The Usability Testing Laboratory

Users have less and less tolerance for poor design

According to industry analyst Forrester Research, "poor design leads directly to a loss of 40% of repeat visitors to web sites and the loss of more than 50% of potential sales." Forrester also predicts e-businesses will spend an average of $1.5 million annually on site redesign due to problems with functionality. That's why, increasingly, companies are using Usability Labs for testing and refining user interface designs for their software and web sites.

Major manufacturers – Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, Sun Microsystems, and many others – have entire suites of observation rooms and usability labs. They've learned that usability testing leads directly to product design improvements and significant payback when it is integrated into the entire project lifecycle. Unfortunately, most companies can't afford an in-house lab, with the sophisticated audio/visual equipment, dedicated high-end computers, and usability experts that such a lab requires.

A state-of-the-art lab. An affordable price.

Before you publish your site, duplicate your software, or ship your product, contact us.

Pacific Science & Engineering is a human factors research and development company with a 20-year track record of testing and design for some of the most demanding clients in the country including: Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center (SPAWAR), Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Office of Naval Research, Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and Lockheed Martin.

Bring your software, your Marketing guru, your IT, and your Design staff. Make yourself comfortable around the conference table in one of our observation rooms, and watch as real-world users perform real-world tasks using your software.

Our three-screen observation and capture system in concert with two remotely-controlled cameras, lets you watch the user's expressions, and eye movements, as well as all hand and mouse movements, and the monitor he or she is using to interact with your interface.

Every control is at your fingertips.

Pan, tilt, zoom in, zoom out. Every bit of observational data, all the critical information you need for making informed decisions, is captured in real time.

Editing and transfering - your way

When your session is over, we transfer the video to the media of your choice: VHS, DVD, or CD-ROM, so you can watch it, discuss it, critique it, frame-by-frame, back in your own office. We can also edit the full-length video, under your supervision, to highlight significant testing events.

Need a complete "Out-Of-The-Box" experience?

We can even provide comprehensive out-of-the-box evaluations to help you perfect the consumer experience.