Oliver AskewUX / PM PROJECTS : 2015 - 2017
OLIVER ASKEW UX / PM projects 2015 - 2017 / 232
ContentsPAGE 3
Product design & Project management for UK-based FMCG firm’s new mobile app.
Woodforde’s
Product scoping and consultation for a new mobile app.
Norfolk County Council
Wireframing and project management a responsive upgrade for a national publisher’s
e-Commerce subscription store
Archant
Wireframing and project management a new responsive WordPress-powered site for a
renewable heating startup.
Finn Geotherm
Performance, SEO and Content appraisal of 2 new websites plus heuristic UX evaluation.
Global event production firm
PAGE 7
Product scoping and consultation for a new mobile app.
Norfolk County Council
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PAGE 12
PAGE 15
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Woodforde’s
OLIVER ASKEW UX / PM projects 2015 - 2017 / 233
I was responsible for overseeing design and development of a new mobile app for Woodforde’s, a FMCG firm in the craft ale sector, which resulted in over 4000 app downloads and over 8000 virtual stickers collected throughout their 2015 Ale Trail.
The objectives were:
After finalising the functionality, user journeys and screen layouts myself, I worked with an
in-house developer to create a prototype, Woodforde’s designer to finalise UI and a
freelance developer to develop the apps. We chose to build the apps using the hybrid
framework Appcelerator, in order to maintain a single codebase.
I completed the following tasks:
• Reduce the high costs and carbon-footprint associated with printing 50,000
copies of a 50-page Ale Trail guide;
• Allow participation in the trail to be more convenient; remove the need for a
participant to carry their trail guide with them when visiting participating
pubs & bars in order to collect stickers and redeem prizes.
1. 1-to-1 interviews with most valuable
customers to build insights on how
the guide is used;
2. Ideation / storyboarding of different
methods of collecting stickers and
locating participating pubs;
3. Co-development of a lightweight
HTML/CSS prototype for user testing
and stakeholder engagement;
4. Producing hi-fi wireframes for mobile
and tablet versions which could be
used to create a consistent UI;
5. Creating a spec of User Stories and
project managing app, API and CMS
development in sprint iterations;
6. Deploying app binaries to app stores,
orchestrating beta testing by end
users and adding store artwork.
DELIVERY DATE
July 2015
PROJECT DURATION
8 months
RESPONSIBILITIES
• Product Scoping / Strategy
• UX Design
• Project Management
DELIVERABLES
• iOS + Android mobile apps
• Administrator CMS (PHP)
• REST API (PHP)
Norfolk County Council
This consultation work helped to identify a new digital product for The Norfolk County Council - supporting the popular 26-mile Marriott’s Way trail in the heart of the Norfolk countryside - noted for it’s rich railway heritage and biodiversity. My report helped secure over £100k Lotto funding to develop the new app in 2018.
The objectives included:
I was appointed to undertake the consultancy role on behalf of Grit Digital, and
completed the following process:
• Specify a new digital product to help increase tourist and community traffic
throughout the trail;
• Increase learning and engagement towards the Railway heritage, biodiversity and
conservation efforts throughout the trail.
1. 1-to-1 interviews with members of the
local community using the trail for
commuting leisure and fitness
activities;
2. Focus groups to gather feedback
from spokespeople of conservation
organisations, archive groups and
local government;
3. Stakeholder meetings with different
council departments to understand
how the app and its data could
support their initiatives;
4. Surveying the data infrastructure of
the trail and key points of interest to
support ideation and uncover
potential challenges;
5. Creating design and Framer
prototype of my ideas to share with
stakeholders and community
members and seek their feedback;
6. Submitting a consultancy report of
technical considerations and design
recommendations.
DELIVERY DATE
April 2016
PROJECT DURATION
4 months
RESPONSIBILITIES
• Product Design / Strategy
• Stakeholder Management
• Technical consultation
DELIVERABLES
• User research
• Ideation and prototyping
• D&B recommendations
OLIVER ASKEW UX / PM projects 2015 - 2017 / 237
DESIGNS
OLIVER ASKEW Norfolk County Council / 238
I noted down our observations from the workshop and constructed affinity diagrams to
summarise research patterns with an insight and a design mandate. This could focus my
thinking when deciding on functionality, and reinforce my rationale to stakeholders.
DATA ANALYSIS
OLIVER ASKEW Norfolk County Council / 239
I chose to create 7 user personas to champion the design process. I also analysed their
goals and referred back to my research to define mental models – the process the would
normally go through to complete a goal without the use of the app. I wanted to ensure
that the process within the app felt as familiar as possible, and to verify that the app was
providing a real benefit to users, as opposed to being ‘just another way of doing it”.
I approached other Council department leaders (such as conservationists, data analysts
and archivists) to share my strategy to date, and explore weather collaborating with their
department could gain mutual successes. We found there were other departments which
could benefit from data which could be gathered from the app.
Speaking to Heritage and Biodiversity consultants also surveying the trail, I learned that
it is favourable to discuss wildlife in the context of habitats and food chains, as opposed
to simply as species. For Heritage, people discuss events in the context of locations and
people involved, as opposed to simply by chronology.
PERSONAS AND MENTAL MODELS
OLIVER ASKEW Norfolk County Council / 2310
INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE
I sketched out some ideas for features which I tested amongst peers and stakeholders to
verify that they met the goals of the personas. I iteratively finalised a full sitemap from my
sketched screens which conveyed the scale of the app along with individual sections.
OLIVER ASKEW Norfolk County Council / 2311
Archant
Archant required that their national subscription website needed a new responsive front-end to remain competitive. We needed to take care designing new templates that would remain compatible with the company’s large custom back-end systems.
The objectives included:
I completed the following processes;
• Provide UX and development work for the new website, collaborating with the
current design agency to finalise the UI;
• Storyboard and design journeys for user scenarios such as arriving from
targeted e-shots, print adverts and special offers.
1. Wireframing mobile and desktop
templates;
2. Working with UI designers to design
key screens and web components;
3. Project managing internal front-end
development team to build
responsive web and email templates;
4. Project managing freelance back-end
developers to integrate the new
templates with the existing CMS and
payment gateways;
5. Testing the new site and overseeing
deployments.
DELIVERY DATE
September 2015
PROJECT DURATION
4 months
RESPONSIBILITIES
• Wireframing
• Project management
DELIVERABLES
• Responsive web wireframes
• Responsive email designs
• Web development
OLIVER ASKEW UX / PM projects 2015 - 2017 / 2312
DESIGNS
WIREFRAMES
The website can be seen at https://www.subscriptionsave.co.uk.
OLIVER ASKEW Archant / 2313
WIREFRAMES (CONTINUED) MOBILE DESIGNS
OLIVER ASKEW Archant / 2314
Finn Geotherm
Finn Geotherm are an exciting startup in renewable geothermal heating provision. Their website however, was failing to engage and convert leads due to its high-density of technical jargon, verbose/frustrating contact forms and cluttered, repetitive IA; packed with generic, duplicated content. The website was selling a collection of technical components, rather than a lifestyle and investment.
The objectives included:
I was appointed to oversee all design, development and ongoing optimisations, and
completed the following process:
• Rebuild the website to increase engagement and conversions;
• Increase the firm’s low SEO rankings for popular localised phrases such as ‘heat
pumps Norfolk’ to increase incoming traffic to the website.
1. Gathering feedback from sales staff
and previous clients to understand
the most engaging aspects of the
product and initial objections;
2. Ideation and wireframing the new site
in mobile and desktop versions;
3. Working with Finn’s new PR & Design
agency to ensure that our UI and key
messaging was consistent with new
brand styles and TOV;
4. Working with our UI designer to
finalise the UI layouts;
5. Project managing development of
the website and CMS, allowing for
regular updates and accomodating
ad-hoc feedback;
6. Directing on-page SEO activities
including metadata, keyword
aggregation, schema.org snippets
and semantic HTML5 usage.
DELIVERY DATE
July 2016
PROJECT DURATION
2.5 months (design/dev)
RESPONSIBILITIES
• UX design
• Project management
• SEO / CRO activities
DELIVERABLES
• Responsive website
• WordPress CMS
• ~30% increase in website leads
OLIVER ASKEW UX / PM projects 2015 - 2017 / 2315
DESIGNS
The website can be seen at https://www.finn-geotherm.co.uk.
OLIVER ASKEW Finn Geotherm / 2316
INSIGHTS
Interviews with staff and customers led me to define the following insights:
• Customers are generally more savings-motivated than environmentally conscious;
• There is little correlation between ‘eco-friendly’ and financial expenditure;
• Strong correlations exist between ‘eco-friendly’ and effort/complexity/
responsibility;
• People associate geothermal heating with involvement, upheaval and representing
part of a larger project;
• There is a correlation between effort/complexity/burden and physical mass/weight;
• There is some correlation between lower weight/mass and desire in heating
solutions;
• There is strong correlation between cleanliness/neatness and perceived quality;
• People are beginning to align their stereotypes of green-energy providers with
double glazing, conservatories etc. - ‘too many salesmen, not enough experts’;
• There is little engagement with heating products or associated stats;
• The major points of engagement are:
⁃ how much will I actually save?
⁃ will it heat my home and hot water any better than the equivalent boiler?
⁃ do I need a PHD to use it?
⁃ do I need to plan around it?
⁃ do I need to maintain/replenish it?
• There is a strong correlation between the presence of technical information/data
tables and perceived complexity;
• There is some correlation between highly-promoted testimonials and perceived
salesmanship;
• There is some correlation between case studies involving recognisable local
buildings/businesses and perceived quality/dependability.
My design mandates were:
• Remove excess weight;
• Light, bright and neat;
• Put people before products;
• Experts and evidence over sales rhetoric.
OLIVER ASKEW Finn Geotherm / 2317
WIREFRAMES
OLIVER ASKEW Finn Geotherm / 2318
Since it was indicated that users would welcome a
simpler method of understanding the potential
savings available through the UK Government’s
Renewable Heating Incentive (RHI), I researched the
available online solutions from other suppliers and
Gov.uk*, finding that their savings estimators were
often complicated forms, requiring energy usage
information which is not readily recitable nor close to
hand. They often spanned multiple pages due to their
complexity, causing users to lose interest and
abandon the goal due to needing more paperwork.
Much of the required information however, could be
inferred by asking far more simple questions.
Through stakeholder interviews I managed to distill
the data requirements to just 5 simple questions. I
wanted the whole process to feel as intuitive as
setting a (modern) thermostat, to require no typing
of figures or completing generic forms, and offering
immediate feedback to encourage repeated
interaction and comparison. The new calculator
feature has enjoyed thousands of interactions and
generated many new sales leads.
I c l a r i f i e d t h e s p e c i f i c
calculations with stakeholders
to ensure their accuracy, before
writing a functional JS script for
the front-end development
team to integrate and fire
whenever the UI is updated by a
user - to save developer time
transposing a .xls into a usable
web asset.
A typical calculator form
FEATURE: SAVINGS CALCULATOR
Finn’s new RHI calculator*the gov.uk site has since updated its
calculator to be simpler to use.
OLIVER ASKEW Finn Geotherm / 2319
Global event production firm
Working in a freelance capacity, I was asked to complete a full appraisal of Grit’s client’s two new websites - developed in-house by the client themselves. The CEO was seeking professional recommendation from Grit that the new sites were sufficiently ‘SEO-friendly’ to increase their online footfall, whilst also promoting their smaller and more localised graphics design agency.
This task required delicacy and diplomacy; Grit’s client had invested a great deal of
their staff resource into developing the new single-page-application websites.
However, it became immediately clear that not only would the new websites struggle
to be effective with respect to SEO, they also appeared severely compromised in
terms of usability and the likelihood of user-engagement. It was clear that the site
had been designed and built by non-web-professionals, and fell short of the quality
and tone-of-voice expected of a large, well-established and decorated firm. I needed to
communicate the issues diplomatically, whilst recommending dramatic changes.
The reports have been submitted to Grit’s client, who have since commissioned Grit
to fully redesign and redevelop a brand new website, commencing June 2017. I
followed the following process:
1. Authoring and constructing
objectives and instructions for Grit to
complete 1-to-1 interviews with
stakeholders;
2. Noting all technical shortcomings of
the websites such as cross-browser
bugs, bugs in client-side logic,
missing data and poor semantics in
HTML markup, areas of ‘thin content’
and load speed performance
blockages.
3. Using stakeholder feedback to create
heuristic user-centered artefacts
such as personas and mental
models;
4. Describing UX concerns with user-
centered heuristic evaluation such
as site journeys and blob maps;
5. Submitting separate documents to
encapsulate the websites’ health in
terms of performance, SEO, UX,
Content/Tone and UI respectively.
DELIVERY DATE
January 2017
PROJECT DURATION
3 weeks
RESPONSIBILITIES
• Whole-site appraisal
• Heuristic UX evaluation
• Recommendations
DELIVERABLES
• Reports
• Recommendations and action
points
OLIVER ASKEW UX / PM projects 2015 - 2017 / 2320
PERSONA EXAMPLES
MENTAL MODEL EXAMPLE
OLIVER ASKEW Global Event Production Firm / 2321
USER-JOURNEY EXAMPLES
OLIVER ASKEW Global Event Production Firm / 2322
BLOB CHART EXAMPLES
OLIVER ASKEW Global Event Production Firm / 2323