Boxes And Arrows : The Design Behind the Design

NB: I put a link to my credentials, because I don't see much point in posting the story before it has been published.

This is interesting -- certainly wayfinding systems can teach us a lot about designing navigation systems and the larger experience that accompanies them. But can you explain more about what you mean by "what is taking place" and how it relates to the web? It would be useful to hear a bit more.

Another thing that I find interesting is that I have a lot of my architect friends who relate to what we do in information architecture. Maybe architects have a natural affinity for information architecture as they are the ones designing those navigation aides and way finding sytems, albeit on a much larger scale.

Tokyo's rail system plays unique audio melodies at each station whenever a train arrives. This construction of an audible landscape and pathway, whilst not overtly apparent to passengers, does give them context of location, and journey progress (amongst other things). I am not suggesting using audio on the web, but more the concept of 'ambient signifiers' as part of a wayfinding system. In a web context this allows us to imply and communicate useful information to the user, including things such as status, personalisation, and path usage patterns. My story explores this in greater detail, from what exactly is going on with these 'ambient signifiers' and how we can use them to communicate meaningful information to users in new and interesting ways. Please let me know if you want further details. I can go on, and on... ;-)

Ross, it would be interesting if you could include research based path usage patterns and how they can be used as architectural elements on the web... cheers

Could someone explain to me the process of submitting a story to B&A? I was assuming I'd write the idea here, and someone from B&A would say 'no' or 'let's have a look at what you have written'. How do I know that incorporating the feedback here into the work will actually be worthwhile in terms of the article getting published on B&A? Or am I missing something? :-)

Hi Ross - The process is generally this: You write a story idea here. You can either write your own idea, or suggest that someone else write an article. Readers and editors (we hope mostly readers) comment on the idea, helping you refine things, encourage you in directions that you may not have thought about. The editorial team monitors this area, and accepts story ideas that are well on their way or are particularly timely. It's at that point that an editor will contact you about getting started. The process from that point on is explained here: http://www.boxesandarrows.com/about/submission_guidelines. Hope that helps. In your case, I thought it an interesting idea, and wanted to hear more about it. Since others hadn't commented yet, I thought I'd chime in!

Great :) Masood, could you explain further what you mean? As the concept of 'Ambient Signifiers' is still at the conception phase, I was considering focussing more on developing ideas and approaches first. Then I would carry out some quantative research as a second phase, after the story had been open to public discussion, collaboration and feedback.

I think an article about wayfinding with comparison to what is happening in major transit systems would be very helpful. Hong Kong and Tokyo both have highly usable transit systems. Hong Kong's airport designed by Norman Foster is a great example of 'ambient signifiers' where the entire airport's architecture lends itself to wayfinding beyond signage. I would be happy to add my two bits to the article or collaborate on it. (I teach user experience and interface design at VFS http://www.vfs.com/faculty.php?id=13&staff_id=289)

Hi Gagan, Certainly sounds like a good idea. Flick me an email from http://www.abitcloser.com/portfolio and we can have a bit of a chat. Cheers, Ross