User Testing - Diageo - Johnnie Walker

The release of the new Johnnie Walker website presented a great opportunity for Diageo to emphasize Johnnie Walker’s brand qualities in a dynamic and engaging manner. Using innovative new interaction model, the Flash website presents interaction as an animation sequence, encouraging visitors to explore content in a novel manner. Due to the unusual approach, Diageo wished to evaluate its usability and the overall user experience with representatives of the target audience.

Frontend provided Diageo with a compressive user testing programme.As this is a global site Frontend conducted user testing with representative from several nationalities. We evaluated participant’s emotional reactions as well as their ability to navigate the site. Participants reacted very positively to the animated navigational model but had some difficulty seeing and reading certain page elements. They also found excessive use of animation disorientating. Frontend provided a series of recommended changes that balanced the explorative paradigm of the site with its functionality. This led to a site which was not only easy to use but also reinforced the dynamic nature of Johnnie Walker’s brand message.

The website can be found at www.johnniewalker.com.