MGM Grand just redesigned their site, and the new look is sleek and hip with an alternative navigation titled “Maximum Vegas”
Through this continuous video interface, they depict key elements of the MGM experience, highlighting what could be happening to you, if you came and stayed at their hotel. They are not trying to recreate Las Vegas online, but instead priming you to their take on Vegas. So when you get there, you already have a snapshot in your mind for what to expect.
Last year, I was working on a project for a client, trying to discover, "the next phase of their online experience." Now, this client is a revolutionary innovator of their in-store experience. They have won numerous awards and have changed the niche of their industry. Yet their web site, which they called “the thirteenth store,” was treated like a dumping ground for their less interesting information.
Now, the web can be a great place to warehouse all that, but for the 1% of your population that wants it, make it easy enough to find, but hide it well enough so the other 99% never notice it.
So we didn’t want to change their business model for the site (focusing on shopping, reserving a party, playing online and learning about the company), we just wanted to make the “Play” section, the primary staging ground for their consumer’s online experience.
The web can be a dynamic medium, that if by knowing your audience, you can provide a hierarchy for the information they experience. Putting your best foot forward, make the most interesting part of your organization the first thing people notice – establishing in your consumers’ minds, that you’re an exciting company and you do amazing things!
Then everything else they encounter while on your web site or with your products, is framed by that positive brand image.
Q: So when during the process should you bring in User Experience?
A: As early and as often!
User Insight Management – applying a user centered design process to the creation of new ideas. Using research and discovery methods, determine the landscape of your user and provide recommendations for innovation.
User Experience Planning – taking that insight and crafting a vision for the end user’s experience. Moving from general to specific, take the ideas and formulate a plan for research and execution.
User Experience Architecture – putting it all into effect. With a clear vision in mind for revolutionary consumer experiences, start putting this theory into practice by testing and evolving a range of fidelity prototypes with their target audience.
Usability – once it’s complete, does it weigh up to the challenge? After the design is complete, or when reviewing existing initiatives, evaluate the system’s performance based upon heuristics, conventions and industry best-practices.
Now, user centered design isn’t an exact science nor a rigid process. Leverage one phase or follow a combination, but the sooner you include user insight, the better chance your project’s have for success!
