Information Architecture

10Oct 2017 by Gabe Hendry No Comments

Reusable Shared Framework For Multiple Brands

Case Study, Information Architecture, Strategy, Wireframing

I was asked to redesign the client's eCommerce experience. However, when reviewing the research that had been done, as well as looking at the client's collection of separate web properties and experiences, it became increasingly clear that the entire ecosystem needed to be brought onto a unified and singular framework. User's needed one source of truth representing the brand and the engagements opportunities with that brand. At the time, the client had more than 8 unique brands with their own experiences. Those sites were updated on an annual product release schedule, often undergoing a complete redesign and re-coding each and every year. The main issue with this approach, beyond insane costs and effort, is that the UX baseline is lost with each new version of the site. The company…

09Oct 2017 by Gabe Hendry No Comments

In-Store Interactive Kiosk

Case Study, Design, Information Architecture, Strategy, Wireframing

One thing I have always been interested in is omni-channel crossover and how the web can be used as a customer facing tool in a retail environment or to aid associates assisting shoppers face-to-face. So much of the content that ends up on a website could be extremely beneficial to shoppers who go in store to shop, and tying together what they see online and in store has the potential to greatly improve the overall customer experience. Several years ago, I was asked to consider how we might take the content of a website we were making for a new product line and create an interactive retail experience for our customers to engage with. There were very specific budgets and the work also included creating the overall technical solution.…

05Oct 2017 by Gabe Hendry No Comments

Rapid Prototyping

Case Study, Information Architecture, User Research, Wireframing

Rapid prototyping is an amazingly effective way to get ideas in front of both stakeholders and users quickly and affordably for testing and validation. There are many ways to create prototypes. They may be as simple as a white-boarding session, paper cut outs used to simulate changing interfaces and content as a user talks through what they would do, to cliackable *.PDF or HTML files. As a tool, prototypes can teach us a lot about our product and ideas with very little investment in time or money. what might be a simple hypothesis or subjective opinion can often be validated or in validated just by building it out, even in a very primitive form. Above is an idea for a simple scheduling application. This was created in a tool…

05Oct 2017 by Gabe Hendry No Comments

Site Maps & User Flows

Case Study, Information Architecture, Strategy

One of the best ways to help clients prioritize information and set a site strategy to help visualize the site architecture. This can be done in a huge variety of ways, but often I use two lenses to communicate how users will use a proposed site.Site maps are a great way to illustrate site architecture (pages, processes or contexts). User flows show how a use case or user task will be completed. Depending on the project, one or both of these architecture deliverables may be helpful.The goal of these documents is to walk stakeholders and team members through an experience without having to design the entire experience to do so. I often find that spending a little time up front laying out a map or flow will both highlight potential…

05Oct 2017 by Gabe Hendry No Comments

Site Redesign Strategic Plan

Case Study, Information Architecture, Leadership & Process, Strategy, Wireframing

I was the lead UX Architect on a large-scale site re-imagining for the client. Along with a creative director and a team of designers, I analyzed the brand direction and voice from the client's marketing agency and interviewed the business stakeholders about the direction they were taking the brand. I then created a strategy and site architecture to present back to the business leaders. Designs were created from the wireframes to illustrate how the new site would potentially look. I presented the proposal all the way up to client executives. This work represents the foundation that was agreed upon, designed, and developed as proposed.

05Oct 2017 by Gabe Hendry No Comments

Exploring The Ownership Cycle

Case Study, Design, Information Architecture, Strategy, Thought

The client (a power sports company) was seeking to better understand their customer's vehicle ownership cycle. Based on input from many subject matter experts, third party research studies, and first hand experience as a motorcycle owner, I created a variety of communication aids to help various business members better understand both the company's product ecosystem as well as a representative purchase funnel and ownership cycle.A large piece of this work was to illustrate how the shopping and ownership process was both complex (and average of 21 interaction points just pre-purchase) and omni-channel in nature (customers used online, in-store, third party resources, and other owner's input to inform decisions). By customizing a traditional sales funnel and including an ownership "pyramid" it was much easier to illustrate the various point customers begin their…