What is ZAAZ? We’re still not sure what the name means, but they are a pretty good sized interactive agency based out of Seattle, WA. These guys don’t mess around, we had a chance to take a little tour of their studio, thanks to Rachel Elkington. She was awesome. We learned a bit about optimization, Rachel is an online test designer which is like user interface optimization. They essentially launch different versions of an interface/website and test to see which performs best. We can only imagine that this creates an interesting dynamic between optimization designer and interface designer. When do you compromise?

Be sure to watch the video, near 3:15ish in the timeline, you can see their interrogation room. The clients and designers will sit on one side and a targeted user will sit on the blind side of the room. The clients/designers can then watch the users interaction via multiple cameras, the one-way mirror and eye tracking software. We were pretty blown away when we saw that, very cool stuff. It’s all about the details.

Anyone have any good books/sites for interface optimization testing?