chiyo - 10:00 pm on Jan 13, 2003 (gmt 0)

mathew dob... great quote from your boss.

It just reminds me that the boss or your client is possibly the worst person to evaluate a site design!

However most sucessful bosses or clients are not stupid. So do what we do.

Research

Set up a small "test team" made up of carefully selected non-aligned people who would normally be hot prspects for your services/products (your target niche). Pay them if necessary. The less they know about the internet the better. They need only be half a dozen people but spread around the world with diff browsers, connections etc.

As you design the site, ask them to comment at certain times during the development - every week say, or every 2 days if its a rush job.

Ask the right questions (and remember asking the right questions is usually the hardest of all!) and document their responses. ( we use an online survey application as we are set up with it as we are a market research company, but a simple email questionnarrre can do)

The questions can be things right from timings, comprisons with competitors, ease of use, objective and subjective opinions and quant or qual information.

Involve your client/boss in the way you set up the panel, and the questions which should be based on your site objectives based on your site objectives (you DO have them don't you?)

That way the boss/client should be happy to accept the panel's views.

Later on your can do a larger feedback survey but we have found the "panel" works fantastically in getting objective info that you as designer or your client/boss as client completely miss.

Principle: Design for the customer, not for the boss