See through your customers' eyes

User Research

Our research gives you the insights to define products and services that reflect genuine user needs. Our methods include field studies, user surveys, contextual interviews, and task analysis.

Interaction Design

Blink Interactive designs complex applications which are mission critical to our clients’ business. Our user-centered approach includes wireframe prototypes, screen flow diagrams, user scenarios and task analysis.

Usability

We test concepts, prototypes, and existing products in our on-site usability labs and on location. Our techniques include baseline testing, iterative testing, heuristic evaluation, and cognitive walkthroughs.

Essays

A Recipe for Effective User Interviews

By Jen Amsterlaw, User Experience Consultant

The ingredients are simple: two people, a quiet place to sit and talk, and a video camera to record the session. Still, getting the most out of an interview requires careful planning and a thoughtful technique. Here I share some insights that guide my own approach to interviewing.

Eye tracking usability studies: what are users really looking at?

By John Dirks, Director of Usability Engineering

To determine what usability study participants look at and take in while viewing online media, we used to watch their mouse cursors, interactions with links and controls, and body language. We also listened carefully to their think-aloud narratives and comments. These traditional testing techniques, however, could never tell us definitively what users notice and what they don’t. Eye tracking usability studies open up a new frontier.

Staff Picks: Usability Highlights from 2007

By John Dirks, Jen Amsterlaw and Sim Mendick, Director of Usability Engineering

Last year was a busy one for the Blink usability testing staff. It's once again time to reflect and report some of our favorite themes based on studies we completed in 2007.

How Useful are User Interface Patterns?

By Heidi Adkisson, Director of Interaction Design

This past June, I attended the Usability Professional Association conference—the theme for which was Patterns: Blueprints for Usability. It provided the opportunity to hear a number of different perspectives on user interface patterns—and I presented my own thoughts on the topic as a conference presenter.

All Essays

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Blink News

May 6, 2008

Web 2.0 & Beyond: Unmasking the Future

Blink is a presenting sponsor for WTIA's May Technology in Focus Series. The event takes place in Bellevue, May 28, 4:30 - 8:00 p.m. For more information please visit WTIA's events page.

May 5, 2008

New Clients in 2008

Blink has had a busy year so far with several new clients and projects. American Greetings, Children's Hospital, Eventbrite, Holland America, KnowledgeAdvisors, Microsoft Digital Advertising, Microsoft Codeplex, Providence Healthcare, Regence Blue Shield, Seattle Cancer Care, Seattle Public Utilities, Starbucks, Tamarac, and WebJunction. For a complete list of clients please visit our Experience page.

January 27, 2008

WTIA Funding Partner

Blink is proud to announce that we are a funding partner with the Washington Technology Industry Association for 2008. The WTIA is the state's oldest and largest technology trade organization. For more information, please see www.washingtontechnology.org

January 2, 2008

Blink Design Library

The Blink Design Library is an informal collection of interface design examples (primarily from the web) in a blog format. We update the design library weekly with new examples contributed by our staff. We hope you enjoy it!

January 1, 2008

Microsoft RMSVP Vendor

Blink continues to be a proud Microsoft Vendor with RMSVP status.

September 17, 2007

Eye Tracking Equipment

Blink has recently purchased the latest generation eye-tracker from Tobii Technology, a Stockholm, Sweden-based leader in eye tracking hardware and software. The eye tracker allows our usability researchers and clients to see in real time and later in data analysis, exactly what users in our studies are viewing on-screen. Learn more in our Usability Services section.