Solutions: usability, design/identity
Verticals: government

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 97-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System, which encompasses 548 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 69 national fish hatcheries, 63 fish and wildlife management offices and 81 ecological services field stations.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services needed a way to determine if their website was serving its purpose of communicating effectively with its diverse audiences.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service commissioned Fig Leaf Software to perform website usability consulting with focus groups to determine how well their existing website communicates with their intended audiences.

Fig Leaf Software deployed their in-house HFI Certified Usability Analyst to manage and conduct focus groups with the customer’s selected audiences. Fig Leaf’s Certified Usability Analyst met with client key stakeholders at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to set the plan, finalize the project scope, determine meetings that must be included, and identify any specific targets for the focus groups.The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service helped to provide people for the focus groups and Fig Leaf Software organized the focus groups.

There were 8 -10 people in each focus group meeting with three sets of focus groups: 1) internal employees, 2) volunteers and 3) partner organizations. The focus group meetings were held to gather information firsthand about what works and what doesn’t work for users on the site. This was a rapid way to obtain a large amount of feedback at one time. The meetings had agendas developed in advance and lasted about 2 hours each.  To prepare for these meetings, the Fig Leaf Software Usability Analyst analyzed the site in advance and developed an agenda based on the initial meetings with the Web team.

Within a relatively short period of time, Fig Leaf Software was able to perform focus group meetings to gather information directly from site users and stakeholders. Fig Leaf provided the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service a findings and recommendations document which contained valuable information on their website based on the feedback gathered.  Fig Leaf identified areas that needed improvement and included detailed analysis and recommendations for the website navigation, menus, page layout, title, text styles, content structure and overall design. Fig Leaf Software’s documentation included screen captures with detailed examples of problem areas and recommendations for how to fix issues.  The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service now has a professional research based roadmap with detailed recommendations for improving their site’s usability and design.