VRT – Bringing in user - centricity.

What we did

The Client

VRT (Flemish Radio and TV broadcasting in Flemish), is the public broadcasting network of the Flemish Community in Belgium. Its purpose is to inform, inspire and engage, and thereby strengthen Flemish society. VRT came to Pàu with a request: can you help us change our way of working to a more user-centered one?  

The Case

Our UX team got to work to evaluate all the processes behind every website or app. We involved 5 teams. After setting out all the roles and responsibilities, we looked at what we had found.

A few things immediately became clear: 

• There was much too little in the way of UX capacity. Designers had to hop from team to team to get their work done, and often they became involved at too late a stage.
• UX designers ask a lot of questions and look at a product from a functional—rather than an aesthetic—point of view. 
• The organization had some very talented UI designers, and all they needed was a partner who could help them prepare a design project. 

Since not every product team had its own designer, it was tricky to find a place for design in their processes. So the first step was to add a UX and UI designer to each team. We like to call this the ‘design tandem’.  One has research and functional skills, the other complements this with a strong feel for branding, accessibility, and interaction.

But the first step was to agree on a way of working! So we sat around the table with the entire design team to talk about everyone’s current and ideal way of working with UX and UI. Then, based on that input, we worked out a process that could hit the ground running there and then. This would act as a reference guide that everyone could go back to.

The Impact

Now, thanks to Pàu, UX and UI designers are working more iteratively than ever. Research, design, and testing are constant. Through this, a lot of feedback comes through that helps to design the solution in the most user-friendly way possible, before the development begins. Previously, these iterations only occurred in the midst of the development process. That often entails more time and money and it seems that designers stand in the way of efficiency.

Involving the user is often done only where there’s spare time. Either review are looked at when something is live already, or we’ve moved on to the next project and never look back at all.

At VRT it’s quite the opposite. Users are a constant value in the design and development process. They are involved at different times to make sure their needs are properly addressed. This helps a product grow in a way that fits in with the wishes and expectations of the target group. It’s a win-win!

Conclusion 

VRT was able to fully optimize a number of processes in conjunction with Pàu. Designers now make a product that really helps the user. The starting point is the user's needs. This makes them a highly valuable sparring partner for Product Owners. POs determine the vision and goals and the designers help them achieve these goals.

UX and UI designers ensure an efficiency gain, and the amount of rework gets exponentially smaller. But equally, they are able to increase the impact of the product. An attractive and user-friendly design helps VRT make sure its target market enjoys its content.

And this is what it all boils down to. Isn’t it?