Analog Re-designed its Primary Interface to its Customer with Help from InContext

Analog Devices is a world leader in the semiconductor industry with a long-standing and well-established user base. They develop high-performance mixed- and digital-signal processing integrated circuits. Their support engineers solve design challenges involving signal processing in electronic equipment.

Analog knew that their website was key to the design-in process where design engineers selected the parts they would use. Analog wanted to re-design the site to ensure that it supported their customers’ decision-making process.

Analog's Challenge

How do we best support design engineers throughout their work?

How can our website convey that our company is best in class, high quality, established, and proven, as well as forward thinking and innovative?

How much information is enough? When will users feel overwhelmed?

Analog Devices grappled with these questions when they decided to re-design their site. "I wanted to get beyond the opinions of various internal stakeholders, analysts, and developers and find out how our primary customers reacted to the site. So we went to InContext, because they use real customer data to guide their design recommendations," said Mark Skillings, Director of Marketing and member of the e-Business steering committee.

Analog's primary goal was to ensure that designers and managers were exposed to the full breadth of Analog's product offerings — several thousand products in all. They also wanted to better support design engineers through all facets of the design process and improve the utility and visibility of the many support tools available. In addition, they needed to accommodate the needs of senior management, the "C-level" visitors to Analog's site. Reaching consensus on how best to accomplish these goals proved challenging as different constituents voiced their concerns and perspectives.

Analog decided to turn to their users to understand what was needed in their site. They engaged InContext to gather user data and provide the analysis that would determine the content, design, and flow of the new site.

The new site was built (www.analog.com) and launched to acclaim from the customers, the sales force, and the executive committee.

As Dave Kress, Director of Applications Engineering and member of the e-Business Steering Committee reported: "I have seldom seen such total satisfaction in a major project done at ADI. They are happy with just about any aspect of the new website."

End Users' Issues

Through Contextual Inquiry, InContext's field data gathering technique, the team studied design engineers' work practice, including their use of Analog.com and competitor sites. Evaluation of this data revealed that Analog was missing opportunities: Users came to the Analog site with preconceived notions of Analog's offerings. They thought they knew what Analog provided, yet the old site didn't show them that they were missing needed products. Analog was also failing to fully engage users with the design support that existed on the site.

InContext discovered that the content design engineers sought was difficult to find and, once found, was difficult to view in its current format.

"I don't use tools on Analog.com because I didn't know they were there."

"The information I need is there — I just don't know where."

"I know that Analog has invested a lot of time in creating useful documentation, but I can’t find it. It's unfortunate."

Analog needed to bring the information to the top of the site to expose the content and support functions that they have and users want. They needed to provide clear navigation to deeper levels of content and focus the site to their target populations.

Design Solutions

Product Page Design

First, InContext re-designed and tested the areas most critical to design engineers, the product page and supporting information.

"Just give me everything related to this product in one place."

To ensure proper navigation to the product page, InContext also designed the initial structure of the homepage that best supported the design engineers' work practice.

These re-designed sections provided the critical information design engineers needed, allowing them to quickly gain in-depth product information, access design support, and purchase information from one central location.

"It is pretty much ideal ... I wouldn't change anything."

"You can look at it all on one page and that’s great."

"It's a dramatic improvement over what Analog has now."

"It's exactly what I want to use."

Home Page Re-design

Determining the needs of design engineers was only an initial step in the re-design of the homepage. The homepage design needed to support the primary user, the design engineer, but it also needed to support the interests of C-level managers.

In addition, the new site needed to portray the personality of the company and provide the right business messages — the well-established credibility and longevity of Analog as well the creative, forward thinking, and innovative values that drive new product development.

By interviewing stakeholders in the company, InContext was able to develop several versions of the homepage to visually communicate the Analog brand as well as meet the needs of users.

Analog wanted the site to convey:

"Great products, solutions, appropriately priced."

"Not just the best product, but the best solutions."

"Best in class, leading edge, market leader, trusted."

Using Contextual Design the team gathered data from all audiences and vested parties in order to design the site to address this complex requirement. Having user data to refer to during internal discussions on alternative designs helped streamline decision-making about what data must be present and where it needed to be located.

"Managing a site as diverse and complex as Analog's is a real challenge," said Joe Laskowski, Director of Corporate Marketing and eBusiness. "Focusing on customer needs and using their inputs to drive site design helps us to reach consensus more quickly."

"You can scan down the list and immediately get a snapshot of Analog's business."

"This is awesome. I like all the potential parts listed. I click and it's right here."

"Things are where I expect them to be."

"It has everything I need — all the products, it's easy to scan, and I like the colors."

The Design Tab

The second phase of the homepage development evolved directly from user data gathered during the initial project as well as parallel studies focused on Analog design tool offerings. Users showed us they wanted a "design center," an area dedicated to their design needs. Again, through user testing and iterative design, InContext developed the design section of the homepage.

"I like the way all the things are broken out — it's nice to have all the possibilities."

"Absolutely a nice way to have it organized; otherwise I’d go to the knowledge base and try to search."

"It lets you make a more intelligent decision."

Currently, InContext is working with users to develop the third section of the homepage focused on application and community needs.

Delivering Results

InContext delivered the user data and analysis as well as design specifications and page templates. Analog project leaders and managers accompanied the team on visits and participated in interpretation sessions, acquiring a good understanding of the data first-hand.

To gather more user input on the site's product taxonomy, InContext ran multiple focus groups, reviewing and building the product categories with users to feed the design. Stakeholders were kept in touch with the progress through checkpoint meetings to share the designs. Finally, Analog's development firm was able to use the specifications to build the new site.

Analog launched the revised Analog.com site in September 2004. Analog geared up for the inevitable complaints about change from internal stakeholders and customers. But the new site produced negligible complaints and many positive compliments from users:

"Congratulations to the new website composition. Feature overview, datasheets, and pricing info are finally on one page. Great. Thanks."

"I used your new website today for the first time. Your people that did it should be congratulated on a job well done."

By working with InContext Analog got results:

"I might not like the page layout but I now know that if it works for the customer — it works for the business. My opinion is not the one that counts," said Dave Kress.