Profile title: Usability specialist
Also known as Usability and ergonomics specialist, User experience specialist, Web/Software ergonomics specialist, Interface designer, Usability manager
| Summary statement: | In general, usability specialists make sure that products/services are easy for consumers to use. In internet field, usability specialists help to ensure that websites and web applications are easy and pleasurable to use. |
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| Mission: |
Ensuring that everyone (including handicapped and people with limited ICT knowledge) can use (access, understand and interact) a website or web application easily and according to the creator’s original intentions. Developing ideas to improve the website / web application in order to maximize its (business) impact and also to improve competitiveness of the company. |
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| Responsibility: |
In charge of the ergonomics of a website or web application. |
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| Deliverables: | Accountable |
Contributor |
• Cost- and time requirements and schedule of usability tasks document including cost benefit analysis and reasoning • Web ergonomics suggestions document • Usability plan / guidance document • Study on user requirements • Study on designer / developer requirements • Concepts and prototypes • Ideas and suggestions for usability improvements • Review / study on usability testing (inc. report on eye tracking results) |
• Business plan • Architecture design • Website or web application development /finalizing • Risk management • Process improvement |
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| Main task/s: |
For each prototype /revision of the website or web application: • Planning for usability: - provides guidance on what user-centred activities to conduct when during development to ensure good usability; • Design requirements analysis: - captures and analyzes design requirements and specifications from designers / developers of the website or web application; • User requirements analysis: - Gathers and analyzes user requirements – by observing and interviewing potential users and by reviewing logs and analytics of monitored user activities; • Interaction design: - Designs concepts and prototypes to illustrate overall interface layout, functionality and usage flow to support designers / developers; • Usability testing: - Independent usability evaluation: from short informal tests and expert reviews to large international user studies; |
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| Environment: | Usually works independently, but interacts regularly with users to collect their feedback and with designers/developers to provide suggestions to them. |
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| KPI’s: |
• Improved user satisfaction (based on user feedback) • Increased business / sales revenue - in case of commercial websites or web services • Comparison of usability testing results (before / after improvement) |
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This profile has been generated by the EQF i-Serve project, and is based on the e-Competence Framework of CEN. The EQF i-Serve project aims at helping training organizations to develop trainings that correspond to the needs of the industry and are based on emerging knowledge, skills and competences description standards that guarantee comparability across Europe.
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