Posts Tagged 'design & build'

 

Another year has passed – and what a year it was. You certainly kept us busy (and we love that you did!) While it’s fresh in our mind here’s a taster of a few of the things we got up to in an eventful 12 months…

Grew so big we had to take over another floor in the building – big hello to all the new faces and talent who joined our ranks.

Launched Pancentric Labs – a shiny new facility totally kitted out for all your user research and testing needs.

Bolstered our clients up the Search rankings, hired some fantastic additions to the team and launched PancentricSearch. Tweet them @PancentricSEM.

Found out we won The X Factor pitch at 5.30pm on a Friday – you can guess what happened next. Our only complaint is it wasn’t Simon Cowell who delivered the news.

Created a learning experience for kids that was nothing short of magical, launching a series of next generation interactive apps for Disney Create.

Took a breath of fresh airline – Scandinavian Airlines welcomed us on-board for social media campaigning.

‘How musical are you?’ struck a chord with the nation – 50,000 people took part in the first 24hrs alone.  Since then we worked on a further 5 BBC LabUK projects.

Popped champagne corks when Petplan won the Best New Media award for our ‘12 Plays of Christmas’ campaign.

Continued to pick up awards and press coverage left, right and centre for the multiplatform interactive game we designed and built for Kew Gardens.

Thanked everyone who voted for us in the COGS awards – we won 3!

Hit a home run with RSA’s ‘Big hitters’ campaign – overall sales increase 26%.

Converted Facebook ‘Likes’ at a rate of 75 fans per second for Gear4′s Angry Birds campaign.

Helped Partnership win the ‘Most Outstanding Information Innovation in the UK’  for the Paying for Care portal.

Supported Bluewater’s biggest marketing initiative in the past 12 years – building a web presence for brand new events venue Glow.

Introduced Zurich’s broker engagement programme to dynamic, preference drive e-communications paving the way for a major campaign coming this year.

Sported some mighty displays of facial hair (well at least the boys did anyway) for Movember and raised a bob or two for a great cause.

Welcomed 3 Pancentric babies to the world, toasted 3 weddings and 2 engagements.

Witnessed the most spectacular dance off ever at the Pancentric Christmas party (if you ask nicely we might just show you the video).

Watched Santa Dipper make his annual appearance at the Christmas party – who knew Santa spends the rest of the year moonlighting as a developer?

Worked hard (blood, sweat and tears some might say), played hard, loved what we did and ready to do it all again.

Happy New Year – Look forward to working with you.

The lovely yourstables.co.uk website we designed & built for Petplan Equine is up for an award. After bagging a VMA award and an Allianz i2 award for the most innovative campaign earlier this year we’re happy to say the site has now been shortlisted for a CIM Marketing Excellence Award.

It’s a cracking website (even if I do say so myself) that takes users on an impressive 3D tour of a virtual working stables yard. Not just a pretty face, interactive how-to videos, anatomical guides and heaps of info and advice, make it a one-stop-shop for everything horse owners, riders and enthusiasts could ever wish to know about horse care.

We’re, of course, hoping the site will triumph when winners are announced in the New Year but in the meantime we’re giving the fab team who worked on it the back-patting they deserve.

We all love the latest web wizardry but there’s nothing like quality time with your web users to understand what they’re really after.

If people can’t use your website properly, or find what they are looking for, your technology investments are futile and your customers will go elsewhere.

Getting the web experience right influences customers’ decisions to buy and people’s broader perception of your brand.

It’s amazing how even small changes to a site’s usability can have a sizable impact.

Tip 1: I’m a real person not a stereotype

Who are your key users and what are they after? When and where do they tend to access your site? Time spent understanding users’ everyday needs, motivations and the wider context of usage is invaluable. Making assumptions and stereotyping can overlook vital clues and ideas for optimising the navigation and shaping functionality.

Tip 2: Test, test, test

When you start scratching your head wondering what a user would do in this or that situation, it’s time to test. Testing with real-life users is a must. And you don’t need to get hung up on testing large numbers – observing even 3 people’s experiences can give you enough information to start making improvements.

Tip 3: Less is more

Most people will come to your site looking for something specific. Simple, unobtrusive interfaces are normally best for directing them to relevant content fast. It’s all about logical placements of links and consistent treatments for menus. Oh yes, and if your boss thinks the Flash intro to your company’s site is working just fine, show him users failing to find the ‘skip intro’ link and moving to a competitor’s site – that’ll change his mind.

Tip 4: Think accessibility

An accessible site is by definition a usable site. That’s to say, if a visually impaired user can easily navigate your site using a screen reader, it will be a joy for everyone else to use too. Accessibility also means considering alternative formats for your site, particularly as new technologies such as Android and iPhone are changing customers’ buying habits. How does your website look on a mobile?

Tip 5: Don’t be afraid to break conventions

Eyes naturally move from left to right, leading the majority of travel websites to include the all-important ‘Search for your trip’ form on the left-hand side of the screen.

Earlier this year lastminute.com broke this well-known travel site convention, by moving the search form to the right of the home page. This followed usability testing where customers said they would prefer to see more promotions and inspirational ideas. The result? Traffic to merchandising rose while the feared decrease in traffic to the ‘search for your trip’ form didn’t happen. This just goes to show, giving users what they want is your key to online success.