The ROI of usability and information Design

Patrick Hoffman of n0rnmal.com

About the speaker

Patrick is an engaging Canadian with a ready smile and friendly manner. He runs a business that majors on presenting information visually with no, or the minimum of words.

What the talk was about

Patrick ran us through some case studies of work where he had introduced visual instructions that replaced texts. Both made dramatic reductions in the bottom line, by reducing learning time and increasing sales for a leather-cutting machine. For a telecoms company, the size of customer instructions were reduced and translation was also reduced, both of which lowered costs.

Patrick had some useful insights into lowering the costs of usability testing by hiring people via recruitment agencies. Most agencies have peopleon their books whose skill and language knowledge are known, and who are prepared to work for a minimum half day fee.

Patrick found that some words are necessary and that visual only did not work (in the case of the 'phone company). However words can be reduced to a minimum.

Key advice

Don't always do what the customer asks you to do; go with your hunches. Always do usability tests on visual information. Use employment agencies to find usability testers.

A business within a business

James Lawrence McAfee

About the speaker

James is a firecracker of a man, with a passionate enthusiasm about his job and about being a manager. He's not starry eyed though and is ready to acknowledge the lows and well as the highs of his job.

James delivered his talk with a commendably small number of slides and a great deal of humour.

What the talk was about

James spoke about how he runs a multi-continent authoring team as a business within a business. He regards what he may call colleagues as either customers or competitors. He knows his team's strengths and the areas which can be improved. He knows how his team is threatened by its competitors, and eliminates or reduces those threats where he can.

Key piece of advice?

Hire or employ an Editor to add quality and level cross border writing differences. James's editor also scans the technical press for information his team needs.