Carl’s professional profile is fully in line with our methodology: thoroughly analyzing the customers’ needs and wishes and translating them into strong architectures and clear concepts. His innate inquisitiveness, stress resistance and analytical mind are the perfect assets to our multi-skilled team. We are confident that Carl will assist, guide and coach his project teams to success with a firm hand, down-to-earth approach and a healthy sense of humor.

We tailored our framework to allow for detailed behavioral tracking (custom parameters, form tracking, custom events, …). This has proven to be very efficient for e-commerce sites where it is imperative to quickly respond to any changes in user behavior and to follow up the latest marketing initiatives.

Finally, our WAIA-framework is designed to interact with various web analytics solutions. Google Analytics is undoubtedly best known, but there are many other powerful web analytics solutions that also do a great measuring job.

For more information, don’t hesitate to contact webanalytics@internetarchitects.be.

Internet Architects defined the concept and brand architecture for SD Worx’ various services. The main challenge lay in promoting the services that are not top-of-mind for most users while still positioning their core business in its rightful place. We drew the wireframes and designed the screens. The implementation was a joint effort where Internet Architects did the front-end development (CSS, HTML and graphical design) and SD Worx set up the back-end system.

http://www.sdworx.be

CSS sprites increase the page loading speed by combining all your background graphics into a single image. By using the position properties you can then display the image segment of your choice. Many web developers have been using these ‘image repositories’ for years and know that they can make pages load a lot quicker. That is nothing new.

What is new, however, is that Niels has optimized the layout of his CSS sprite sheets and uses a Photoshop® script (credits to Filip Van Tendeloo) that automatically creates a grid of guides based on the size of the sprites square. By adding numbers to the x and y axes of the grid, it becomes a lot easier to pinpoint every square in the grid, and to calculate the coordinates of each image. And with the help of a LESS functions, you can then avoid doing intricate calculations or finding random start coordinates.

Read Niels’ article for all details: http://coding.smashingmagazine.com/2012/04/11/css-sprites-revisited/.

This project was right up our alley: we have ample experience in the field of education, the required expertise in setting up crystal-clear information architectures and designing portals.

In practice, we created a concept for two websites that have to be closely connected: the corporate site for ‘Stedelijk Onderwijs Antwerpen’ and the portal and sites for the various schools. We thought out the concepts and then elaborated them in detailed wireframes and a crisp graphic design.

The real challenge lay in finding a compromise for these two online presences: the corporate site and the schools’ sites, without detracting from the necessary functionalities for the end user. We also had to take into account the six divisions of ‘Stedelijk Onderwijs Antwerpen’, each school belonging to one of those six divisions. At the same time we had to make sure that all schools’ websites could originate from one CMS with consistent branding while respecting each school’s individuality.

The expert review allows us to familiarize ourselves with Flair’s online presence. We always perform this type of review from the end user’s point of view: i.e. the readers. We screen the site thoroughly and we identify where we find room for improvement. We also analyze the web traffic and map the user behavior to spot trends. Finally we talk to both parties involved in this expert review: Flair and its readers.

We organize a workshop at the Flair offices during which we discuss the various points-of-view: inside-out and outside-in. And we form a focus group with users during which we discuss the unanswered questions from the expert review.

Based on all information gathered during the expert review we then write a report including a list of possible improvements. We present our conclusions to the Sanoma – Flair management.

We know the proof is in the eating of the pudding. That is why, at the E-shop Expo fair, we will be showcasing our recent projects in e-commerce for some of our retail customers. Find out first hand how valuable an architect’s point of view can be and why our broad approach to online sales really works. Experience with customers such as Carrefour, Decathlon and Joker has taught us that a focus on immediate results combined with a substantiated long-term vision yields excellent results.

www.portofantwerp.com offers its visitors an array of surfing possibilities.

Potential customers find information tailored to their needs in the Business and Connectivity sections . The conveniently arranged events calendar shows all commercial and socials events per month and day. The new feature ‘My Port of Antwerp’ gives an extra dimension to the site. It allows a faceted search depending on the type of port service you want to learn more about and filtered on your own profile: shipping company, terminal operator, investor, recreational visitor, student, etc. You can download magazines, brochures, cycling maps, etc. The port’s staff are kept up-to-date on the latest guidelines and regulations through the informational notes.

In short, whether you are working for the Port of Antwerp, looking for opportunities or just curious to learn more, this site caters to everyone’s needs. And this is just the beginning: this new site lays the groundwork for further developments in the short and longer terms.

Internet Architects delivered the site architecture, the designs and the templates. We were also responsible for the technical delivery.

An expert review of an existing site is part of our optimize services. It is often the best way to prepare for an update and improvement of an online presence. As a starting point for this expert review, we used Peter Morville’s user experience honeycomb. This gives us a standard checklist of over a 100 KPI’s that are easy to measure and are divided over the seven facets of user experience design: usability, findability, credibility, accessibility, desirability, usefulness and value.

This checklist offers considerable advantages:

• It goes beyond the standard usability and accessibility review. It also evaluates the ‘softer’ domains such as credibility, desirability and usefulness. These domains have an equally big impact on the general ‘value’ of a website.
• Each subdomain is awarded a general score. This makes it easier to prioritize improvements in the medium and longer terms.
• For each analyzed KPI, a ‘quick win’ can be defined for short-term improvements.

Europeana is a multilingual online collection of millions of digitized items from European museums, libraries, archives and multimedia collections. This portal enables people to explore the digital resources of Europe’s museums, libraries, archives and audio-visual collections. It promotes discovery and networking opportunities in a multilingual space where users can engage, share in and be inspired by the rich diversity of Europe’s cultural and scientific heritage.

Internet Architects is responsible for the Europeana fashion portal for which we will deliver the concept and the design. We will later also develop the site that will give a purpose to part of the ingested content related to fashion.

Our partners in this multinational consortium include the Digital Renaissance Foundation – New Technologies for Cultural Heritage (Firenze), the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), the Fashion Museum of Antwerp, the Royal Museums of Art and History in Brussels, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, Nederlands Instituut Beeld en Geluid in Hilversum, Le Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris and 16 other partners, mainly museums, fashion institutes and universities.

The look and feel of the Carrefour Discount site reflects the retailer’s product approach perfectly. The product range consists of over 400 food and non-food basics that offer clients a high-quality alternative to other discount brands. The packaging is kept clean, simple and basic. This makes it easy to identify the Discount products on the shelves and allows to keep the packaging costs at an absolute minimum.
In short, this site is a perfect extension of Carrefour’s Discount product placement. All the Discount products are also available when shopping online at Carrefour.eu.

And because all that novelty deserved to be properly celebrated we gave away lots of free gifts.

Euroclear is the world's leading provider of post-trade services, holding over €22 trillion assets for clients and settling securities transactions in excess of €500 trillion per year. Its platforms are used by thousands of financial institutions all over the world.

Together with Amplexor and Namahn, Internet Architects is designing and building their new online platform. This portal is not online yet.

We delivered these services:

Define

• Developing a new vision on Joker’s online strategy: the new website, all online communication on other sites and internet media in a very concrete action plan over 1, 3 and 5 years
• Designing the high-level concept in wireframes

We delivered these services:

In 2009, Internet Architects helped to define and design the new Carrefour online shop, both in Belgium and in France. Today, we continue to be the Carrefour Group’s preferred partner to further strengthen their online presence.

In this project Internet Architects set up the information architecture and the navigational model. We designed the taxonomy, documented the functional definition and graphically designed the new site. We then coached the content owners, analyzed web traffic and optimized the search engine. In 2010 the provant.be website has seen some further design improvements as a result of an intermediate optimization track.

We delivered these services:

Decathlon was looking for strategic support to set up a consistent e-mailing strategy in Belgium and the Netherlands. To do this they needed a flexible solution that helps them to send targeted newsletters and product mails to their customer base. Since May 2010, Internet Architects is assisting Decathlon in sending mails to 290 000 contacts in direct mailing campaigns. This has increased their conversion rates online and in the Decathlon stores.
We also customized the opt-out flow for Decathlon customers who no longer wish to receive the newsletters. Instead of just signing out, they can identify the reason why they want to opt out: no longer interested, other e-mail address, ... This yields extra information for Decathlon allowing them to further improve their newsletters and working for a specific target audience.

We delivered these services:

The NBB (National Bank of Belgium) has an array of web applications that are used both internally and externally. These applications grew organically over the years resulting in a lack of consistency in design and usage. Internet Architects helped to standardize the application interfaces by creating design patterns for the most commonly used screen flows and page components. We wrote a style guide describing the correct use of all components and guidelines on when to use them. We also delivered the graphical design and the front-end code (HTML, CSS and JavaScript) for the standard components.

We delivered these services:

We delivered these services:

The Federal Government’s “Police-on-web” application needed an expert evaluation in order to increase its usability. Internet Architects evaluated the application and formulated a number of improvements that resulted in quick wins but also guaranteed long-term enhancements. We were also asked to do the implementation of the suggested improvements.

Define

• Analyzing the user needs
• Benchmarking the best practices of other hospitals
• Writing a vision document with the objectives for the new site

Internet Architects audited the existing applications and performed an extensive desk research to get acquainted with workflows and processes and the current problems involved. This resulted in a high-level concept for a new and improved intranet with concrete goals. We set up a trial project with a limited number of provincial services and created a fully functional demo site that was thoroughly tested. This provided valuable input to perfect the design and usability of the new intranet. Launched fall 2010, the brand new intranet provides the province’s 2.000 users with a highly functional and clean design where the focus lies on content and important work procedures. Users now also have personalized pages in line with their profile for improved productivity and with a better user experience.

We delivered these services:

The Belgian federal government chose to use the same portal to promote Belgian entrepreneurship abroad and to attract foreign investors. The business.belgium portal is mainly built by FedICT, based on the generic WCMS components that Internet Architects used when developing Belgium.be.

We delivered these services:

We delivered these services:

Internet Architects defined a long-term online strategy for the federal government’s online presence and that of its subsites. We set up the information architecture and delivered the graphic design. We coached the portal team and gave functional support during the content entry phase.

We delivered these services:

We delivered these services:

• Conducting desk research to map demand and offer
• Formulating new online concepts for the various subsites (de redactie, sporza), brands and content
• Creating wireframes that reflect these new concepts
• Providing consultancy for short-term developments on existing sites
• Conducting expert reviews on a number of existing sites, such as the videozone at redactie.be
• Formulating user interface improvements
• Conducting user tests

URL: www.deredactie.be, www.sporza.be

We know that people tend to suffer from a latent inferiority complex when it comes to technology. We believe it is very important to do user tests in a natural en relax environment. That is why we prefer not to use test labs. They are an artificial environment that makes testers feel ‘watched’ and makes them behave differently than they normally would.

Together with Sanoma, we worked out a few common user scenarios that all testers had to follow during a hands-on evaluation of the test site. We asked them to “think aloud”. This means that the user communicates at all times on what he does, thinks and feels. This method makes it easier to detect the cause of any problems. We also installed a screen in a separate observation room that shows the interview live.

The deliverable of the usability research and the user interview is a detailed report in which we make suggestions on how to improve the site. We also included the footage of all interviews for future reference.

URL: www.shedeals.be

Over the past few years, the Orchestra’s website has become increasingly important. It now handles a substantial amount of ticket orders and payments. This called for a new and more performant site that could be easily expanded and maintained by the Orchestra’s staff. Drupal was their CMS of choice.

We delivered these services:

We delivered these services:

We delivered these services:

We delivered these services:

This temporary site needed to be extra user friendly and easy to update by the people of the Diamond Museum. It featured special pages where users could enroll for guided tours and other exhibition-related activities. We also set up an adwords campaign to increase traffic to the event site and to raise awareness for this temporary exhibition.

Dymo has always worked for us, and now Internet Architects is working for them: we are redesigning their user interfaces for internal applications in order to improve usability and efficiency. Labeling it’s core business, for us and for Dymo.

With the arrival of tablet PCs and mobile computing in general, it seems as these are the final days of printed annual reports. Members of executive management often seek to show all the information on their company’s activities and financial performance on an iPad or another similar device.

Erik painted a more general picture on digital strategy in the world of Investor Relations before digging into the possible multi-channel strategies that can work for all parties involved.

Read more and subscribe at Comfi’s website

We will be assisting the NBB’s internal team in interaction design and we will provide information architecture services for their external applications. With the use of our extensive library of design patterns for applications, we will help to standardize their interfaces and interface design. This should help to improve the overall user experience and yield gains in the development part as well.

Together with Amplexor and Namahn, Internet Architects will be designing and building their new online platform.

Currently, Internet Architects is defining Euroclear’s new digital strategy. We are also responsible for designing the new user interface concepts that will be used on the new marketing and operational sites (extranet). Finally, we can also put the new graphic design to our name.

We are redesigning their website to make it fully in line with Joker’s vision on travel. www.joker.be will become “the place to be” for all adventurous travelers who wish to leave the beaten paths. For this new website, Joker is focusing on online travel booking and selling.

This project encompasses the online presence of its 4 “subsidiaries”: De VoorZorg Antwerpen & Limburg and Bond Moyson Oost-Vlaanderen & West-Vlaanderen.

The technical realization will be executed by our ICT partner Uniway.