The following case studies represent a tiny fraction of the work I’ve been involved in over the last few years.
User experience designer
Polar Adventure brand, TUI Travel UK Ltd
The search facility at one of our leading adventure company websites wasn’t performing optimally. I was tasked with evaluating the issues around search and proposing solutions. An analytics review helped provide invaluable insight into the bugs found and user behaviour exhibited.
I am happy to provide the full anonymised PDF of my findings and recommendations upon request.
My involvement:
- Heuristic evaluation
- Wireframe and documentation of improvements
- Review of search analytics
Sailing brand, TUI Travel UK Ltd
After a heuristic evaluation of this sailing website and in-depth investigation of user behaviour via analytics, we proposed a re-focusing of the homepage.
- Reduced the size of the large hero image and introduced a carousel
- Brought “Destinations” to the fore, based on the popularity of that section shown by analytics
- Reduced the prominence of the “News” section (again based on analytics)
- Simplified sailing terminology (a problem highlighted in user reviews)
- Introduced a new “New to Sailing” section – again because of user feedback
My involvement:
- Heuristic evaluation
- Google Analytics and Adobe SiteCatalyst
- AxureRP (for interactive wireframes)
- Photoshop concepts
Adventure brand, TUI Travel UK Ltd
We conducted a heuristic evaluation of this adventure website. Following that review, we proposed a realignment of the booking process as one of the key elements that required improvement. After a round of wireframe development we moved straight to the html build. We then A/B tested the entire booking path to ensure our recommendations were as effective as we hoped. The results of the test were very positive showing a 25% uplift in conversions.
My involvement:
- Heuristic evaluation
- Omnigraffle (for wireframes)
- Hand-coded HTML & CSS
Creative Director, Aardvark Media
I spent 5 years at Aardvark Media. When I joined I was the only designer working alongside two developers. When I left as Creative Director the company was 18 strong. In that time I was involved in a large number of projects in a variety of sectors, including: Retail and Leisure, Finance and Professional, Technology and Publishing. These three projects represent a range of our clients, from small independent accountants to a global leader in finance.
ha ha bar & grill
At Aardvark Media, we worked closely with the Bay restaurant Group to develop three customer-focused websites, ha ha bar & grill being one of them. The primary goal of the sites is to increase online enquiries and customer acquisition. Therefore it had to be very easy for customers to sign-up, make reservation enquiries, download vouchers or manage their email preferences. ha ha bar & grill offers a unique customer experience whilst the reservation process retains a consistent approach across all the brands.
Unfortunately Ha Ha Bar & Grill no longer exists as a restaurant or a website, having been sold by its owners.
Generali International
Ranked 21st largest company in the world by Fortune Magazine, Generali truly is a global brand. For the last decade I’ve worked with them at Aardvark Media to ensure their offshore group companies deliver compelling, engaging online experiences whilst respecting and adhering to the parent’s brand guidelines. Generali is a client of Aardvark Media.
Side Projects
These projects are typically smaller in nature and don’t require detailed UX work. During the day job I’m mainly working in Omnigraffle, Axure, standing in front of a whiteboard with a pen or sitting with colleagues with a pen and paper, so sometimes it’s nice to keep up with my Photoshop, html and css skills.
Simply Diving
Simply Diving is the only British-run PADI 5 Star Instructor Development Resort on the Costa del Sol. They offer a huge range of PADI courses to holiday makers and dive instructors alike. After recently acquiring the business, the new owner soon realised the website was a key part of the marketing effort required to bring in new business.
The Simply Diving website redesign proved so popular with visitors and increased bookings so noticeably that we did it all again with the other site in the Simply Diving estate: Go PRO Spain.
Read more about the Simply Diving redesign | Visit Simply Diving | Visit Go PRO Spain
Malaga Minister
I’ve worked with Natasha at Malaga Minister for a few years now. I designed and built the original site and she was happy enough to come back for more! This version is built on WordPress so she has complete control over the content – all the way down to the contact form autoresponse email.
Visit the Malaga Minister website
Quantum Sheep
Quantum Sheep started out many moons ago making WAP games for mobile phones and now concentrate on the iPhone platform. Their initial web presence was established via WordPress.com with a freely available theme. With the release of their biggest game to date, they needed to update their standard install WordPress theme and generally develop their online presence. I was responsible for the general layout and WordPress theme construction. Many design elements of the site came from the game artist.
We are indebted to Tim for his work on revamping the Quantum Sheep site; he was fast and efficient with a keen eye for clear and attractive design.
Tim maintained constant communication with us throughout development, taking on board our feature requests and suggesting helpful, well thought out improvements.
Tim also provided fantastic support whilst we got to grips with site-maintenance tasks, offering hands-on instruction and one-to-one guidance.
Jake May, Quantum Sheep
Visit the Quantum Sheep website
IndieLondon
IndieLondon.co.uk is currently attracting around 80,000 unique visitors a month who come to the site for a range of reviews and interviews. Visitors can leave comments on many articles, subscribe to RSS feeds and purchase items directly in the IndieLondon shop – all managed by a Textpattern installation.
Five Harbour View
Five Harbour View is a rental apartment on the West Coast of England, in the picturesque village of New Quay. The owner needed a website to show off the apartment’s great styling and proximity to the harbour as well as a booking system to handle enquiries in a prompt and professional manner.
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