ICAEW's principles echo the culture of designing experiences for our users, not for the organisation. Our 10 global UX Principles offer a framework to evaluate our work and inform everyone how we deliver useful, elegant ad simple-to-use interfaces.
These principles are coupled with our Design Vision to ensure we deliver rewarding and engaging visual experiences that satisfy our users needs, throughout their digital journey with us.
Design Vision
Our vision is to deliver rewarding and memorable digital experiences that users genuinely value, while excelling in the fundamentals of service delivery. By prioritising user-centred design, innovation, and technological adaptability, we will ensure interactions are engaging, meaningful, and underpinned by reliability. We aim to create a digital environment where our users feel supported by our knowledge, inspired to achieve their professional goals, and empowered to control their own experience.
Principles
1. User-Centric Design
Designing for users remains at the core of our approach.
Why?
Understanding our users' goals, behaviours, and frustrations allows us to create solutions that enhance engagement, satisfaction, and retention. This user-centred approach ensures our designs remain relevant and effective.
2. Discoverable Content
We will deliver systems that efficiently find, sort, and present information, ensuring users locate the right content effortlessly.
Why?
With 45% of icaew.com sessions initiated from search engines, it's imperative to design intuitive navigation and search functionalities that minimise effort in finding content.
3. Personalised Experiences
We will communicate with users as individuals, understanding their context and intentions to provide tailored experiences.
Why?
Everyone is different
Leveraging data, machine learning and artificial intelligence to personalise interactions makes experiences more memorable and rewarding, acknowledging that each user is unique.
4. Real-Time Feedback
We will align data points to deliver content and information immediately, providing users with instant feedback and assurance.
Why?
Immediate responses address human uncertainties and are increasingly expected due to technological advancements and standards set by ubiquitous brands.
5. Device Agnostic Design
We will design solutions to work seamlessly across all devices, ensuring accessibility at any time.
Why?
Users interact with ICAEW across multiple devices. Ensuring a consistent experience across platforms enhances user satisfaction and engagement.
6. Technological Adaptability
We will define open solutions that offer long-term flexibility, allowing adaptation to emerging technologies.
Why?
While future-proofing isn't entirely possible, creating adaptable solutions enables us to explore and test new technologies such as artificial intelligence, ensuring relevance in evolving markets.
7. Inclusive Design
We will ensure our designs are accessible to all users, regardless of location or ability.
Why?
As an international organisation, it's crucial to provide equal access to content and services, reflecting our commitment to inclusivity and acknowledging our diverse user base.
8. Performance Optimisation
We will target an average page load time of three seconds across devices.
Why?
Faster digital services reduce user abandonment rates and improve task achievement.
9. Continuous User Validation
We will validate our solutions with users throughout the design process, emphasising real-world usage over assumptions.
Why?
Iterative testing allows us to 'fail fast,' delivering value sooner with a greater chance of success by aligning closely with user needs.
10. Ethical and Sustainable Design
We will orchestrate our processes to deliver straightforward, accessible and sustainable designs.
Why?
Incorporating ethical and sustainable practices builds user trust and loyalty, reflecting a commitment to social responsibility.
Guidance
Our rules of play
- Does the design embody our brand and ethos?
- Is the design unified and consistent?
- Is the design transparent and intuitive?
- Is the design innovative and inspiring?
- Does the design seek to engage and delight?
- Is the design consumable and digestible?
- Is the design organic and progressive?