National Pen
Public Web Site
Information Architecture & Design
National Pen is a recognized leader in the promotional-products industry selling highly decorated pens and other items such as calendars, mugs, clothing, and electronics. It uses proprietary technology to personalize almost all of the products it sells with customer names, addresses, logos, advertising messages, etc.
National Pen engaged Scoresby Interactive to provide the UX foundation for 17 National Pen websites to be redesigned. That meant providing general workflows, information architecture, and page layouts that would support all languages, cultures, and subsets of products offered on the various sites. Additionally, the designs had to accommodate National Pen’s unique business requirements, such supporting a high degree of product customization, and providing various experiences depending on how users came to the site.
We began by thoroughly understanding National Pen’s products and current web sites and by working with project team members to establish requirements for the site. Due to the aggressive timeline, we held weekly reviews of the emerging interaction designs. These checkpoints proved invaluable for eliciting additional business requirements and ensuring the final designs were delivered on time—just five weeks after project launch.
The first site is due to launch in 2nd Quarter, 2010. Dave Thompson, CEO of National Pen, is "confident we will see benefits from this effort both in terms of our efficiency in launching the solution, as well as the commercial success measured by conversions and average order sizes."
Frontgate
Retail Web Site (E-Commerce)
Design & Usability Testing
Frontgate provides very high-quality products targeted to upscale American households. The company sells those products online, as well as through variously branded catalogs.
Our challenge was to unify Frontgate's various brands into a single, logical online model, and improve the customer experience in order to increase online sales. To accomplish this, we first analyzed user behavior and looked at Frontgate's competitors to determine potential areas of improvement. Then, we designed an improved interactive experience and conducted usability tests the target audience.
As a result of the redesign, Frontgate saw more than a 30% increase in online sales in the month following launch—without driving additional customers to the site. Moreover, the design won a national ADDY® award for Interactive Media
Smith+Noble
Online Retail
Expert Review, Field Studies, and UX Strategy
Smith+Noble is America's leading resource for window treatments. One of the Cornerstone Brands, S+N provides consumers custom window treatments and other home furnishing and decor items via their website.
We evaluated the web site's customer interaction and developed an extensive report detailing the needed design adjustments. Subsequently, we conducted focus groups with members of the target audience in preparation for a site redesign and provided oversight of teams responsible for implementation.