Business Opportunity: As Design Manager and Lead Experience Designer for the Lycos in Mountain View, I was responsible for the design and implementation of various products in the Lycos network including Autos, Small Business, Music, Finance, and Communication. I worked closely with individual product management teams to define a user experience for each unique product that delivered the desired content, established meaningful integration with other lycos network services and recognized advertising opportunities.

Process and Solution: Using the Lycos style guide as a framework, it was the responsibility of individual design teams to define the specific structure and navigation for each product. This task involved defining the user experience for each product by defining the scope, information architecture, navigation design and information layout. From task analysis through the final visual styling, a user-based design approach complete with frequent usability evaluations was used to create products that met both business and users goals.

Product development goals included :

• Determine and support the user demographics for each product
• Identify the site objectives and appropriate content through task analysis
• Establish an information architecture and navigation model that provides users easy access the content
• Integrate with other Lycos services to increase use throughout the Lycos network
• Identify appropriate advertising opportunities that will increase a product's profitability
• Create a consistent user experience across the Lycos network via adherence to the Lycos style guide.

Benefits: Post launch studies revealed that the a consistent user experience across the Lycos network in combination with meaningful content and appropriate integration with other services resulted in improved user satisfaction. From a business perspective, this satisfaction translated into increased profitability and an improved ROI.

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Additional case studies:

Kaiser Permanente: Web-based Clinical Records
Lycos.com: Creating a Global Style Guide
Lycos Mail: Interaction Design for Communications