No column on information architecture deliverables would be complete without at least some mention of tools. Dan Brown offers three tips on using Visio, Microsoft’s diagramming application, that should make your life easier and more efficient.
Deliverables and Documentation
There are several important factors to consider when you are planning to do prototyping for user testing. You will want to make careful choices about fidelity, level of interactivity and the medium of your prototype. Chris Farnum offers descriptions and best use scenarios to help you make the best prototype decision for your tests.
What You Should Know About Prototypes for User Testing
In 1949, Herbert Bayer, the Austrian graphic designer who taught at the famed Bauhaus, embarked on an incredible information design challenge. The “World Geo-Graphic Atlas” (1953) is a benchmark example of information design, fusing vibrant data-intensive displays with a strong multicultural and environmental message.
Information Ecology: Bayer’s Book of Maps
A wireframe, as you probably know, describes the contents of a web page by illustrating a mock layout. Usually wireframes are rendered in some kind of drawing program, like Visio or Illustrator, but can also appear as bitmaps or even HTML. In his latest installment, Dan Brown, shows how the wireframe can transcend layout and work for all team members.
Where the Wireframes Are: Special Deliverable #3
There are a lot of things that make deliverables good: coherence, context and relevance hardly constitute a comprehensive list. But by focusing on techniques that achieve coherence, context and relevance, information architects can address the challenges of starting a document, focusing the document and explaining its value.
Coherence, Context, Relevance: Special deliverable #2
In the first of a continuing series, Dan Brown will seek to elaborate on the preparation of deliverables, a crucial component in the maturation of Interactive Design. He will regularly explore the nuances of artifacts and share techniques that can help make your deliverables more valuable to other team members and clients.
Opening Pandora’s Box: Special Deliverable #1
By doing the demanding intellectual work first and then forcing the tools to succumb to need to produce seemingly speedy deliverables, you can get around the difficulty of choosing between “Good, Fast and Cheap.” Here’s one approach using Excel and Visio.
Automating Diagrams with Visio
The way you communicate the personas and present your deliverables is key to ensuring consistency of vision. Without that consistency, you’ll spend far too much time arguing with your colleagues about who your users are rather than how to meet their needs.
Bringing Your Personas to Life in Real Life
To most designers, the Eames name brings to mind rows and rows of molded plywood chairs and Herman Miller furniture of the 1950s. But the Eameses were more than just designers of furniture; they were masters of exploration and experimentation into the realm of experience.