Case Studies

The existing Home Office web site was attempting to reach all of its audiences, including internal stakeholders, practitioners and the general public. Whilst there was a lot of useful and relevant content, user research showed the site was failing to reach any of its audiences in a satisfactory manner. A lack of consistency in the site organisation and implementation meant that users found it difficult to find information to meet their goals, either through browsing or searching.

The web site redevelopment programme started with a user research and IA stage. This stage involved six main phases of work:

• contextual research
• usability testing and analyses of the existing site
• user research
• determining scope and goals
• developing the IA
• developing and iterating prototypes

A wide range of stakeholders within the Home Office were involved throughout the process, from contextual research, where they were interviewed to establish their goals for the website, through the usability testing, user research and prototype testing, where they were engaged as observers and active participants in recording outcomes. Facilitated discussions following research and testing sessions enabled Home Office staff to share their interpretations and gain greater understanding and insight than they would have achieved through written reports. This process helped achieve buy-in to the site development and helped to establish a user-centred culture within the organisation.

Following the initial user research the Home Office decided to move the information for practitioners from the public website onto stakeholder portals. The public website was then targeted towards those users whose use of the site is currently low but for whom the Home Officeîs work has a very high impact. The subsequent user testing of the IA and wireframe prototypes reflected this

The Results