WEB DESIGN | RESEARCH TEAM
Research for a Boutique Consultancy Website Refresh
Professionals seeking tailored coaching or business advice were unsure if Tabiya was the right fit due to unclear service offerings, outdated design, and a disconnect between the brand and the founder’s expertise. This limited user trust and impacted the business’s ability to attract new clients.
Client
Tabiya Services is a boutique consultancy founded by Dr Nigel Nutt in 2022. It supports individuals and organisations through coaching, business advisory, and professional development.
Background
This case study focuses on my contributions as part of the UX research team. I was responsible for leading the exploration phase through user interviews and later validating early design decisions through usability testing. My involvement was centred on understanding user needs, synthesising insights, and providing actionable guidance for the direction of the redesign.
The Challenge
As the business evolved from running workshops to focusing on strategic coaching and advisory services, its website no longer reflected this shift. Users unfamiliar with the brand struggled to understand the offering and build trust through the existing digital touchpoint.
Opportunities
Communicate Tabiya’s unique offering clearly and effectively.
Build trust and credibility through thoughtful design and authentic content.
Improve navigation so users could easily explore services.
Create a professional, modern visual identity aligned with Tabiya’s brand values.
Research & Synthesis
We began by gathering insights through a combination of internal stakeholder interviews, external user interviews, heuristic evaluation, and competitor analysis. Our interview participants included key customers of Tabiya's services which includes professionals at various career stages as well as potential business clients and team leaders.
Customer 01
Business Leaders
People that book business consulting services.
customer 02
Professionals
Early to late career professionals seeking 1:1 coaching.
Customer 03
Partners
People that provide the training alongside Tabiya.
"I'm looking for a clearer definition of what Tabiya aims to achieve and how that’s communicated on the website. That would help partners like me understand when to approach Nigel and what to engage him for."
User Feedback
Key Themes
My role involved designing the interview script, conducting the sessions, and synthesising findings. The key themes that emerged from our interviews were:
Disconnect Between Brand and Founder
Users consistently confused or conflated Tabiya with Nigel. The website did not clarify whether Tabiya was a broader team or a personal consultancy.Lack of Clear, Differentiated Value
Tabiya’s value proposition was not easily understood. Visitors wanted to know what made Tabiya different, and what exact outcomes they could expect.Visual Design Undermines Professionalism
The use of stock images, poor layout, and lack of visual hierarchy made the website feel untrustworthy and inconsistent with the high-quality service described by word of mouth.Ambiguity in Language and Navigation
Vague service titles, generic language, and poor readability (like white text on black background) made it hard to quickly understand and navigate the site.Trust is Earned Through Specificity and Personalisation
Users trusted specific, real testimonials, meaningful project examples, and signs of human connection far more than polished marketing speak.
Insights from each interview participant were grouped into categories to uncover key themes and understand their mental models.
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User journey mapping revealed peak frustration when customers encountered unclear information on Tabiya’s website.
Prioritisation and Objectives
Each theme held potential to improve the digital experience and business outcomes. However, given the time constraints of our design sprint, we prioritised two:
Navigation
Alignment of industry experience and professionalism of platform.
End user oriented content to reflect quality of service.
Search bar implementation for ease of navigation.
Consistency of design - fonts, colours, and images.
Simplify layout and improve accessibility through contrast.
Value Proposition.
Clear testimonials provide valuable insight into key service takeaways.
Less likely to engage with Jack-of -all-trades service offerings.
Clarity on service model.
Preference for bespoke services tailored to individual needs.
These areas were the most frequently mentioned pain points and had the greatest potential to improve both user understanding and brand perception.
How Might We simplify the way Tabiya’s services are presented to highlight credibility and outcomes?
How Might We
rebrand Tabiya to attract clients seeking bespoke coaching and advisory services?
How Might We
make the website feel welcoming and easy to explore for first-time users?
Research Handover
Once research insights were synthesised, priorities were aligned and stakeholder approval was secured, the research phase was handed over to the design team to begin developing user interface prototypes.
Usability Testing
Following the early redesign concepts, I led a round of usability testing using clickable mid-fidelity prototypes. Participants included those from our earlier interview set. The goal was to validate whether the redesigned structure and content communicated value more effectively.
Usability testing was conducted remotely using Google Meet, Loom (screen recording), and Otter (AI transcribing)
The research directly informed several key improvements to the website, including a restructured information architecture for clearer navigation, refined messaging on the homepage and services pages, and the integration of credible testimonials to build trust. The visual tone was also made more authentic by reducing reliance on stock imagery in favour of more human-centred content.
BEFORE: Tabiya's existing website was outdated, lacked structure and professionalism.
AFTER: A streamlined user experience with better navigation, a clearer value proposition, and easier contact options to drive lead generation.
Mobile wireframes
Testimonial
Tabiya Services has been pleased to partner with Academy XI on our “Front end refresh” project.
We gave the Academy XI Project Team a brief to redesign the web front end of Tabiya Services to present a better face to a broader client base, rework our logo and structure, and provide recommendations on how best to apply the new work in future marketing campaigns.
From the start, this has been a terrific experience. The team developed and presented to me a clear and well articulated four week design methodology, based on weekly objectives. The methodology incorporated regular touch points with me as client, and involved clever user research with Tabiya clients. They interpreted our brief beautifully and accurately, asked targeted questions, and incorporated my feedback into their design at fast pace. Online meetings were clear, concise, well chaired, and always ran on time. The Academy XI team had clear roles, and each team member contributed wonderfully with genuine commitment.
Because the methodology was so well applied, the results were excellent. User research was insightful, and clearly fed the design process. Creative work was imaginative, while remaining true to the brief. I valued being offered choice in the design options that arose. The work was accompanied by really helpful recommendations and advice, presented in a future state, phased roadmap. Overall, the deliverables were professional grade, and this was reinforced by my independent developer who was equally impressed.
Thanks again to the entire team: a genuinely positive and productive experience.
Dr Nigel Nutt | Founder and Director | Tabiya Services Pty Ltd