A Design Review is an intense, user-centric audit of your interface, conducted by an NN/g specialist. We determine what works, what doesn't and how to improve the interface for better business results.

Process and Deliverable

• You provide background information including goals, target users and your concerns.
• We conduct a detailed, task-based analysis of your interface to identify strengths and weaknesses.
• We deliver a report with detailed findings and recommended solutions for improving the user experience and meeting business goals.
  • Reports are typically 60-100 pages long. (A longer report is not better value for the money; it just means we found more usability problems in your design.)
  • Specific usability problems in the design are identified together with recommended changes that will improve usability: typically 50-100 recommendations.
  • Most important, the report provides high-level analysis of UX directions for your design.

Timing

• Design reviews typically take 3-4 weeks.

Cost

• $38,000 for a review of a website, intranet, or most applications. (Mobile apps may be less if they're small and focused. Big, complex applications may be more.)
• $73,000 for a competitive review of your website + 3 competitors.

What Can be Reviewed?

Reviews can be conducted in any stage of the design process as long as there is some form of the design that can be inspected:

• Existing designs (e.g., live websites): review to set priorities for future work
• Design specifications, storyboards, or wireframes: review for feedback on the task flow and to make sure you have not overlooked major usability issues
• Prototype designs: review for independent feedback on all the main interface elements
• Ready-to-release designs: review to polish up before inflicting on users

We can review a live interface, a rough paper-based specification, or an early prototype. Independent usability assessment is valuable at any stage.

Intranets and enterprise applications can be reviewed if we can log in remotely, if a version of the design can be shipped outside your firewall (e.g., a flash drive), or if you can let us borrow an office at your location (travel costs may be extra in this case).

Competitive reviews are only available for websites and applications, not for intranets. You nominate up to 3 competitors and get your user experience scored against theirs. You also get recommendations for redesigning your site based on usability insights integrated across these other designs.

Why Do It?

• Independent and objective assessment of your user exerience.
  • Because we are not part of your project, we don't care about your internal politics or who originally suggested what design feature. As outside experts we deliver an unbiased verdict that purely depends on what's best for your users.
• Fresh eyes and broader perspective will identify issues you glance over.
  • That's why even the best author uses an editor. That's why even the best designer commissions a usability review.
  • We draw on experience with thousands of different user interface designs, far beyond your project.
• Benefit from the cumulative insights from literally thousands of hours we have already spent in user research all over the world.
  • We know what works and what doesn't work for most categories of users after testing a much broader range of design alternatives than you would ever have time to consider yourself.
• Trustworthy recommendations for the most high-value priorities to improve your user interface.
  • We're independent of vendors. We don't have a vested interest in recommending one approach over another. We invented many of the usability methodologies used in these reviews and have used them for decades, so we know what can be confidently concluded.

A thorough design review is particularly useful if you're trying to decide on a new strategy or direction for your user experience, because our independent position allows us to approach your problems from a fresh perspective. Even if you're not planning to change direction, it's still good to commission an independent UX assessment from time to time, purely for reasons of risk reduction: to make sure there's nothing major you're overlooking because you're too close to the problem yourself.