-take-on-marketing-and-brand-development-executive/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I am delighted to welcome Katie Brunt into the PRWD team, as our new marketing and brand development executive.
With my business PRWD having already worked for blue chip companies such The Co-op, Nationwide, N Brown Group and Shop Direct Group, it&#8217;s certainly long overdue that recognition of PRWD being a well respected usability consultancy and [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I am delighted to welcome Katie Brunt into the PRWD team, as our new marketing and brand development executive.</p>
<p>With my business <a href="http://www.prwd.co.uk">PRWD</a> having already worked for blue chip companies such The Co-op, Nationwide, N Brown Group and Shop Direct Group, it&#8217;s certainly long overdue that recognition of PRWD being a well respected usability consultancy and web application/software development team is made much more visible in the digital sector.</p>
<h3>USP&#8217;s, Clients and Specialist Services and Solutions</h3>
<p>On coming on-board and beginning to fully understand the USP&#8217;s of the business, our client base and our specialist services and solutions, including UCDcommerce (PRWD&#8217;s e-commerce platform), Katie says:</p>
<blockquote><p>
I&#8217;m so excited about working within such an exciting, young and daring company who are not afraid to produce something remarkable for their clients. However I have got my work cut-out as most of our existing clients have come about from word of mouth, with little previous marketing of the business been done, but with such a great platform and service PRWD are going to be making waves very soon, so watch this space!
</p></blockquote>
<p>All that remains for me to say is &#8220;lets get this marketing party on the road&#8221;! </p>
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		<title>UCD and DMAIC for lean manufacturing process improvements</title>
		<link>http://www.paulrouke.co.uk/2008/05/27/ucd-and-dmaic-for-lean-manufacturing-process-improvements/</link>
		<comments>http://www.paulrouke.co.uk/2008/05/27/ucd-and-dmaic-for-lean-manufacturing-process-improvements/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 27 May 2008 16:49:52 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Paul Rouke</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Business Advice]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[DMAIC]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[User Centered Design]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[manufacturing]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[six sigma]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[ucd]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.paulrouke.co.uk/2008/05/27/ucd-and-dmaic-for-lean-manufacturing-process-improvements/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[We have recently begun a business streamlining and modernisation process with a client, and running alongside our standard User Centered Design (UCD) process we are adopting the DMAIC framework.
The DMAIC framework is an essential guide in conducting process improvement projects, and DMAIC is used by Six Sigma Black Belts. It is an acronym for Define, [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>We have recently begun a business streamlining and modernisation process with a client, and running alongside our standard User Centered Design (UCD) process we are adopting the DMAIC framework.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_Sigma#DMAIC">DMAIC framework</a> is an essential guide in conducting process improvement projects, and DMAIC is used by <a href="http://www.isixsigma.com/sixsigma/six_sigma.asp">Six Sigma</a> Black Belts. <strong>It is an acronym for Define, Measure, Analyse, Improve and Control.</strong></p>
<p>What soon become clear when we conducted the pre-analysis of our clients business is that the combination of the UCD process and the DMAIC framework will provide us with an exceptional process improvement model which will deliver ROI on a complete range of Key Performance Indicators that will be affected during this project, from both our clients internal processes to their customers relationship with our client and their account management.</p>
<p>Below I have visualised how the UCD process and DMAIC framework will be used simultaneously by PRWD for this and many more clients.</p>
<p><img src='http://www.paulrouke.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/dmaic-and-ucd.gif' alt='How PRWD are implementing DMAIC and UCD for a client project' /></p>
<p>I&#8217;d be interested to hear of any other software development and usability companies who are using UCD and DMAIC together during projects to deliver lean manufacturing processes for your clients.</p>
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		<title>Remarkable Lead Technical Architect Joins PRWD</title>
		<link>http://www.paulrouke.co.uk/2008/05/19/remarkable-lead-technical-architect-joins-prwd/</link>
		<comments>http://www.paulrouke.co.uk/2008/05/19/remarkable-lead-technical-architect-joins-prwd/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 19 May 2008 16:45:40 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Paul Rouke</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[PRWD]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Remarkable]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Tehnical Architecture]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[recruitment]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.paulrouke.co.uk/2008/05/19/remarkable-lead-technical-architect-joins-prwd/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Following hot on the heals of our e-commerce platform launch, I am delighted to welcome Rob Knight into my team as Lead Technical Architect for PRWD.

Remarkable Individuals
Cementing the businesses strategy of only employing remarkable individuals, as part of the initial discussions on the strategy of the business and what Rob would bring to the business, [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Following hot on the heals of our e-commerce platform launch, I am delighted to welcome Rob Knight into my team as Lead Technical Architect for <a href="http://www.prwd.co.uk">PRWD</a>.</p>
<p><img src='http://www.paulrouke.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/prwd-logo.gif' alt='PRWD - Specialists in Online User Experience' /></p>
<h3>Remarkable Individuals</h3>
<p>Cementing the businesses strategy of only employing remarkable individuals, as part of the initial discussions on the strategy of the business and what Rob would bring to the business, he took part in our Psychometric Testing process, with our recruitment partner <a href="http://www.psycuity.com/">Psycuity</a>.</p>
<p>The testing process, handled fantastically by Ian Hudson, Director at Pyscuity, provided the kind of insight into Rob&#8217;s skills, expertise, aptitude and long term potential which we would never have been able to determine through a traditional recruitment process.</p>
<h3>Fulfilling Long Term Ambitions</h3>
<p>With developing innovative web applications, business systems and enterprise level e-commerce solutions an integral part of PRWD&#8217;s services, not only have we recruited someone who can lead the technical architecture and system development process, but for Rob I am fully confident he has found the type of company in which he can realise his full potential and fulfil one of his long term ambition&#8217;s of being recognised as being a remarkable individual.</p>
<p>On joining the business, Rob said:</p>
<blockquote><p>Working for PRWD is a fantastic opportunity for me to work at the cutting edge of web application development.  I&#8217;m looking forward to creating innovative solutions for our clients, building on the excellent platforms already established.</p>
<p>As a developer, it&#8217;s important to me that I work to the highest standards of technical excellence, stretching my personal capabilities and learning new and interesting skills along the way.  I hope to enhance the reputation of PRWD for delivering high-quality web applications and I hope that my contribution will be to deliver good value for our clients.  On a personal level, I think that this is a very interesting time to be working in this industry, with the constant change and innovation that it requires.  PRWD is well-placed to make the most of these changes and I am happy to be in a position where I can be on the leading edge.</p></blockquote>
<h3>Hitting the Ground Running&#8230;!</h3>
<p>All that remains for me to say is welcome to the team Rob, and we can&#8217;t wait to kick-off the analysis phase of your 1st business modernisation project, not to mention driving the evolvement of our <a href="http://www.paulrouke.co.uk/2008/04/17/prwd-launch-our-1st-best-practice-driven-e-commerce-site/">e-commerce platform</a>!</p>
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		<title>Shop by Situation - User Centered Navigation and Findability :: PRWD&#8217;s UCDcommerce Platform</title>
		<link>http://www.paulrouke.co.uk/2008/05/07/shop-by-situation-user-centered-navigation-and-findability-prwd-e-commerce-platform/</link>
		<comments>http://www.paulrouke.co.uk/2008/05/07/shop-by-situation-user-centered-navigation-and-findability-prwd-e-commerce-platform/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 07 May 2008 11:43:07 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Paul Rouke</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Customer Intelligence]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[E-commerce]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Findability]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[PRWD]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[User Centered Design]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Web 2.0]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[retailing]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[ucd]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[UCDcommerce]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.paulrouke.co.uk/2008/05/07/shop-by-situation-user-centered-navigation-and-findability-prwd-e-commerce-platform/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[This article is Part 3 of 4 focussing on User Centered Navigation and Findability within PRWD&#8217;s E-commerce Platform.
Dynamic Categories and Shop by Situation
To reference the introductory article on user centered navigation and findability, &#8220;No two web users will exhibit exactly the same browsing behaviour when navigating an e-commerce site&#8221;.
Similarly, different visitors will have different reasons [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>This article is <strong>Part 3 of 4</strong> focussing on <a href="http://www.paulrouke.co.uk/2008/04/28/introduction-user-centered-navigation-and-findability-prwd-e-commerce-platform/">User Centered Navigation and Findability within PRWD&#8217;s E-commerce Platform</a>.</p>
<h3>Dynamic Categories and Shop by Situation</h3>
<p>To reference the introductory article on user centered navigation and findability, <em>&#8220;No two web users will exhibit exactly the same browsing behaviour when navigating an e-commerce site&#8221;.</em></p>
<p>Similarly, different visitors will have different reasons for visiting the site, and therefore their &#8217;situations&#8217; can be very different.</p>
<p>Dynamic categories centered around user driven situations and customer groups provide a unique way for our client to group products across their whole catalogue which suit the wants and needs of particular customers.</p>
<h3>Using Persona&#8217;s to Target Groups of Customers</h3>
<p>During the initial analysis phase of the User Centered Design process with Contact Packaging, it became clear that there were specific situations which their existing (and potential) customers are in. From here we were able to develop a series of persona&#8217;s to reflect the customers in these different groups, enhancing the effectiveness of the User Centered Design process that was underway.</p>
<p>With this customer analysis and persona&#8217;s we developed a method for Contact Packaging, using the PRWD tag engine, to create dynamic categories which specifically target groups of potential customers.</p>
<p><img src='http://www.paulrouke.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/dynamic-dropdown.gif' alt='Dynamic category dropdown menu available at Contact Packaging' /></p>
<h3>Objectives for Providing Dynamic Categories to Target Customer Groups</h3>
<ul>
<li>There should be no limit to the number of customer groups that can be created</li>
<li>Customer groups can be <strong>created and put live within 1 minute</strong></li>
<li>Customer groups should <strong>drive conversions from Search Engine Marketing campaigns</strong></li>
<li>Customer groups should be <strong>visible throughout the store, encouraging usage</strong></li>
<li>Customer groups should <strong>enhance the effectiveness of the tag engine</strong>, including the tag cloud available under the search facility</li>
<li>Customers fitting any of the &#8217;situations&#8217; should be encouraged by how they are being recommended a range of products which may suit what they are looking for, which in turn <strong>provides a more personal and intelligent shopping experience</strong></li>
</ul>
<p><img src='http://www.paulrouke.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/dynamic-menu.gif' alt='Dynamic shop by situation menu at Contact Packaging' /></p>
<p>The key to the dynamic categories and shop by situation interactive tool is that it isn&#8217;t intend to suit all visitors, and even for visitors which fall into one of the situations, it isn&#8217;t expected that they will be interested in buying <em>all</em> of the product suggestions.</p>
<p><img src='http://www.paulrouke.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/dynamic-pop-up.gif' alt='Image overlay available on the shop by Situation at Contact Packaging' /></p>
<p>Instead, the <strong>shop by situation is intended to compliment the wide range of other navigation methods available, whilst providing a more intelligent and personalised way for visitors to browse products</strong> from a wide range of categories which may well match their buying wants and needs.</p>
<h3>The 1st Step on the Ladder for Shop by Situation</h3>
<p>The 1st iteration of our Shop by Situation functionality certainly meets all the objectives set out above, but from our business perspective this is simply the 1st step on the ladder for this type of functionality. <strong>As we strive to enhance user engagement and provide even more personalised product suggestions</strong>, the flexibility we intend providing our clients will provide even more intelligent ways to target customer groups and increase relevancy for these customers browsing the store.</p>
<p><img src='http://www.paulrouke.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/dynamic-tags.gif' alt='Tags available for choosing products within the Contact Packaging store' /></p>
<h3>Comments please&#8230;!</h3>
<p>Have you seen this type of navigation method used? How effective do you feel this method of grouping products could be for different types of products? I&#8217;ll look forward to hearing any views and comments on this post!</p>
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		<title>Intelligent, Suggestive Search - User Centered Navigation and Findability :: PRWD&#8217;s UCDcommerce Platform</title>
		<link>http://www.paulrouke.co.uk/2008/05/01/intelligent-suggestive-search-user-centered-navigation-and-findability-prwd-e-commerce-platform/</link>
		<comments>http://www.paulrouke.co.uk/2008/05/01/intelligent-suggestive-search-user-centered-navigation-and-findability-prwd-e-commerce-platform/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 01 May 2008 13:41:51 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Paul Rouke</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[Business Advice]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Customer Intelligence]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[E-commerce]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Findability]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[PRWD]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[User Centered Design]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[Web 2.0]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[retailing]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[suggestive search]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[UCDcommerce]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.paulrouke.co.uk/2008/05/01/intelligent-suggestive-search-user-centered-navigation-and-findability-prwd-e-commerce-platform/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[This article is Part 2 of 4, focussing on User Centered Navigation and Findability within PRWD&#8217;s E-commerce Platform.
Online Search
Search is used by a large proportion of web surfers, whether its from the Google homepage, an integrated search toolbar at the top of their web browser, or within a particular site, to name just a few [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>This article is <strong>Part 2 of 4</strong>, focussing on <a href="http://www.paulrouke.co.uk/2008/04/28/introduction-user-centered-navigation-and-findability-prwd-e-commerce-platform/">User Centered Navigation and Findability within PRWD&#8217;s E-commerce Platform</a>.</p>
<h3>Online Search</h3>
<p>Search is used by a large proportion of web surfers, whether its from the Google homepage, an integrated search toolbar at the top of their web browser, or within a particular site, to name just a few examples.</p>
<h3>Best Practice Tips for Search Implementation</h3>
<p>As a quick summary of best practice when implementing search within a site, here are my top 6 tips:</p>
<ul>
<li>the search facility should be <strong>consistently placed</strong> on each page within the site</li>
<li>the search facility should be <strong>highly visible</strong> and not part of a cluttered user interface</li>
<li>the search facility should be <strong>located as near to the top of the site</strong> as possible, close to the brand logo</li>
<li>the search facility should <strong>look like a search facility</strong>, therefore its styling should be minimal at most</li>
<li>the search facility should be an <strong>intelligent, accurate and integrated piece of functionality</strong>, part of a wide range of findability methods provided</li>
<li>the search facility should <strong>provide intelligent content or product suggestions</strong> as a user is typing out their search term</li>
</ul>
<h3>PRWD Search Providing Intelligent Product Suggestions</h3>
<p>For modern, standard compliant web browsers, the PRWD E-commerce platform features our dynamic <strong>HybridSearch</strong> feature which, based upon user input into the search box, delivers dynamic product selections based on an algorithm developed by the Sam Clark. </p>
<p><img src='http://www.paulrouke.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/search-searching.gif' alt='Dynamic search taking place as users are performing a search on PRWDâ€™s e-commerce platform' /></p>
<p>The product predictions this provides are based on both wildcard and fulltext searching, and in line with the previous article on the <a href="http://www.paulrouke.co.uk/2008/04/28/tag-engine-user-centered-navigation-and-findability-prwd-e-commerce-platform/">intelligent tagging engine</a>, HybridSearch also looks at all the tags associated with each product.</p>
<p><img src='http://www.paulrouke.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/search-searchresults.gif' alt='Dynamic search results based on user input, delivered in realtime on PRWDâ€™s e-commerce platform' /></p>
<h3>Benefits of Suggestive, or Predictive, Search</h3>
<ul>
<li>Suggestive search <strong>provides links in realtime to actual product or information pages</strong> which exist within your website, <em>minimising the amount of &#8216;no results found&#8217; search result pages</em></li>
<li>Suggestive search <strong>provides suggestions for products and content that actually exist within your website</strong> which the user may not have realised existed, therefore <em>expanding the appeal that your sites content has</em> for that person</li>
<li>Suggestive search <strong>provides customer engagement and intelligent feedback</strong>, <em>increasing the perception of the visitor that your site is helping its visitors</em> to find what they are looking for as quickly as possible, speeding up their shopping journey</li>
<li>Suggestive search can not only provide basic information for each result, i<strong>t can also be implemented to display user centered information</strong> such as % savings, date of content, relevancy to your search term and other valuable information, <em>providing increased amounts of sub-conscious triggers in which certain types of visitor behaviour will respond to</em></li>
<li>Suggestive search <strong>adds a valuable navigational method to a sites findability methods</strong>, <em>increasing the chances of a visitor quickly locating the product or content</em> that best suits their wants and needs</li>
</ul>
<p>With all this intelligence you can almost guarantee that if Contact Packaging sell the types of products you are searching for, the predictive search results will provide you with all the suitable products in the store.</p>
<p>In addition to each product suggestion containing a small image, the product title and the price range, an additional piece of product information shown is any saving that is available on any SKU for each particular product. This was a key addition to the product suggestion display as this provides the price conscious/sale hungry visitor with essential information to encourage a positive buying decision, which in turns is one of the ways in which persuasion architecture is used. </p>
<p><img src='http://www.paulrouke.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/search-searchresults2.gif' alt='Dynamic search results based on user input, deivered in realtime on PRWDâ€™s e-commerce platform' /></p>
<h3>Persuasion Architecture Explored</h3>
<p>For more of my views on persuasion architecture <a href="http://www.paulrouke.co.uk/2007/10/08/house-of-fraser-finally-goes-transactional-is-it-a-user-experience-triumph/">my user experience of House of Fraser</a> talks about this area of user experience in some detail.</p>
<h3>Continually Evolving PRWD HybridSearch Feature</h3>
<p>As with the bespoke tag engine, the search feature will be continually enhanced to add greater power, relevancy, speed and sorting of content/product suggestions, and the search feature is something which will be implemented on a wide range of sites, both content driven, transactional and other business systems, such as account management facilities.</p>
<p>Following this post going live I will shortly follow up by talking in depth about the <a href="http://www.paulrouke.co.uk/2008/05/07/shop-by-situation-user-centered-navigation-and-findability-prwd-e-commerce-platform/">Dynamic Categories and Shop by Situation</a> available at Contact Packaging.</p>
<p><strong>Your comments pleaseâ€¦!</strong></p>
<p>Iâ€™m very interested to hear about your thoughts on the effectiveness of predictive search features, especially when users quickly type in their search string and hit return, without their being sufficient split second pause for the dynamic suggestions to be delivered.</p>
<p>Apart from the Google search toolbar, which sites do you feel are executing intelligent suggestive search most appropriately?</p>
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