Think Usability Inc.

On Christmas morning, little Billy wakes up to heaps of presents stacked under the evergreen tree he helped his parents decorate weeks before. With the excitement that’s been building, he rips through the wrapping with an explosion of pent-up passion. Once the pile of red wrapping paper and bows has been tidied up, Billy sits on the couch, catching his breath, clutching his favourite gift of all: his brand new Dora the Explorer video game.

He’s so excited to try out his new game that his body trembles as he waits for his parents to finish unwrapping their presents. At last, when his mother loads the game into the system and the astonishing graphics appear onscreen, a wide smile spreads across Billy’s face.

The smile fades though, when instructions that little Billy can’t read pop up along the bottom of the screen.

Too bad the manufacturers of the videogame didn’t examine the capabilities of their target audience when they created the game. Too bad Billy had to find out the hard way – with enough disappointment to ruin his sixth Christmas –the manufacturers didn’t understand Billy’s needs. Too bad the game wasn’t tested for usability.

“Usability is the study of human and computer interaction,” explains Michael Downs, president and co-owner of Think Usability Inc., a company that tests whether video games (one of three areas of Think Usability’s expertise) are suited to the user.

“It’s not to be confused with testing to see if the game works,” says Downs. “When the game comes to us, the manufacturer knows it works, in the sense that it does all the things it was created to do.”

That is, button A makes the character jump; completion of level two brings you to level three; the characters look consistent and authentic.

“Rather, what we do is test the usability of the game,” he adds. “We get the target group of consumers to play the game, to test whether it suits their needs; whether it’s usable based on their capabilities and preferences.”

If Downs and his company Think Usability had been contracted to test the usability of Billy’s videogame, they would’ve pinpointed the problem long before it landed under Billy’s tree on Christmas morning. The language used in the game is too difficult for its target age group.

Video games are just one gamut of Downs’ expertise.

Think Usability Inc. offers consulting and testing of websites, intranets, software, videogames and other products with one goal in mind: to improve the experience of the user.

Downs explains it in terms we can all understand: “At Think Usability, we figure out how human beings interact with a website, software or videogame. Our job is to take a product to its target user and find out what they think.”

Sitting around the office, playing videogames all day. It doesn’t really sound like a “job,” per se, does it? Sounds more like a description of how not-so-little Billy will be spending his time 10 years down the road as a teenager!

But, that’s not really what Michael Downs and his partner Len Preeper do all day.

If you’ve contracted Think Usability to test out your product, they might spend their time interviewing potential users to build user requirements documentation, reviewing the existing platform for usability standards comparison, interviewing users to create persona documentation, or executing standard usability tests on websites, applications, or intranets.

Doesn’t sound like child’s play anymore, does it?

In fact, it sounds like your regular research company, complete with suspender-wearing, glasses-clad stereotypical nerds.

Wrong again.

Think Usability is anything but stereotypical.

If you walk into their offices you’ll note the distinctly non-geeky atmosphere. They even have a keg in their kitchen – so they can enjoy beer straight from the tap whenever their work gets a little too hectic!

And the work can certainly get hectic at times.

“We offer a unique service that’s used around the world,” says Downs. “We’ve done work for local clients like Aliant and Acadia University as well as recognizable game developers such as Electronic Arts.”

“We do all of this from our base in Nova Scotia,” he explains. “It’s a great place to operate a business, for many reasons. For one, there’s a cost advantage. My overhead is much lower here in Halifax than it would be on Bay Street. It’s also great for work/life balance. Because when I’m not playing video games at work, I’m playing with my kids at home.”

But Downs is quick to acknowledge he’s in a business that can’t sustain itself by working only within the province. He spends a lot of time traveling to the States and across Canada to interact with his clients.

“It wasn’t an easy decision to come Nova Scotia from my home in Toronto and set up shop here,” says Downs. “I didn’t know for sure the business would be a success. We took a gamble by coming here.

“But so far it has paid off,” he adds. “My family is so happy here. We have nothing but love for Nova Scotia.”

Downs packed up all his belongings and his family and came to Nova Scotia to start his business after 15 years of experience in the industry.

He got his start working for companies, account managing their usability testing efforts from the inside. He saw the need for a consulting firm and the rest is history.

It’s such a unique, niche service that he probably could’ve offered it anywhere in the world.

But he chose Nova Scotia.

“We’re a come-from-away family that chose to work here for one reason: I love Halifax,” says Downs. “The quality of life is unbeatable. It’s a great place for my whole family.”

Ensuring comfort and happiness for his family is something Downs is very committed to. Whether he’s moving them to the world’s ideal family-raising location or ensuring videogames are suitable for his six-year-old’s needs, he always has their best interest at heart.

His business has proved very successful and it’s only getting bigger. Downs has high hopes – quite literally – for his business.

“I’d like to have a really big gaming facility,” says Downs. Or rather, tall. “My dream is to have one floor for testing Nintendo videogames, one for Xbox, one for Playstation, and so on.

“I really envision this as a flourishing business,” he adds.

What does that mean for Nova Scotians? A world-class business of which we can be proud. Economic contribution from which we’ll all benefit. And jobs.

Dream jobs, in fact. Jobs in which you not only play videogames and get paid for it, but you ensure poor Billy’s dreadful Christmas morning fate is a thing of the past.