About Boxes and Arrows
Boxes and Arrows is devoted to the practice, innovation, and discussion of design; including graphic design, interaction design, information architecture and the design of business. Since 2001, it’s been a peer-written journal promoting contributors who want to provoke thinking, push limits, and teach a few things along the way.
If you’re interested in improving the way information architecture is done, if you find yourself sparking provocative conversation on interaction design topics in your spare time, and if you go out of your way to help everyone in your office think differently about everything from the design process to software, we want to work with you.
What to write about
Stories should be clearly written and fearlessly informative. As for topics: write about what you know. (Yes, it’s that easy.) What are you an expert in? What are you unabashedly passionate about? What glowing successes have you achieved? Where have you failed miserably and how have you triumphantly recovered? We want to know. Readers want to know.
All stories should be written following our house styleguide. All content should be original, which means that if it appeared on your blog first, we can’t publish it.
How to submit a story
Like to write for Boxes and Arrows? Got an idea you’d like to see covered? A question we could answer? Suggest it. Readers can then help make your idea better still by commenting and rating it—perhaps one will even volunteer to write your dream article.
Don’t panic about the votes! While we always listen to our reader’s feedback, we also believe in editorial judgement. If you’ve got a good idea, even if it’s a bit controversial, we’re interested.
After discussion dies down or after a week or two (whichever comes first), editors will contact you about your idea. Although we try to review story ideas every week, sometimes we may take longer to get back to you. We thank you for your patience. A lot.
Who you’re writing for
B&A readers range from the entry-level practitioners to the forefathers of information architecture. Although this specialized crowd gives you license to throw around phrases like “Polar Bear Book” with carefree confidence, you should always keep in mind that some readers will have less background in information architecture than others. Increasingly, the B&A audience comprises professionals who work with or live near information architects, but do not have much experience in the field.