06. Academic Product Design
COGENT.OA
Role: Research planning • Customer interviews • Client workshop facilitation • Prototype • Development support
Abingdon, UK 2016 - 2017
Academic publishing
The Challenge
Cogent OA is an open access platform launched by Taylor & Francis (an international academic publishers). The platform allows users to view academic journals free of charge and to submit articles to journals based on the publishing charge contribution they can afford.
The challenge was that the launch involved migration of content to a stand alone platform, this gave Taylor & Francis the opportunity to rebuild Cogent OA with an image that suited the brand and service.
Method & Process
I wanted to introduce the client to a collaborative creative process based on understanding the needs of the customer, quickly building working software then iterating upon that based on feedback and business needs. To do this I facilitated a series of design workshops that focused on unifying the expectations of the product owners with stakeholders. Once the business objectives were clarified they were presented to users for further insight and validation.
After the workshops I created a research plan that enabled us to test the usability of the site as it was being developed. The plan also let us explore opportunities related to shared business objectives such as discoverability of content, communicating business values to users and the trustworthiness of content.
This was done via a series of planned user testing sessions including moderated, unmoderated and user surveys all of which were either observed by or contributed to by key stakeholders. Having the stakeholders involved enabled them to see firsthand the opinions of customers. This feedback was then analysed then prioritised based on highest customer need and technical difficulty finally becoming part of the build backlog.
Research process
User feedback matrix
User survey
Remote user testing
Moderated user testing
First iteration of prototype
Learnings
At the end of this process the clients had a site that achieved their business objectives and aesthetic goals. They also now had a real connection to their customer base and a way to continually learn from them using gained knowledge to iterate and expand the site in the future.
I personally learned that it is very important to the smooth running of a project to find the balance between client needs and customer needs. Constant communication was integral. Whether that was with visual communication (lots of post its on the wall and weekly presentations) or direct involvement, having the clients learn directly from their customers benefited the project greatly.