Some innovative features were designed into Single Sign On, such as the choices made available to users who's chosen username is unavailable. Our research showed that users did not want a username with arbitrary numbers attached to their preferred choice, as they were not memorable and also made users feel like they were being 'processed' by a machine. We chose to use adjectives in conjunction with the unavailable user name instead. For example, if 'Mandy' was unavailable we would not offer 'Mandy66' as an alternate, but 'MarvellousMandy'. This helped to lessen a user's disappointment at not getting their first choice, was more memorable and often raised a smile in user testing.
The model of data collection we designed was also slightly different to other registration systems. Rather than gathering all the information the company could possibly need from a user at one time, we used a tiered authentication system that allows users to provide minimal information at initial sign up and then 'top up' their account at the time of engaging with a service which required more personal data than was available in the user's account. This helped to keep the initial process short and reduce user questions of "What do they need to know this for?". It also meant we could stick to our brand attribute of transparency without having to say "We are collecting this data because, well, erm... just in case" because data was only collected if it had justifyable user benefits in terms of providing functionality.
Single Sign On's templating system is designed to take on the colour palette of the parent service. This enables it to integrate with the many different liveries that exist within the BBCs website.
Contextual help is primarily to aid novice users (i.e. Mandy) and alleviates nerves about whether they are 'doing it right'. The stepped process with explicit steps answers questions like 'How long is this?', 'How much more to go?', 'What is going to be asked of me?'. It also serves to reduce perceived complexity by breaking long and complex forms into bite-sized chunks.
We try and educate Mandy about registration systems and give her tips for future use. Glossaries balance the jargon that surrounds the internet. Mandy appreciates having these terms 'de-mystified' as it helps her to learn about the internet.
As mentioned on the previous page, Transparency links show that the BBC is being completely honest. In doing so, it was hoped that people would place more trust in the organisation and provide accurate data.