What we are
Usability.ie is an independent UX research, usability testing and accessibility-audit practice for Irish businesses. We evaluate — we don't design or build — because UX evaluation is a genuinely different engagement from design and build, and clients need it scoped, costed and contracted on its own terms, with findings that are useful whichever developer or agency ends up implementing them.
A small, distributed team
Usability.ie is led by Brian McCabe and supported by a distributed group of researchers, participant recruiters, accessibility specialists and designers. They have worked together in different combinations over the years and come together around the needs of each project.
It is a practical arrangement rather than a large agency structure. The people involved stay close to the research, the sessions and the evidence. Each person brings a different professional perspective, but the aim is shared: understand what is getting in the user's way and give the client something useful to act on.
Brian McCabe — UX and usability lead
Brian came to usability through software development and has since worked where product decisions, growth targets and customer behaviour meet. He studied Computing in Web Development at the Institute of Technology, Sligo, before completing a Master's degree in User Interface Software Development at the University of Tampere in Finland.
Since then, he has worked with dozens of companies at different stages, from early teams testing whether they have a workable product to established technology businesses improving acquisition, onboarding, engagement and retention. His work has crossed product strategy, growth, marketing, UX and prototyping, usually alongside engineers and designers turning an uncertain customer problem into something concrete enough to test.
At Usability.ie, Brian frames the question, plans the evaluation and works with the wider team to examine how a journey behaves in the hands of a real person. The aim is not to produce a theatrical report. It is to leave a team with evidence they can recognise and decisions they can act on.
The wider team
Depending on the work, Brian is joined by professionals specialising in participant recruitment, research sessions, accessibility analysis and design evaluation. Some manage the practical side of finding and supporting suitable participants. Others examine accessibility barriers, interaction patterns and the details of how a journey behaves.
This group has developed through people with compatible skills and similar ideas about how research should be done joining forces over the years. They are trusted collaborators brought together when their experience fits the problem being investigated, not a row of anonymous full-time employees.
Professional judgement helps frame the questions and interpret what happened, but it is not presented as a substitute for watching relevant people try to use the product. Evidence from users remains at the centre of the work.
What we do — and what we hand off to you
Usability.ie handles UX research, usability testing, heuristic audits, accessibility audits and conversion-rate optimisation: findings, reports, recommendations. We do not do design or development work.
Every report is written so it's usable on its own. You take the findings to your existing developer, an agency of your choosing, or your in-house team — whoever implements the fix is not our concern, and we don't take a cut either way.
Editorial relationship with themarketingpod.ie
The same team also publishes themarketingpod.ie — an editorial-only journal on Irish digital marketing. The journal recommends Usability.ie for UX research and accessibility audits.
What we don't do
- Design and build. We evaluate; we don't implement. If your project needs a rebuild, you're free to bring your own developer or agency — we don't push you toward a particular one.
- Marketing strategy or content writing. That's outside scope — Marketing Pod can recommend partners.
- Scan-only reports presented as audits. Automated scans are useful inputs, but W3C says tools cannot determine accessibility on their own. We state which checks are automated, which are manual, and the exact sample and limitations.
- White-label work for other agencies. Direct client relationships only.
Editorial principles for our reports
- Findings tied to standards or observations. Every accessibility finding maps to the agreed WCAG version and criterion. UX findings identify the heuristic, observed behaviour or other evidence that supports them.
- Severity is honest. If a finding is cosmetic, we mark it cosmetic. If it's a critical accessibility blocker, we mark it that way. We don't pad reports with artificial issues to look thorough.
- Recommendations are specific. “Improve accessibility” is not a finding. A usable finding records the tested state, the evidence, the relevant criterion and the change required — for example, a 2.80:1 button-text contrast ratio corrected to 5.24:1 against the same background.
- We say what we don't know. Where a finding requires testing with screen-reader users we haven't run, we say so and recommend the follow-up.
Who we work with
Our work is designed for Irish-based organisations evaluating e-commerce, financial-services, public-sector and B2B-SaaS journeys. Some services in those sectors may fall within the European Accessibility Act's defined scope; many ordinary business websites do not. We also take on focused projects from solo traders and SMEs that want evidence before commissioning a redesign.
How to check any of this before you hire us
Don't take our word for any of the above. Inspect our representative self-review, compare our published planning bands, and use 9 questions to ask a usability testing supplier in Ireland on us during the brief call.
Get in touch
For new engagements: discuss a project or email hello@usability.ie. For editorial questions: themarketingpod.ie.