What is Usability Analysis?

Usability Analysis is a disciplined review of application & web page UI (user interface) design, navigation and dynamics.

Usability Analysis studies how users interact with applications based on their most basic understanding of the digital world around them. Experience and culture shapes how we process what we see, what we hear, and how we place that information in the world as we experience it. Words have meaning, but their meaning is shaped by who says them and where they are said. Images have meaning but how we understand them, how we interpret them is shaped by the viewers' experience and the place where they are found.

Computer applications depend not only what words and images they use, but where they appear on the screen. As the web has grown and matured over the last 15 years, 'surfing' or 'browsing' has become the common point between people and the world of computer managed information. The words we use have developed inherent meanings: Home, Cart, Back, Next, Continue, Submit, etc. Images, too, have become true icons, there are well known expectations for what functionality the icons represent. Their location and function are defined by the users' experiences.

Our unique approach is based on Cognitive Anthropology, Psychology, and Business Process Engineering.

What is the role of Cognitive Anthropoloy in Usability? A Cognitive Anthrolopoly approach to Usability Analysis is the basis for what is known about 'internationalization' and 'localization'. The principles and how they are applied form the foundation for useful navigation that fluidly and intutitively enables users to find what they are looking for and, more importantly, what they need to find to satisfy their goals.

This intense approach to understanding and designing effective applications and systems is grounded in real world experience with business processes and goals. Every system, every application first serves an existing business processes. Secondly, the design combines an deep understanding of how people interact with systems and information that support business processes and business goals. Ultimately, the design goal is a system or application that accomplishes the stated business goals in a format that is easy to use, easy to understand and connects the users to the resources they need to make good decisions, take effective action and be as productive as possible.