Mobile Phone Guidelines

An ever increasing range of mobile phones are appearing on the market, each with their own features, designs and interfaces. Our experience suggests that, despite their many differences, there are some user interface requirements common to all mobile phones.

Lucy Stockbridge & Azia Mughal , 9 July 2007.

Noddys Guide to Usability Testing and Gaming

Ben Weedon discusses how usability testing can be useful at all stages of games development.

Ben Weedon, published in Interfaces, April 07.

Usability review of PES6

Read the results of our usability review of PES6 on the Xbox 360. 

Ben Weedon, January 2007.

User Challenges in the Connected Home

What are the major user related issues that present a barrier to the development of the connected home?

Lucy Stockbridge & Azia Mughal, September 2006.

Mobile TV design guidelines

Serco Usability Services has been investigating how users react to this first generation of mobile television products through recent independent research studies. The findings of the studies have helped to inform a set of design guidelines which are available by clicking the link above. 

We have also developed a workshop based on the findings of our research, which looks in detail at methods for designing and conducting user research for emerging technologies. Find out about our Mobile TV workshop.

Download the presentation Lucy Stockbridge gave at Euro ITV 2006 in May: Mobile TV: Experience of the UK Vodafone and Sky service.

Lucy Stockbridge and Sara Kincla, May 2006.

Another usability tool: Marketing

Andrew Swartz discusses how working closely with marketing can improve usability.

Andrew Swartz, Published in Usability News, September 2005.

Design guidelines for in-car GPS navigation systems

Serco Usability Services carried out independent research to investigate usability issues in the design of in-car GPS navigation systems. These guidelines highlight potential issues.

Gemma Boguslawski and Ben Weedon, May 2005.

Hand It To The Users

Games developers must get to grips with next gen handhelds, says Ben Weedon, a consultant at Serco Usability Services.

Ben Weedon, April 2005.

Playing Away: Design Lessons for Handheld Gaming

The hardware being released during 2005 offers a range of new features and possibilities in terms of games design. But is it all good news for the consumer? In an ongoing programme of research Serco Usability Services has examined the latest handheld games machines and produced this set of design guidelines, relevant to all manufacturers and developers in the field.

Owen Daly-Jones, March 2005.

It's All In Hand: Design Guidelines for Designing Remote Controls

Serco Usability Services has pioneered usability research into digital television services, working with a variety of TV applications, set-top-boxes, and remote controls. One of the immediately apparent issues is that there is no common approach to designing remote controls. In recognition of this, this document highlights some of the lessons we have learnt and presents guidelines that can be used to help design and evaluate remote controls. 

Owen Daly-Jones, January 2005.