Our design approach
We like to approach every new project afresh. The way we design, and the activities we do for you, will be different for each project, depending on:
- what type of design problems and business issues there are to solve, and how complex they are
- the type of product we’re working on (web site, intranet, touch-screen, application, etc)
- at what phase/s in your project lifecycle we start working with you
- the timeframe and budget parameters
- how much in-house expertise you have available.
Our methodology, The Hiser Element™, is very flexible. Underlying it is a set of beliefs that we stand by:
- Good design isn’t just about making things look good – your site or application should give you real results, both in terms of business goals and for your users.
- There should be a clear return on your investment after implementing our designs
- Your site or application must work in your business context, taking into account your culture, processes, available staff and budget, business requirements and any other constraints you may have (we uncover these factors during the analysis phase)
- While we use standardised heuristics, our extensive experience and best practice to inform our designs, simply following these is not enough. Each site or application presents unique problems within a unique context with a particular set of users.
- Involving your users in the design process will result in a much more effective site or application
- While many firms say they involve users, many only test with users after the design is complete. We actually do user-centred design, involving users at each step of the design process and involving them in collaborative design sessions.
We believe that this is the best way to make your project succeed. However, if you want us to design without users, we can bring our extensive knowledge of, and experience with users, to bear on the designs we produce for you.
