Decathlon, as many large retailers, knows to which extent it can benefit from a good internal communication platform to advertise the company strategy to its employees. Decathlon asked Internet Architects to set up a bilingual WordPress site that will be used as their new ‘internal blog’. This blog will be managed and fed by the Decathlon marketing department and will be used to communicate on customer matters such as loyalty cards, customer service, mailings, etc. Internet Architects set up the blog’s information architecture and provided logical menus and submenus. We drew the wireframes and made the site ready for use. The Decathlon marketing department will provide the content.

Decathlon’s direct mailings can target a total of 490,000 customers in Belgium and the Netherlands. On average, Decathlon sends 17 direct mailings to 85,000 customers each month. To avoid repetitive work in design and content creation, it makes good sense to delimit and describe a fixed set of structure, design and content standards in a style guide. This will not only be to the benefit of overall graphical consistency, it will also reinforce Decathlon’s brand identity. Our style guide will describe all graphical elements and content elements that can be used to create direct mailings.

Define

• Analyzing the current way of creating mailings
• Delimiting and defining a new and clear Decathlon-style per mailing type
• Writing technical documentation on mail structures and templates

During a practical workshop with the customer, the foundations for the information architecture of the newsletters are laid down and the steps towards developing usable content are defined. Criteria that make engaging newsletters are explained and are applied in a context that is relevant for the customer and the end-users. We detail the various target groups and determine all factors for good receipt and high opening rates. Finally one or more training sessions are organized during which we explain how to create good newsletters and corresponding landing pages, how to manage the e-mail addresses and how to interpret the user reports from the Addemar mailing platform.

Define

• Short- and long-term strategic visions
• Concept development

With Telenet Yelo TV, consuming television content has never been easier. It puts you in the driver’s seat when it comes to what, when and where to watch, and on what device.
Telenet Yelo TV is all about a complete viewing experience that fits seamlessly in Telenet’s new TV menu and the digicorder’s wide array of options. Watching TV is now customizable in manner, place and time. There are brand-new functionalities to view and manage your recordings, to watch live TV interactively and watch programs and films on demand.

Together with the Telenet team, Internet Architects devised a strategic vision to bring Yelo TV and digital TV more aligned. The resulting concepts brought clarity to the offering on all online platforms. Our interaction design and graphic design was transformed to all necessary front-end code (html, css, JavaScript) using our powerful tools and html framework to ensure a seamless and equally nice experience on web, tablets and smartphone.

We’re proud to have been involved in one of the nicer responsive design projects of the year.

yelotv.be

Define

• High-level concepts
• Information architecture for the portal and the schools’ sites

Today the Antwerp Port Authority has websites on various platforms. In order to continue positioning the Port of Antwerp as a solid brand, uniformity and consistency in its online presence are essential.

A first step towards that online harmony was taken in 2012 by migrating all websites to one Drupal platform and by creating a single corporate site: www.portofantwerp.com.

In 2013, the Port of Antwerp will take the next logical step: outlining and formulating a strategic vision for the Port’s linked websites, campaign sites and any other addition to their current online presence. The Antwerp Port Authority selected Internet Architects to provide the required strategic support, set their online course and deliver all front-end development on demand.

Internet Architects will the Port’s strategic partner in 2013, and may continue this task in 2014 and 2015 as well. Great perspective!

• Short- and long-term online strategy
• Information architecture

Until recently, the website for the Socialistische Mutualiteiten was a collection of 4 subsites, each site presenting its members offer with different emphases. Updates in health insurance regulations and the need for a more contemporary site urged the organization to think about what these changes could mean for their online offer and branding. The conclusion: it was high time to revise all aspects of their online presence.

From experience we know that this type of project needs a systematic and analytical approach. We kicked off the cooperation by writing the online strategy and drawing the wireframes to support that strategy. We then presented the graphic design and provided support for the content revision through coaching. Together with our technical partner and Microsoft Sharepoint specialist Uniway, we were present during each step of the development phases, making sure all initial quality standards were met.

The all-new socmut.be is only the beginning of the continual optimization for the Bond Moyson and de Voorzorg. Their online services are now tailored to the members and their site is future-proof.

Qualitative, effective and efficient health care is a fundamental right for everyone. For health care providers in various disciplines, primary care and specialty care, it is not always easy to share patient information directly because that information is not centralized or readily accessible.

With Vitalink, all medical information on a patient will be stored centrally and can be made accessible to the care givers that need access to it. This will significantly reduce red tape for patients as well as for health care providers. It goes without saying that all data in Vitalink is treated with the utmost respect for privacy and that every possible security measure is taken to safeguard patient confidentiality.

Over time, Vitalink will minimize the risk of miscommunication and improve the overall quality of health care. Up until today, similar systems were limited to one sector only, such as hospitals or professional groups (generalists, specialists).

The milestones for the new year are still unwritten but we cannot wait to discover what lies ahead …

Happy holidays and all the best for 2013!

Discover Internet Architects’ best of 2012

As a master in product development, Eline has a real eye and passion for excellent user experiences. She started her career as a user experience researcher at the University of Leuven, she wrote a dissertation on ‘rich user profiles’ and she is the published author of ‘Scoren met uw website’ (‘How does your website score?’). In short, Eline’s career was off to a great start and we are confident she can continue on this promising professional path at Internet Architects.

Jelle Versele is all about developing good and, in his own words, ‘bullet-proof’ and standards-based code. HTML5, CSS and jQuery have no secrets for Jelle. We are sure he will fit in excellently into our own front-end development team, aka Niels, Filip and Bruno.

Internet Architects thought out a highly accessible and practical intranet concept for the city of Antwerp’s day care services (Autonoom Gemeentebedrijf Kinderopvang Antwerpen).

In order to meet the needs of the intranet’s future users and to find out what they really expected from their new ‘work tool’, we started this project by conducting a needs analysis. Through interviews with employees and focus groups that also functioned as internal sounding boards, we were able to draw the big picture.

We continued by processing the information from the interviews and focus groups until we could distill the information architecture for the new intranet. The resulting tree structure gives direct access to popular tasks and need-to-know information for the administrative services as well as the for the carers. Recurring tasks and practical information will be in their rightful places.

Finally we used the information architecture as the basis for drawing wireframes with functional annotations. These wireframes are now the perfect starting point for the designers and later the technical developers of the intranet.

With customers in all sectors (food and beverage, insurance, franchises, automotive and retail) Lumacentral, the Luma SAAS-based platform for sales and marketing, caters not only to a highly segmented customer base but also a very demanding one with no time to spare.

LUMA was looking to improve the user interface for Lumacentral, making it accessible and easy to understand for people with limited computer and/or marketing experience. Internet Architects drew the wireframes, provided the design and did the front-end development for the new Luma Apps. Managing marketing assets and creating, customizing and distributing marketing material to major content channels became more intuitive and straightforward.

Brands such as ABInBev, Mercedes-Benz, Deceuninck, Bacardi and Coca-Cola will see increased brand alignment and higher levels of consistency in their overall marketing communication.

How does O2mc work? It measures every action for each website visitor and classifies it according to a predefined value. Unlike other bid management tools, O2mc takes into account much more than just hard online conversions (such as actual sales). It keeps track of which keywords lead to newsletter subscriptions, views of product detail pages, internal searches, etc. Each of these actions is given a value allowing O2mc to decide on raising or lowering the bid on a keyword.

The rise in online marketing budgets is making good SEO and SEA management and optimization increasingly important. This is true for natural or unpaid (“organic”) search results as well as for pay-per-click search engine marketing. We believe that, with O2mc, you get the best control over how your SEA budget is allocated, and of course, the best return on your investment.

Essentiel wanted more than just an online shop. They were looking to create a user experience that could compete with a visit to one of their stores. Online shopping @ Essentiel had to be user friendly, accessible and exude the same sense for aesthetics that the brand has made its own. On top of that, the e-shop’s design needed to be responsive so that it is perfectly usable on pc and on tablets.

Internet Architects and Essentiel will continue to be online partners. We will guide Essentiel through the changes and challenges ahead as their online platform grows and evolves. Uniway will keep providing the technical support needed.

We delivered these services:

Define

• Short- and long-term e-commerce strategy
• Approach responsive design

Joris has been at Internet Architects for over 3 years now. He knows what makes us tick, how we work and what Internet Architects aims to accomplish today and in the future. Over the past 3 years, Joris has been involved in many of our projects as a project manager, a program manager and as one of our in-house web analytics experts. In other words, he has been right in the middle of the action, and we think that is the best preparation to oversee the overall operations of Internet Architects as a whole.

On top of that, Joris’ direct approach, problem solving skills, creativity and knowledge of technology make him the best person for this challenging job. And his witty sense of humor gets him a long way as well …

Too many projects, too little time and a healthy drive for efficiency is what makes Niels think before developing. Experience has taught him that he should write good, versatile and reusable HTML components that are independent from project-specific requirements and that stay as close to pure HTML as possible.

In his article Niels elaborates on a practical example (content type) that even laymen and –woman can understand: how to define the HTML components that make up a story. Easy enough, since we all know what the typical elements of a story can be.

Niels starts by defining the root component (story) and its various views (shortlist, thumb, summary, detail). He goes on by defining the logical units that make up the story: heading, thumbnail, abstract, action links, metadata, related stories and the actual content. So far so good. He then adds the structural containers to define hierarchy and builds the master HTML component. To finish, he adds the microdata that are HTML5 compliant. This results in legible, ready, reusable and lay-out-independent code.

Curious to learn more? Read the full article at http://coding.smashingmagazine.com/2012/10/23/road-reusable-html-components/

Having one of our sites win an award for the most-user friendly site of 2012 would be absolutely great. Make a well-informed choice by visiting the Joker.be site and reading all about how we designed and developed Joker’s site here.

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

Early 2013, Telenet will launch Yelo TV. To quote Telenet: ‘it will be a borderless TV experience that unites the best of Telenet’s digital TV and the Yelo application’.

With Yelo TV you will watch the program of your choice, live or recorded, on any screen: TV, laptop, tablet or smartphone. And all your media – photos, music and videos – will become easily accessible to enjoy on your TV screen. Yelo TV’s innovative television menu is bound to enhance any viewing experience and will offer the very best viewing quality on any screen of any size. In short, you will watch what you want, when you want it and where it is most convenient. Get the sneak preview for this promising change and watch Telenet’s demo film: http://blog.telenet.be/2012/10/yelo-tv-een-nieuwe-grenzeloze-tv-ervaring/.

Internet Architects delivered the concepts, the interaction design and the graphic designs for the new Yelo TV site as well as for the apps on iPad, iPhone and Android tablets and smartphones.

To be continued … we’re sure.

Annie grew up in the NW of the United States where she attended Portland State University. She graduated in 2003 with a Bachelor degree in sociology and music. Soon after leaving school she became a project manager at a digital agency where she developed a keen interest in digital marketing.

Today, Annie has over seven years experience in digital marketing, can manage both small and larger projects, and is rapidly specializing in all things online strategy, concept development and interaction design.

In 2010 Annie moved to Antwerp, worked for various agencies and just decided she feels most at ‘home’ at Internet Architects. In Annie’s own words: “I’m passionate about designing for people and experiences, and making the web a useful and fun place to hang out.” We know exactly what you mean, Annie.

And also good to know: Annie is ‘bi-keyboardal’. Might come in handy …

Essentiel chose Internet Architects as their strategic online partner to set up a new e-shop. Our ample experience with e-commerce and retail customers combined with a shared vision on Essentiel’s online presence proved to be a great match. Together we defined the online strategy, designed the user interface and managed the project from start to launch. Our technical partner Uniway took care of the technical realization.

Having an additional sales channel had been on the table at Essentiel for some time. However, finding an online partner that shared the company’s vision and quality demands was not easy. Essentiel did not want just any online shop … they were looking for a user experience that could compete with a visit to one of their stores. Online shopping @ Essentiel had to be user friendly, accessible and exude the same sense for aesthetics that the brand has made its own. On top of that, the e-shop’s design needed to be responsive so that it is perfectly usable on pc and on tablets.

Internet Architects and Essentiel will continue to be online partners. We will guide Essentiel through the changes and challenges ahead as their online platform grows and evolves. Uniway will keep providing all technical support needed.

Direct mailing campaigns can be a great marketing tool when they reach the public they target. But why not take it a few steps further? For the sender it is imperative to know what the recipients do with the e-mails and especially if they are worth the investment.

Thanks to e-mail tracking reports, there are virtually no secrets in e-mail traffic and we can measure exactly what happens as soon as mails are sent, received, opened and clicked.

For Decathlon Belgium, we have been tracking their direct mailing campaigns for over two years now. This has yielded invaluable results and very insightful information on how to take full advantage of these commercial mails. By interpreting the tracking data, we know which types of graphic design have the best click-through rate, which tone and content appeals most to the recipients and which information architecture is appreciated best.

Processing the results of the e-mail tracking reports allows us to continually optimize every aspect of Decathlon’s direct mails. On a regular basis we report back to Decathlon so that every adjustment and optimization is done in consultation with our client.

We believe that good e-commerce has a life cycle that covers various generations of an e-shop and its product(s).

Setting up a good e-shop is about discerning opportunities whenever and wherever they present themselves, about creating trust between sellers and buyers, about aspiring for a healthy growth and realizing good profit by converting site visitors into repeat customers. Then we started drawing what we meant.

This is what we came up with.

If ever a portal needed a crystal-clear information architecture that made sure its visitors stayed on track, this was it. The new schools portal for the city of Antwerp is now a perfect gateway to all education types the city has on offer: 150 schools, academies and educational centers, all on www.stedelijkonderwijs.be.

The focus for this portal was on creating a single site that could serve as the starting point for all 6 divisions and their schools to communicate on their services. For each of those 6 divisions visitors can now easily find information on any of the schools and its facilities.

In a later stage every school will have its own website, which will be built on the same platform. This should create consistency in the look and feel of the Antwerp city’s educational offer and reduce maintenance to all sites to a minimum.

Google Analytics is part of our Optimize services and is one of the tools we use to fine-tune online presences. It consists of a complete toolkit to measure and analyze how a site is doing in terms of how visitors use the site, how they found it, how sales and conversion rates are, etc.

The measurement results can help to really gain insights that matter to most businesses.

Although Google Analytics can be a free tool, getting one of our experts involved can make it easier to set up, interpret the results and define an action plan to improve your online presence.

And did you know that we designed our own framework that simplifies the process of measuring traffic on your site(s) using Google Analytics (or any other analytics tool)? We named it WAIA (Web Analytics Internet Architects).

PSA Antwerp relies on its software to plan the loading and unloading of its cargo ships. That same software is also used to organize the storage of unloaded goods daily and to optimize all cargo transport.

Internet Architects rebranded the outdated GUI of the PSA planning software and made it HTML5- and web-ready. The updating of the back-end is planned and should increase the performance considerably.

We always think before we act. It can be a real time saver. So we first worked out the marketing strategy that would be supported by these Facebook®-tabs. This is the gist: Decathlon needed an extra marketing channel to reach a large audience and to communicate on innovations, to involve their customers in testing new products, to quickly find the nearest Decathlon-store and to raise awareness for a new store opening. To meet those wishes, we created these Facebook®-tabs:

• Find your Decathlon store here
• Enroll for the Decathlon test panel
• See the latest Decathlon innovations

Disclaimer: Facebook® is a registered trademark of Facebook Inc.

The Flemish region Aalst, Erpe-Mere, Haaltert and Lede is participating in the UiTPAS test project. This regional project aims at providing a maximum number of people with virtually unlimited access to culture and sports. The UiTPAS-principle is simple: you buy the loyalty card for € 5 or less and you immediately get over € 25 in advantages. By participating in one of the activities, you save points which you can later exchange for extra benefits, tariff reductions, free tickets, etc.

Internet Architects provided advice and feedback during the set-up of the information architecture. We drew the wireframes for the website as well as for the administrator’s part of the site. We also conducted user tests to optimize the UiTPAS’ online presence.

You can find all information about the UiTPAS on www.uitpas.be.

The best way to prepare the set-up of a website that meets the expectations of its future owners and users is to conduct a needs analysis. In practice, this means that we do extensive desk research by collecting and summarizing all existing material on the current website. We do a benchmark and evaluate other provincial and governmental sites for best practices. We organize interviews with all stakeholders: provincial delegates, heads of marketing and public relations, heads of departments and the provincial registrar. Finally, we host several workshops with the web team and the future content owners.

This gives us ample inspiration to write an analysis report in which we provide answers to these questions: Which lessons were learned from the previous website? What does the province aim to accomplish with the new site? Which types of information should the new site offer its users? Which functionalities should be developed? Which ‘provincial brands’ will have their own website? Etc.

The answers to those questions, and more, are formulated in a coherent vision on the future website for the province. This vision document can now serve as a starting point to define the new website, both in form and content.

Being a ‘MICA’ is definitely a title you have to earn. Each year only 15 young potentials make the selection based on their application and motivation. And once they’re in, the real work starts.

Throughout the training, the focus lies on using theory in real-life learning labs. To show future employers some of their skills the MICAs created a website from scratch in just four weeks: www.lessiusip.be. It showcases all facets of the postgraduate training programs: MICA, PICA and this year’s new COPY. To complement the site, they also set up a campaign to recruit future MICAs, PICAs and COPYs: ‘Beer and tweets’. They invited everyone interested in the postgraduate training to have a beer (or any other beverage) and a chat with this year’s students. The campaign was promoted through all social media, an excellent and realistic exercise.

David De Block was one of the lecturers who passed on his expertise to the MICAs of 2011-2012. David taught a course on ‘information architecture’.

Wendy joins Hilde in our office and operations team. She is one of those rare centipedes whose hands-on mentality and sense of initiative ensure that the rest of our team can focus on delivering great work.

Kevin graduated as a ‘Bachelor New Media and Communication Technology’ and then completed a postgraduate ‘Manager Interactive Communication’. During his internship he displayed a real talent for managing online projects. We are confident that his sense of accuracy, his technical knowledge of all things online and his planning skills will contribute to his projects’ success.

Pieter completed the training for ‘Bachelor in Communication Sciences’ followed by ‘Master in Management’ and finally the same postgraduate training as Kevin. We spotted strategist talent in Pieter and offered him a job as a junior strategist. We believe in investing in young potentials and on-the-job training. We wish them a successful career start!

Define

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

UZA.be is used by roughly 35 000 visitors every month. The analysis of user statistics taught us that most of those visitors are looking for practical information about doctors’ consultation hours, types of rooms, examination details, etc. For the new UZA-site, this meant that easy accessibility through a logical navigation structure was paramount. And we all know that high-quality information can be very reassuring when planning a hospital visit. Finally, we ensured this new site fits right into today’s interactive media age: sharing information, such as brochures, with friends or through social media adds to the overall accessibility of the hospital services.

For the new UZA-site, Internet Architects analyzed the user needs, did a benchmark on other hospital sites and wrote a crystal-clear vision document. As soon as the course to follow was set, we defined the information architecture and delivered the graphic design.

In cooperation with our partner for Drupal-sites, Krimson, we built the new UZA-site. Our front-end coding in combination with Krimson’s Drupal-expertise delivered fine results. Finally, we coached the web team and we provided functional, graphic and content support.

Telenet partnered up with Internet Architects to work out the overall concept for the Yelo 2.1 app. From our architects’ point of view we drew the new and detailed wireframes and we defined the scope for this application on iPad and Android tablets. It was paramount to improve the overall user experience when watching TV on a tablet and allowing live twittering. With Yelo 2.1 viewers can now interact in real time and share opinions on a TV program. During the entire realization process, Internet Architects did the overall project management, making sure all intermediate deliveries were in time and in sync with the concepts. TV-twittering on tablets is born.

OptimaBank’s approach to banking is unique. Since they acquired EthiasBank they can now offer their customers a combination of these four competences: income, pension, assets and estate. For us, this meant setting up a new information architecture for an organization that wants to reconcile their long-term financial planning services with core banking products. The latter are typically short-term solutions.

Our mission also included foreseeing ample room for scalability: OptimaBank is planning to expand their banking services in the near future. Still, our biggest challenge was creating a design that would appeal to OptimaBank’s main target audience: customers in search of personalized service, financial advice and long-term planning. In our experience, you can inspire confidence by using the correct web typography and by allowing enough room for white spaces. And that is exactly what we did: http://www.optimabank.be/nl.

Just like any other web tool, web analytics tools evolve rapidly, and rightfully so. It is of paramount importance that your analytics tool helps to advance your business, without taking the focus off of your business. An online offer needs to be tweaked constantly to stay in sync with its audience’s expectations. And the best way to know what a target audience wants, is to regularly analyze the surfing behavior on your site.

But why choose Digital Analytix? According to Joris the advantages are many. It offers sufficient granularity in the analytics results, allowing you to filter on your target segments and to approach the information from various points of view. It is a fast and very flexible solution that can easily be integrated with other platforms (API), including MS Office and leading marketing partners. In the long term, Digital Analytix is simple to deploy, maintain and customize to your own dynamic digital environment. In short, it is designed to grow with you and your business, whether enterprise or SME size.

User profiles help with content management: webmasters can define who can modify the site, staff and press have their own spaces that are accessible after registration. External designers and content owners can easily adapt their parts of the content.

Over time our event site framework will be the ideal solution for recurring events such as festivals as well as for one-off special events such as long-term exhibitions.

Internet Architects thought out the concept, we drew the wireframes, developed the framework in cooperation with the province of Antwerp and we organized training sessions for all parties involved.

Here’s an example: http://www.doe-aan-sportbeurs.be

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.

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.

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:

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:

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.

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:

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.