Awards

Several HFI clients have won prestigious awards for their Web sites. Eric Schaffer, Ph.D., the CEO of HFI, has said that these awards demonstrate why "people who create world-class Web sites realize they must have expert usability engineering."

• Fed Stats
• Staples
• Nationwide Insurance
• Dell Computer
• Cancer Net
• The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke

FedStats was named by PC Magazine as one of the Top 101 Incredibly Useful Sites on the Internet in their October, 2003 issue. FedStats was listed in the "Search, Reference and Portals" category.

Here is what PC Magazine had to say: "From adoption to women-owned businesses, the FedStats Home Page provides statistical information from over 100 U.S. Federal agencies. Whether you're doing research or just browsing out of curiosity, the site provides the stats you need, conveniently sorted by topic, agency, and location, and you can search across all categories."

HFI worked with FedStats to identify design and placement issues that could be corrected to improve the site's usability. According to John Weiner of the Energy Information Administration, and a member of the FedStats team, "HFI made recommendations that resulted in a cleaner site, through which people will be able to find what they need more quickly and easily."

HFI client Staples.com won the prestigious MIMC (Massachusetts Interactive Media Council) 5th annual award for best Business-to-Business Web site. In 2002, for the third year in a row, Staples.com was named one of the best sites for small business by Forbes Best of the Web.

"HFI's team of usability experts and customer-centric approach were key factors in Staples.com winning this award. As with any good partnership, they share the Staples.com vision of creating outstanding customer service through a great Web experience." Colin Hynes, Driector of Site Usability

Nationwide Insurance was ranked number one in usability among property-casualty insurance Web sites in 2001. The consulting firm Kasina chose it from among 284 candidates. Kasina also included Nationwide on its list of the Top 20 Web Sites – Property and Casualty Insurance. Kasina praised Nationwide for its consistent navigation scheme and for "carefully organizing content in an intuitive manner."

Nationwide's site was also recognized by Gomez, the leading global Internet quality measurement firm. Gomez ranked Nationwide third among online insurance carriers in "ease of use" and overall performance.

Dell Computer site was chosen for CIO Magazine's list of the 50 best Internet sites of 2000. For the site, HFI did user testing, navigation structure and architecture, and an expert review of the site prototype.

"HFI's scientific approach to usability enabled us to make high-value improvements to our site. Having access to their knowledge of best practices in the way human beings react to Web sites was absolutely invaluable in helping us improve the usability of the site, increase customer satisfaction and consequently increase revenue." Margo Winter, Content Manager

HFI client the National Cancer Institute won four prestigious awards for CancerNet. The British Medical Association (BMA) awarded CancerNet First Prize in the new "Patient Information Award" for Web sites. BMA praised the quality of the information and the "intuitive, clear structure of the site."

CancerNet also:

• was chosen as one of the 50 best Internet sites by CIO Magazine
• received World Wide Web Health Awards 2000's Gold Award for Best Patient Education Information Web Site in the Government category
• received the overall award for Best Site Structure and Navigation from World Wide Web Health Awards 2000.

"We're very proud of the awards that CancerNet has won," said Janice Nall, Chief of the Web Design and Usability Branch for the National Cancer Institute. "But we're even more proud that the new site enables people to get the critical cancer information they need – quickly and easily. We appreciated the valuable guidance we received from Hal Miller-Jacobs of HFI."

The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, a part of the National Institutes of Health, won an award for their site in GovExec.com's fourth annual "Best Feds on the Web" competition, October 2000. The winning sites, according to GovExec, "excelled at meeting their mission and serving their customers, proving that federal agencies are capable of revolutionizing the way they interact with their customers."

GovExec praised the NINDS site's "depth of information-particularly on rare disorders"- and its "accessibility." A team from HFI created the user navigation model, the style guide and the user interface design, and tested the site's usability. HFI engineered the site to be accessible to visually impaired users.