Besides dealing with the business requirements, functional interface and interaction design, I enjoyed acting as a link between strategy, statistics, usability testing and UX, while adding my qualitative research skills. For example I analysed a medium scale database of qualitative user feedback using NVivo, a qualitative research tool. This allowed me to process a large amount of material in just a couple of days. The resulting easy to grasp graphs were offset with quantitative data from analytics software – allowing the team to gain a very high degree of insight into user behaviour. The user centric processes and team efforts paid off, when the site was tested by an independent automotive body :
BERLIN/LONDON - On Tuesday 2 August JDPower released its latest Automotive website survey results. The site launched by AKQA in the US last year increased its overall score by 57 points, bringing the site to a #13 ranking. This is an improvement in ranking of 19 places from our previous JDPower study and set a 5 year record [for VW].
AKQA provided a fast paced and constructive environment (agile), so solutions could quickly be evaluated and optimised. Since this application lends itself perfectly to mobile use, we designed it so all crucial aspects of the navigation are kept in the 10" (iPad) screen area, while also working closely with the mobile team.
On a personal level I enjoyed being on a bi-lingual account, and having a German chat once in a while to brush up on the latest German net-jargon :)
