Designing software products that are obvious to customers should be a standard objective of every design team. Comtech design experts work with your team, not as outsiders, but thoroughly involved in the process. We have learned that user-centered design workshops are not enough. We have learned that elaborate formal methodologies are not enough. Developing successful interface designs takes people—people who are dedicated to improving the quality of the customers' experience.

First Step—Your team gathers the information needed as the foundation of good design. We help your team develop a customer information-gathering plan, including a site visit plan. Then we coach your team on the first round of visits, including analysis of the findings.

Second Step—Your team develops user profiles based on the user personas you have observed. These profiles include use scenarios, user profile matrixes, user posters, and usability goals. The goal—provide all the development team with a clear view of the user community.

Third Step—From the use scenarios and user profiles, your team creates a network of interface design objects and actions that illustrate the potential flow of information through the product interface. The information flow strongly reflects the way the users think about their goals and the tasks that support them.

Fourth Step—Based on a design analysis, your team constructs prototype interface design, first in paper and then online. The prototypes are reviewed by the team, by internal experts, and finally by actual users. We make sure that the design reflects user goals and needs by conducting a carefully designed test of the user scenarios.

Fifth Step—We review and redesign as needed until we reach the usability goals and objectives outlined during the second step in the process. At the same time, we begin constructing programming specifications for the implementation team. Our design method includes a programming specification model that really communicates to the implementation team. We reduce the ambiguity and ensure that the best design is actually implemented.

Final Step—No design is complete until it is tested with real users in a real environment. We work with you to take the design to the user community. Usability scenarios are built and tested but not in a lab. By this time, the only changes will be small ones.

Following the Comtech method, you will achieve a usable, exciting design in the shortest time possible. In most cases, we reduce the time-to-market of a sound, usable interface because we use rapid prototyping methods, and we don't make changes at the end. Remember, it's those late changes that badly damage your schedule.

The US Department of Veterans Affairs incorporated our methods in the design of the new clinical patient record for the VA hospitals.

Varian Oncology Systems used our methods to design new interfaces for their radiation therapy systems.

Synergex used Comtech to teach their development team about user-centered design concepts for a Customer Resource Management system.

Korn Ferry executive recruiting firm used Comtech and Microsoft to design a new system for tracking open requisitions and job seekers.

We can help your team become experts in Comtech's user-centered design methods.

Review Hackos and Redish, User and Task Analysis for Interface Design.

Read our case study.

If you would like to learn more about any of our consulting services or you would like to talk to a representative about scheduling an activity, please email or call 303-232-7586.