Atlantic Business Technologies, Inc.

Category: User Experience

  • Why It’s Easy to Love Higher Education UX

    Here you are. You’ve worked through every step. Established funds? Check. Gathered a team of dedicated superstars? Double check. Written your overarching goals? Mic drop. You’ve packed your metaphorical bags like a pro. Now, you’re eager for an excellent digital product at the end of this journey. Vital to your cause will be your ability to stay focused on the user experience (UX).

    Ah, yes. You know what the future holds before you reach your end goal. Complicated strategy sessions will be plentiful. And mind numbing conversations about data feeds will be impossible to avoid. But, these less than glamorous tasks are important. Your user focus will make or break your efforts. Every decision you make should aim to better the experience for your users. Especially in the field of Higher Education. By prioritizing your users’ needs and experience, you will know your project is worth every drop of sweat you put into it.

    I love user-centric projects in Higher Education. I hope that I can inspire you to stay excited about your project from start to finish. Think of this as a homemade meal you have before heading out on the long road trip that is your project.

    Get Excited about Higher Education UX!

    At Atlantic BT, we often start our Higher Education projects by evaluating everything. We look into the scope of research, content, design, governance, and marketing efforts. And we love it! Deep research is the best entry point for setting up a solid user centered process. Here are some of the very best reasons for you to share our excitement about your project.

    Higher Education Has Dynamic Users

    If you have been working in the Higher Education community for a year or more, you are going to have a solid foundation of user understanding. So, congratulations! You are your own subject matter expert. You probably also know you are working for a HIGHLY diverse set of users.

    Students, faculty, and administration staff have unique motivations and objectives.  In addition, technology norms are being redefined as quickly as digital progress itself. In any other space, this would be a daunting array of humans to try and understand. The education sector is unique in that it’s a highly studied topic with a litany of resources to glean insights from. When I want to better understand digital learning trends, I pop over to an open sourced journal, like informingscience.org, and do some light background reading.

    [pull_quote]As a researcher, it’s interesting to have such a broad range of users to consider, including students (both current and prospective), parents, faculty, staff, alumni, and community.[/pull_quote]Randy Earl, Senior Business Strategist & Research Manager, Atlantic BT
    Lesson: Make learning about your users a regular practice. Start your user research with some informative reading on your target audiences. Check out some user research studies from the education sector, as well. I’ll kick you off with a great article from the famed Nielsen Norman Group on research design principles: University Websites: Top 10 Design Guidelines.

    Higher Education Has Meaningful Outcomes

    The prospect of changing someone’s life when you’re building a cat toy eCommerce website? Not high. The prospect of changing someone’s life when you are helping them decide on their future college, submit assignments, or present research? Pretty good! When it comes to long term outcomes, few UX projects have the same impact as those in the educational sector. In Higher Education projects, it’s a good bet that any new design or technology we implement will make a big difference, impacting the lives of thousands of students and faculty in their education and research.

    This makes every UX decision even more meaningful. When we develop a school or college website, we are empowering current and potential students to make the best decisions regarding their academic future.

    [pull_quote]The cause of Higher Education is close to my heart, so I’m always excited to help college and universities adapt to their nuanced and rapidly changing needs.[/pull_quote]Gordon Chadwick, Information Architect, Atlantic BT
    Lesson: Build strong, motivational objectives for your project. Being specific about the greater good your project offers will help steer conversations away from low-priority rabbit holes. When setting up success metrics, don’t get trapped focusing on standard conversion statistics. Seek to validate the project mission at every turn.

    Higher Education Gathers Many Voices into One Solution

    Let’s be honest—Higher Education projects can be complicated, especially if you are redesigning your web presence as a whole. We often work with stakeholders across departments who each have unique perspectives and needs. We understand that listening to every voice and working to balance concerns involves not only strategy but emotional labor. Forming a consensus can be a huge problem. That’s why it’s a great place to put the bulk of your planning and energy. In fact, this challenge can be a primary driver to your project’s success.  

    When our team took on the redesign of Campbell University’s website, there were 10 academic divisions (including a brand new engineering school) that needed to be brought under one domain. Each division had unique needs for what their portion of the website needed to convey, as well as their own ideas of how to convey it. By incorporating stakeholder feedback into the early planning stage, we were able to create a singular online presence with a consistent focus on content and quality.

    [pull_quote]Higher Education projects so often involve the process of unifying experiences across many associated agencies. The result is simplified interactions that encompass the learning institution’s brand.[/pull_quote]Corey Brinkmann, Creative Director, Atlantic BT
    Lesson: In addition to their beliefs and opinions, collaborators have rich insights that might save the project from heading in the wrong direction. Digital projects are interdisciplinary ventures by nature. Ensure that insights are gleaned from a variety of experts before you get started.

    Higher Education Staff Have a Lot of Passion

    When it comes to Higher Education professionals, we often find their passion for the user experience matches ours. We have never been turned down for assistance in obtaining relevant data, recruiting for testing, or making time for design brainstorming sessions. Those who work in Higher Education are clearly dedicated to engaging with their academic community and are always eager to utilize the resources at hand. They strive for excellence in everything they work on, including their projects with us. This inspires us to rise to a high bar of expectation.

    [pull_quote]One of the best things about our Higher Education clients is they love to learn about their users. When we present our finding from analytics, surveys, or reviewing social media trends, our higher ed partners waste no time digging into our analysis and applying it to their work.[/pull_quote]Ernesto Frausto, Data and Content Strategist, Atlantic BT
    Lesson: Keep your fire stoked as you work toward your goals. Enthusiasm and integrity will not only keep you on the right track, it will diffuse throughout your larger team. Positive outlooks are contagious.

    Let’s Hit the Open Road!

    The success of your higher education project will rely on how well you define your objectives, understand your users, and execute your solutions. Perform user research, stay focused on your end goals, and gain consensus early. This will help you travel smoothly from project kick-off to product launch.

    Above all, stay excited! You are doing amazing and important work. If you’d like more inspiration, please learn more about our passion about Higher Education!

  • 4 Need to Know Rules for Supporting and Loving Your Mobile Apps

    Communication technology continues to change and grow at a faster and faster rate. It has been 11 years since the original iPhone made its entrance, ushering in the age of the smartphone. Today, between smartphones, tablets, and smart watches, these tiny computers are everywhere.When it comes to maintaining mobile apps as they age, there are 4 critical rules you need to follow.

    Are Your Mobile Apps Up-To-Date?

    TIP:
    Developers get early access to new features, and can give you a heads up on what changes are on the way.

    When your mobile app was first built, it was on a platform that most likely doesn’t work like the ones used today. The capabilities and features of the mobile platform were very different than now. The most dominant players in the mobile market are Google and Apple. They release software updates like clockwork. Apple releases major updates each year. Google releases updates roughly every six months. In other words, if you haven’t updated your mobile app in the past year, it’s likely that users can see its age.

    We, as consumers, look forward to the features these new platforms will offer. When those changes take place, it’s a good time to review what your mobile app needs to stay up to date.

    Four Rules for Maintaining Your Mobile Apps as They Age

    1. Make Sure it Doesn’t Break

    The world of mobile apps is very different from the real world we live and work in. In the real world, the laws of the universe have been around since the beginning of time. We expect them to continue unchanged. In the world of mobile apps, laws are changing at the whim of the company that develops the platform. Imagine if there were a law of physics that determined that all doors must open a certain way. One day, you learn that if you don’t change your doors to open a different way, they might stop working. Sure enough, a week later all unchanged doors are stuck, closed, and unusable.

    TIP:
    Update your apps frequently to ensure they continue to work on new devices.

    As crazy as it sounds, this is the way the mobile apps industry works. Google and Apple will decide to change a feature in an upcoming software release. Then they will tell developers to stop doing something they’ve been doing. It’s on them, now, to make an immediate switch. Finally, if the switch doesn’t happen, Google and Apple will let the feature break. This has happened time and time again.

    By updating your apps frequently, the developers can make sure to heed the warnings of the companies that control their universe. Keeping the apps within the guidelines of each platform ensures that you can always make small updates when you need to. Then, the application will continue to function when new devices are released.

    2. Look Like You Care

    When companies make updates to their mobile platform, they often change more than just the functionality. Even if your app survives the change in features, it will still look like the era that it was designed for.

    No matter the functionality, an app that does not update the visual and navigational structure to match the current generation of the mobile OS will feel like it’s outdated. Often, these are relatively simple changes, updating icons and design elements, and can be done incrementally as each new version is released. Be cautious about letting the design get too old, however, or you may find that it will take more work than you expect to update it to modern standards.

    3. Show Your Users You Care

    “…a mobile app more than anything else is there for the users.”

    Even if your mobile app continues to function as expected, and even if you believe your design still works, users expect updates. That’s part of what keeps them using your app. By keeping your app updated with new features, however small, and embracing the design language of your target platform, you will let your users know that you care.

    When it comes right down to it, a mobile app, more than anything else, is there for the users. Without them, you don’t have an install base. When you push out an update you let them know that you haven’t forgotten them. They know that they can continue to rely on your app as they get new devices with new operating systems. Any data stored in the app that they access on a regular basis will continue to be available to them. Having the confidence of your users means less uninstalls, more market penetration, and a better reputation.

    4. Create a Culture of Continuous Improvement

    TIP:
    Maintaining your apps well is more cost effective in the long run and improves your ROI.

    Compared to the cost of releasing a new app, or of letting your existing app stagnate to the point where a new one needs to be built to accommodate a backlog of features, simple maintenance is cheaper and has a higher ROI. Determining how to implement a continuous update schedule, though, can be daunting.

    The mobile ecosystem is one of the fastest changing in the technology field. It is a field of fierce competition, and it’s always evolving. Once you acknowledge that it is time to update your app, it can still be difficult knowing where to begin. In this case, though, you don’t need to begin, only to continue.

    “…most developers don’t just create mobile apps for their platform of choice, they are also some of the most dedicated users.”

    Let your developers know up-front that you want to keep your app fresh and update it frequently. It will change their mentality when they develop it to make sure they won’t mind working on it in the future. Trust them to lead you in the right direction. Remember that most developers don’t just create mobile apps for their platform of choice, they are also some of the most dedicated users.

    When new versions of mobile operating systems that you support are released, ask your developers for a list of highlights that affect your mobile app. Very often, the requirements for the update write themselves.

    Want to Know More?

    At Atlantic BT, we monitor the changes that are coming up from the earliest rumors, to the day of release. Our dedicated team of mobile developers and user experience specialists are always ready to help you make your mobile app grow better with age. Contact us to find out how we can help you with your mobile app needs.

  • Do Online Visitors Like You? Really, Really Like You?

    Do Online Visitors Like Using Your Website?

    Usability is a big topic in web design, but it often feels like an abstract concept to business owners. They want their sites to be more usable and engaging, but what does that really mean? And what are online visitors looking for?

    When your website is as usable as possible, customers stay longer and interact with your content more. It’s not hard to understand why. Think of all the things in your life that you have chosen – like appliances, apps, or automobiles – because you like using them. There are many other products you could have purchased that would do the same things, but you chose the ones you did (at least partially) because you liked their usability.

    More usability means increased marketing power and higher revenue. But how do you make customers love your website?

    Make Your Website Faster

    You may not realize it, but there are several things you can do to speed up your website and have it load more quickly for visitors. You can:

    • Upgrade your web hosting for a few dollars a month
    • Take away over-sized images
    • Remove unnecessary plug-ins.

    These might not seem like major improvements to your website, but they all give customers a better user experience. No one likes waiting for a website to load, so don’t frustrate them with slow pages.

    Maximize the Readability of Your Content

    The readability of your website has two distinct parts. The first is the organization of your writing. Small paragraphs are easier to scan and organize than long blocks of unbroken text. They feel less overwhelming to visitors who may skim before reading your messages from beginning to end. The second component has to do with word choice. For maximum readability, avoid using unnecessarily large words or jargon that might not be familiar to your readers.

    Engage With Visitors

    Your customers might not be concerned with the same topics or details as you. As a rule of thumb, it’s better to cater to their interests over your own. In other words, know that you have a marketing message that needs to get across, but layer them in with content that’s focused on the subjects your readers and customers want to know about.

    Make Your Site Easy to Scan and Navigate

    You might not obsess over the navigation and search features within your website, but they can be a source of frustration for your visitors. If it’s easy for them to find exactly what they’re looking for, they’re likely to hang around your site. Conversely, if someone who isn’t a loyal customer can’t find what they want on your website, they may leave quickly and visit a competitor.

    Atlantic BT faced this issue when working with the North Carolina Department of Revenue. We all know that taxes are often complicated. A website that is difficult to navigate doesn’t help anyone during tax season. ABT  reorganized and modernized the DOR site, adding user-friendly access to essential pages. We also made sure that the site was mobile friendly for taxpayers on the go. The DOR re-design focused heavily on the user. Since then, the site has seen increased traffic and usage.

    Ready to Boost Your Online Marketing Results?

    At Atlantic BT, we are experts in web development for companies and institutions of all sizes. If you want to put these ideas in action – and get some customized recommendations for your organization – contact us today to schedule a free consultation!

  • How to Use the Secret, Overlooked Power of Radio Buttons

    For those in the know, the difference between check boxes and radio buttons seem obvious. Check boxes are for a variety of selections. Radio buttons are for agreed upon exclusive options. It is usually easy to select the proper web form element, but it can get tricky in some situations.

    Old Car Radio
    Car radio buttons used to have depressible buttons for presets.

    History of the Radio Button

    Let’s review how radio buttons came to be.

    Once upon a time, graphical user interface elements were being developed. During this time of innovation, metaphors were often used for icons and actions. For example, an icon with scissors was for the Cut action and a home icon was for a Homepage. Tim Berners-Lee and Dan Connolly were the first to define radio buttons, as well as checkboxes. At the time, car radios most often had buttons for presets, where a person could only press one button down at a time.

    Young web designers may not recognize the metaphor. Most modern car radios have preset buttons that do not depress. Some people think that the term came from “radius” or “radial”. Ah, youth. The good news is that most end users do not need to be familiar with the term “radio button”. Yet, there are plenty of endangered metaphors. Remember the floppy disk icon for Save?

    3 User Experience Tips

    Designing web forms here at Atlantic BT is our jam. Most of the time, it’s pretty easy for us to determine which form element to use. But, here are some situations that have made us think.

    Radio Buttons or Drop-Down

    For a list of reciprocal and exclusive items, should you use radio buttons or a drop-down? Answer: It depends. Use radio buttons when the options underneath are not obvious. This allows users to see every option at the same time. If users understand the options underneath a drop-down, then they work very well.

    For example, selecting a country requires a long list to choose from. A drop-down used in this example makes sense because the user can navigate through it with ease. The user will have natural expectations from other web experiences with the drop-down. They will assume the countries will be in alphabetical order. If the website base is from the United States, users will expect that it will most likely be the first list option.

    Navigational Form Elements

    Which form element do you use when the user is making a choice that will determine the next web page they see? Radio buttons may seem like the obvious choice. Yet, users will not expect radio buttons to perform an action (e.g. launch a new web page). So, regular buttons with proper labels are actually the best choice.

    Default Radio Buttons

    Do you have one radio button in a group selected by default? This is an interesting one. In a 2004 Alertbox, Nielsen recommended to always have a radio button selected by default. There are two benefits to not having a radio button selected:

    • It won’t introduce any bias if you are doing a survey.
    • Users will have to pay attention to the question (if required).
    The drawback of not selecting an option by default is that it may take more time for a user to fill out a form. Select a radio button by default if there are frequent responses to a question and/or a lot of user inquires.

    There are so many other unique situations to list here. Contact us to collaborate on more strategic web projects.

  • Website Discovery Strategy That Will Lead You to Success

     
    You’re working with a web design partner, developing a corporate website or application. The research phase has been completed. Cheers! Both teams understand:
    • Your company goals.
    • The features you’re interested in.
    • Your application’s users.

    What’s next?

    It’s tempting to want to jump in and start working on homepage designs. Web design is exciting and sexy—I’m always blown away by the creativity of our designers. But both visual and technical design needs a foundation. The strategy is key. It ensures that your design is functioning at its best. Would you ask an interior designer to plan their work without seeing concept drawings of a house? That should only be the basis of a terrible reality show. These specific design ideas and plans are what we talk about with strategy.

    This website design didn’t come from a vacuum. The designers relied on concepts developed during the site strategy phase.

    Let’s keep going with the corporate website example mentioned above. It will likely need a Content Management System (CMS) to edit or add new web pages. WordPress is a popular and powerful CMS. Yet, if you have complicated and unique needs, WordPress may not be the right platform.

    Writing the content is another concern. Have you only written content for print marketing or articles? If you haven’t written content for the web before, get ready. Web content writing may be different than what you’re used to. A content strategist can help provide guidelines (or write it for you!).

    Are you planning to have a single page to list and describe all your services? Your users (and your SEO) may be better served if each service has its own page. All these concerns show why this strategy phase is so important to the success of your project.

    Rounding Out Website Discovery

    The strategy phase is part of Discovery, the first “D” of our 5D process for projects. The discovery team has worked with you to verify what, why and for whom. With strategy, we focus on the how. There are three notable aspects of strategy in this last half of the phase:

    • Technical (the development process)
    • Content (how to word your message)
    • Information architecture (how is the content organized)

    Visual designers will be a part of this process. But you won’t see the majority of their eye-catching work until these strategies are in place.

    We use a website discovery workflows to provide overall project direction and clear steps for each part of the process.
    The strategy half of the Website Discovery Workflow.

    What should you do now?  A well-structured discovery process is flexible. Here at Atlantic BT, we will only use methods that will add value and understanding to your project. For example, a content strategy may be unnecessary in a data-heavy custom application. Remember, new information could always change that direction.

    Data Architecture

    What is Data Architecture? It’s the development of the basic information structures needed to build a website or app. This usually includes identifying three things:
    • Content types for CMS
    • Data Schema for an application
    • Taxonomies
    This architecture starting point is for technical specifications. Now you know what type of content is available to use. This knowledge is exactly what Information Architecture and Visual Design needs.

    Information Architecture

    Information Architecture (IA) is all about organization. It brings clarity and cohesion to the content within the site or system. IA is often used to define site structure. It’s the technical organization of information. This helps inform the navigational structure. It also directly impacts total site usability and makes finding information easier.

    Content Strategy

    Content Strategy helps our clients decide how they will present their brand to the world. It creates a data-driven and creative outline for communicating services and products. The data-driven side relies on analytics and other findings from our Discovery. The creative side maps out possibilities for our clients’ web presence. Strategists and designers collaborate on messaging. As a result, our clients receive a customized and reliable plan for their content. In conclusion, the organization, publication, and promotion of their content will strengthen their brand’s reputation.

    User Workflow Research

    the User Workflow Research phase of web design is exactly what it sounds like. It consists of mapping a user’s process flow for using a site or system. Then it compares this map against the ideal business process flow. A gap analysis provides areas of focus by revealing missed opportunities for engagement. The research can also provide more insight into ‘how’ users interact with the site or system. Yet, its highest value comes from understanding what the majority of users ‘want.’ As a result, a site’s design can give users the UX they desire.

    Requirements Matrix

    All stakeholders and team members must be on the same page for the project to be successful. They must have a shared and clear understanding of the project’s goals. For a technology project, the process will include defining key features the site will provide. Most of all, it’s essential to understand how those features will be developed, impacting the technical specifications. A requirements matrix will also inform visual web designers on features to include in mockups.

    Concept Board

    A concept board is a type of collage consisting of images, text, and samples of objects in a composition. It’s inspired by a set topic or can be any material chosen from across the project. We use them to share visual and thematic ideas based on a project topic. Concept boards can also show how a legacy site or application differs from modern examples.

    The mood board allows designers to share visual notes on the look and feel of your website or application.
    The concept board allows designers to share visual notes on the look and feel of your website or application.

    Discovered and Ready For Design

    The next step in the web development process is Design. This is where all the details get ironed out. We put in place:

    • What information is on each page
    • How pages and page elements look
    • Where data goes when someone clicks a button
    Now that you’ve completed the Discovery Research and Strategy, your web project is set up for success as it moves forward. You are in a great place for the Design, Development, and Deployment processes.
     
    Ready to take the leap and get started with your next web design project? Contact Atlantic BT today to schedule a free consultation!
     

  • How One Growing University Found Genuine Brand Unity

    Campbell University has grown tremendously over the past decade. We’ve proudly added 3 new schools and dozens of additional majors and programs. We expanded to new campuses. Throughout this growth, one thing has remained clear. The university website continues to be our most effective recruiting and engagement tool with prospective students.

    The old campbell.edu did not engage our community with a united message and brand.

    However, our 10 distinct colleges and schools often operated their websites independently. There would be little to align them to the main campus site. This contributed to a disjointed experience on www.campbell.edu. For years our university site was a collection of independent websites. Each site was only connected by a central university hub. This was no surprise for a 130-year-old institution. There’s been a lot of time for schools and departments to move in different directions. Every branch was chasing their own aims and feeling passionately about their brands.

    Notice how different Campbell’s pages could be from one department to another. We had to bridge this brand gap.

    Campbell.edu was a clear reflection of that decentralized reality. There was little visual and navigational consistency. We also lacked a clear URL naming structure. Our primary CMS was built on a structural plug-in that was no longer supported. Two of our colleges and schools operated outside of the current CMS (including one built in a programming language that we could not support). This left us with ten unique websites with unique goals, unique design, and unique code bases. Furthermore, it was all managed by a staff of two web developers and one web designer.

    The Rebrand and Redesign of Campbell.edu

    In the spring of 2016, the University Communications & Marketing team decided to tackle these issues. As a result, two major resource intensive projects were conceived. It was time for a rebranding initiative and a digital transformation of our website. But we needed a partner to help us tackle these large-scale projects. The projects required a team who could work in a timely manner. Ultimately, they needed to deliver the results our university deserved.

    We found a partner in Atlantic BT. They recognized the importance of a global mindset. This didn’t mean ten different sites with their own voice and tone. It meant one unified site with multiple branches. ABT worked in tandem with our marketing and communications team. Together, they looked for every opportunity to build commonalities across schools and programs in both content and design.

    Campbell worked alongside ABT’s designers, content strategists and developers. The entire team was able to centralize all of our schools and units into a single WordPress multi-site installation. They ultimately deployed 21 subdomains over a 20 month span. Our teams collaborated throughout the process on content auditing, updating, and getting the new site ready for deployment. The ABT team helped steer the development of compliant brand-consistent global headers and footers. They also created a flexible band system which permitted school sites to highlight specific content that was unique to their students and audience groups.

    This gave all our schools and programs what they wanted—the ability to be distinctive—while maintaining the global look and feel that Campbell.edu needed. It helped that our teams solicited ideas and feedback from all these schools throughout the process. This increased their buy-in and made it easier to tailor content to their needs.

    homepage of campbell university

    Campus Reception of New Brand and Site

    The feedback from our campus units regarding the website transformation has been overwhelmingly positive. By approaching the project from a “global” perspective, the entire site maintains a consistent visual identity with site-wide structure for search and navigation. Schools were pleased with the relative speed of launch and flexibility regarding their own content. More than 100 content contributors have been trained to update sections of the website. They have also been eager to learn the CMS system. Each school and unit was able to customize the navigation and content prior to launch. Consequently, campus users have been able to focus on maintaining content for their programs. They no longer need to worry about design or development issues.  

    The Campbell web development team has also experienced benefits through the partnership. Atlantic BT handles security and server maintenance. Hence, Campbell developers are free to focus on the current update needs of the website. The ABT developers and project managers are promptly responsive with any issues that may arise.

    We continue to work with ABT for site improvement, building out new features that will help support all of our users on www.campbell.edu. Together, we are responding to the changing needs of the web. We’re on good footing—and ready to face the next year ahead as a unified university with a consistent online foundation.