An evening with Code Computerlove

The Candidate attended the CIM North networking event at Code Computerlove on Thursday 10^th November and gained great insight into the benefits of rigorous testing, eye tracking, and even improving your commute by introducing karaoke to train carriages!

As part of our continued sponsorship of the Chartered Institute of Marketing's North West Events, we attended an evening hosted by Code Computerlove, in their amazing new offices in the heart of the Manchester's Northern Quarter. The aim of the event was for CIM members to meet in an agency environment to network and get to know people from their agency. It was hosted by Tony Foggett CEO of Code Computerlove who talked us though the way Code operate and about how they have adapted over the years to make sure they are fully in the client's mind set at all times. It gave us great insight into their products and ideas!

It was a relaxed evening with drinks and nibbles, which was hosted in the recreational area within their office space, offering staff there a great break out area within the agency. It included arcade games and a Sinclair C5 (which is in fully working order we are told) and is a real home from home for staff. This is somewhere most agencies should take note on as it underlines how key it is to have a great working environment to produce leading creative thinking.

The insight into the agency then begun. Tony took us on a tour of their offices, which they moved into in December 2015, showing us how they build products and then innovate them for the customer by using a system that shows the value of every ticket created. They use an extortionate amount of Post-It notes in this system, which is really clear and easy to follow, but Tony tells us they are not sponsored by Post-It, yet!

The session then split off into two groups each with a different theme; an intro to human centred design hosted by Colin Prestonand user testing techniques hosted by Amy Robinson.

The user testing group went into the specially created testing lab and were shown the in depth user testing that products created by Code are subjected to. This means the products are rigorously tested before being taken to and whilst in market.

The testing labs at Code are available for private hire. Sorrel Ashton, Marketing Manager of Code tells us:

"We've worked hard to make our spacious and flexible testing lab as comfortable as possible for both participants and observers. You can observe sessions from behind a one-way mirror or we can set up a live video feed in an adjacent meeting room so a larger group of observers can discuss and dissect the findings as they happen.

The testing lab offers a market-leading Tobii X2-30 eye trackerwhich can be used on desktop, mobile or tablet. We use the retrospective Think Aloud methodology in all eye tracking sessions, which allows users to complete the tasks uninterrupted and for our experienced moderators to ask tailored questions based on the gaze plots.

It's the perfect space to gather insights into consumer behaviour and enhance the creative process you apply to developing your digital products - and it's available for hire now"

The second group were asked to work together to create an improved commute, working in groups they had to discover who had the worst commute and work out a way of improving this. The outcomes were spectacularly different as one journey was improved by the additional of a karaoke carriage and the other by re-inventing a map to show you the best shortcuts in town.

This session highlighted the need to have group design teams to be able to bring to the forefront the client's needs and to create an idea which truly answers the brief.

The evening at Code was insightful and great fun, we learnt a lot about how Code work with their clients to get to know the real needs and the be able to create products which are a perfect match.

The Candidate are proud to sponsor the CIM Northwest Events and if you are interested in becoming a member of the CIM, then we would recommend checking out their website which can be found here.