Portfolio: ACM — acmqueue magazine site

ACM replaced the print version of queue magazine with a new Web site. They asked for help refining the design.

This was another collaboration with Ron Perkins of Design Perspectives. We did an initial expert review of the site and presented it to the publisher, board members and others. After ACM updated the site, we ran a usability study with representative users. Our report included many recommendations for further improvement.

Meeting goals

A constant goal at ACM is to help readers find new information. Here's what one of the site bloggers said about how that's working:

"ACM Queue gets it -- they went from a primarily print edition to online, and now that they're online they're looking for ways to drive readership and interest. One of the (many) reasons I like print media is that you get an edited, assembled product that tells a story to some extent. You'll find content you want, ... some content you don't want, but most important, some content that you didn't know you wanted but is informative, challenging or otherwise useful."

Finding something you didn't know you wanted? That's serendipity, and it's hard to do on the Web.

Sample screens

We found that readers wanted a home page that showed a clear table of contents for the current issue along with sufficient detail about the other features. There's now a clear description of the site as well

Beta version of the new acm.org home page

The new home page (above) has a clear table of contents, an introduction to the site and a little more room for data

The old home page

The old home page mixed the table of contents with other listings, which confused readers. There was no overview of the site and no visual focus on the page.

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