Loctite

When Loctite needed a new Product Selector application to assist their Technical Sales team, Frontend were recruited to provide Usability, Design and Development services.

With products being marketed in over 80 countries and seven major research laboratories around the world, Loctite Ltd. are leaders in the development, manufacture and marketing of adhesives, sealants and other specialty chemicals.

Loctite technical sales staff use a Windows application called 'Locad' to assist their customers in the selection of a Loctite product.

The system provides access to a searchable database of general product information, case studies and technical data. Historically, the application had been updated and re-distributed on CDROM every 2 years.

The Project

The main aims of this project were to redesign and re-develop the Locad application, to provide:

• an improved, easy-to-use interface
• improved and updated visual design
• improved search performance
• more powerful and flexible search features
• multi-language capabilities
• improved admin tools for updating content

The secondary aim of this project was to migrate the application to a thin-client system architecture, using a web-enabled user interface. This would allow the database of information to be stored centrally and updated regularly, without the need for redistribution of the CDROM media.

To achieve these goals, Frontend carried out a program of usability testing and analysis, as well as user-centred interface design and development stages:

• Requirements Gathering Workshop
• User Interviews & Usability testing of the current Locad application
• Redesign the information architecture and interaction design
• System Design User testing
• Visual design
• Rebuild database
• Localisation of content
• Manage VB code build
• Usability testing and bug-testing of Beta version
• Refinements and modifications
• Final Implementation, UAT and bug-fixing

The Results

The Wizard View provides a simple way for novice users to find products:

The Advanced Tree View provides extensive options for Expert users:

 To find out more about our experience and services, contact us.