STC Newsletter Article

This article was originally published in the May 2005 issue (Vol 11, No. 4)

STC UUX Community Newsletter
Usability Interface

Photo of David Dick Usability in Belgium?

By David Dick, Editor

This month I leave Belgium and return to the United States. Before I leave, I want to tell you about usability in Belgium. Yes—usability.

Belgium is renowned for scrumptious chocolates, Trappist beers, canals of Bruges, Flemish painters, cathedrals, and the metropolitan city of Brussels. But few people know about the champions of usability. One such person is Joannes Vandermeulen, founder and head of business development of Namahn.

Joannes launched Namahn in 1987 when assignments in New York and Brussels led him to observe that companies were failing to address the ergonomics of the human-computer interface. He foresaw how taking into account the end user would play a vital role in a product's success. Joannes founded Namahn to help companies that are increasingly challenged by rapidly evolving technology.

I met Joannes in 1997, when the Belgium Chapter was being organized. He has been a dedicated and active supporter of the Chapter not only of its members, but also the businesses that it supports. I have watched Namahn grow and prosper. Not only does Joannes sell a service, he also educates and informs clients about usability. Every few months, Namahn offers free seminars given by a visiting usability professional. Joannes doesn't charge for the seminars because he considers them as an opportunity to give something back to his clients.

After the presentation, guests are encouraged to mingle with staff about new and upcoming projects, meet representatives from other companies, dine on a delicious buffet of ethnic dishes by “Vive La Nourriture,”and browse an extensive library of books about writing, information design, and usability. In the magazine section is the latest issue of Usability Interface—he knows good literature when he sees it.

Namahn is a highly focused design consultancy—or boutique—that provides solutions grounded in three disciplines: requirements engineering, interaction design as well as technical communication and information architecture. Namahn specializes in helping demanding clients continually keep ahead of the competition.

In the beginning,Namahn’s main source of revenue came from the writing of product user manuals. This gradually shifted to user interface design for those products. Now it’s alsocapturing broad user needs, both functional and non-functional. While its solution offering moves to a higher ground, Joannes is careful to maintain focus on the user of the product.

Clients either go to Namahn for process innovation, or to improve the processes they are running. They want to know the state of the art and to deliver products that are best in category.

Namahn is housed in an elegant former printing house that dates from the 1830s. Because working in an aesthetically satisfying space is essential, everyone at Namahn has spent time thinking about how the building should evolve. Joannes worked closely with an architect to retain the building's original character while introducing contemporary elements that enhance the working experience. Employees (17 in all) are encouraged to shape the building's evolution because they spend most of their working hours here. The location is ideal. It's highly accessible by public transport so only one of the “Namahni” comes to work by car.

Now you know the story of Joannes and Namahn. The next time you visit Belgium (before you dine on muscles and frits, and a glass of Chimay) visit Namahn and say “Hello” to Joannes and his team. Tell him that I sent you.

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