What do usability consultants do?

Usability consultants work with designers and developers to look at how a product meets user needs so that they can improve the product to enhance productivity, increase user satisfaction, and minimize user errors.

If usability consultants are brought in before a website or software product is created, they can help developers achieve more consistently usable results. This is the preferred model for development, as usability can be built into the system rather than tacked on at the end. Usability is not about making an interface pretty. It encompasses issues such as information architecture, design, writing, and quality assurance. Usability needs to delve beyond surface elements. Still, if the consultants are brought in after production, they can evaluate the usability of a website or software product using one or more usability evaluation methods.

Usability consultants usually offer such services as needs analysis, usability evaluation (often through expert critique or usability testing), user interface design, and usability training.

What are the benefits of hiring a consultant?

• Increasing the usability of a website or software product will raise productivity.
• Bringing a usability consultant into the design and production process will reduce costs in the long run, since it is more cost effective to build a usable product than to repair an unusable one.
• Doing a less-than-thorough job can cost more than money; it can cost you in time and customers.
• They can evaluate systems more efficiently because they know what to look out for based on their experience with a wide range of systems.
• They can offer perspectives that those close to a project may not have considered.
• It is difficult to be objective about your own site.
• Consultants are trained in a range of usability evaluation methods. They may offer an advantage by knowing which method is the best for your particular project.
• Having a usable product will result in more satisfied and productive users.