Case Studies
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Blasting the Myth of the Fold
by Milissa Tarquini | [52 comments]
The need to cram as much into the top few inches of any interface has become nearly branded on the design psyche over the years. Milissa Tarquini considers how the myth of the fold does everyone involved a great disservice. more...
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The Guided Wireframe Narrative for Rich Internet Applications
by Andres Zapata | [27 comments]
Wireframes. We’ve all done them. We’ve all had to make sure our clients look at placement, labels, flow, and real estate distribution–but ignore color and design at all costs because, after all, they are wireframes.
AJAX, Laszlo, Flex, and other technologies and techniques that enhance usability challenge the way we think as architects but, more importantly, they also put a larger demand on our deliverables.
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It Seemed Like The Thing To Do At The Time
by Joe Lamantia | [19 comments]
Joe Lamantia shares three stories of failure and how changing your self-definition can open the way to continued success. (Part 1 in the Lessons From Failure series.) more...
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Challenging the Status Quo: Audi Redesigned
by James Kalbach | [19 comments]
In September 2000, Razorfish, Germany was tasked to redesign the main websites for Audi. In the process they explored workgroup software, utilized technology to support the brand ideals and challenged the status quo of current web navigation thinking by proposing a right handed navigation system. more...
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Are We There Yet?
by Christina Wodtke | [18 comments]
It's true: even simple projects get messy. Christina Wodtke comes clean on Swiss Army knives, the writing on the wall, and the untidy glory of the Boxes and Arrows redesign contest. more...
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The Limitations of Server Log Files for Usability Analysis
by Karl Groves | [17 comments]
In the quest to gather more data on user behavior, some researchers and designers look to server log files for usability analysis. While the logs do provide a great deal of information, Karl Groves demonstrates why they are are inappropriate for gathering usability data. more...
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Implementing a Pattern Library in the Real World: A Yahoo! Case Study
by Erin Malone and Matt Leacock and Chanel Wheeler | [17 comments]
The Yahoo! platform design team shares their process for defining and designing a pattern and standards library, the process for defining the requirements of the repository and the process for defining the lifecycle of a pattern. more...
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MSWeb: An Enterprise Intranet #1
by Peter Morville and Louis Rosenfeld | [16 comments]
We’re please to bring you the first of two excerpts from upcoming second editon of “Information Architecture for the World Wide Web.” The excerpts look at MSWeb, which the authors say provides a glimpse of what most intranets will be doing in three to five years. more...
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We Tried To Warn You, Part 1
by Peter Jones | [15 comments]
Some failure allows complex organizations to learn and grow; others can be catastrophic. Peter Jones explores
how, as designers, we have a
responsibility to detect and assess
the potential for large-scale failure.
How can we help stop the train? more... -
Taking the "You" Out of User: My Experience Using Personas
by Meg Hourihan | [15 comments]
Meg Hourihan, co-founder of Pyra - the company behind Blogger, shares her team's experience in the discovery of Alan Cooper and the use of personas. Through their practical application, she tells the tale of how a product cycle was turned on its ear as the team discovered they weren't anything like their users. more...
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Enterprise IA Methodologies:
by James Robertson | [13 comments]
Information architects working within enterprises are confronted by unique challenges, relating to organisational culture, business processes, and internal politics. James Robertson pulls the strands of situational spaghetti to get to the root of the project. more...
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Two Designers, Two Years, One Facelift...
by Alex Chang | [11 comments]
From contest winners to struggling to define what "magazine" means online, Alex Chang and Matt Titchener reinvented Boxes and Arrows' look and feel. Here is their tale... more...
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The Evolving Homepage: The Growth of Three Booksellers
by Victor Lombardi | [9 comments]
What lessons have we learned about how design improves the interface between customers and companies? Perhaps we can start by asking how websites have actually changed over time, and from that we can learn how websites should change in the future. more...
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We Tried To Warn You, Part 2
by Peter Jones | [8 comments]
Some failure allows organizations to learn and grow; others times it can be catastrophic. In Part 2 of his series, Peter Jones explores timing dynamics of large projects and alternatives to the framing of UX roles and organizations today. more...
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Using Technical Communication Skills in User Experience
by Theresa Putkey | [8 comments]
Sometimes User Experience Design is chosen; sometimes it is thrust upon us. Theresa explains how technical communications was a natural path to a career in design. more...
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Adventures in Low Fidelity: Designing Search for Egreetings
by Chris Farnum | [8 comments]
One of the dirty little secrets about being an information architect is that most of us only bat .500 at best. We labor and agonize over making recommendations and designing information architectures that are supposed to change the world, but many of our designs never see the light of day. Rather than moan about why my designs were not implemented, I want to share my story. more...
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Re-architecting PeopleSoft.com from the bottom-up
by Chiara Fox | [8 comments]
When PeopleSoft decided to unify its websites, the information architects involved used bottom-up techniques to make sense of the enormous number of different pieces of content. more...
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SchwabLearning.org: A Case Study
by Jeanene Landers Steinberg | [8 comments]
One nonprofit + two web agencies + nine months = SchwabLearning.org. Yes, that was the formula to launch our Web site, and I am one of the sole survivors to tell you about it. In 1999, after eleven years of serving San Francisco Bay Area parents and educators through direct services and outreach, we realized that we could effect greater change if we expanded our web presence. This is the story of our redesign process. more...
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Comics for Consumer Communication
by Rahel Anne Bailie | [5 comments]
Though popular in the development process, designers can use comics for communication to consumers as well. Rahel Anne Bailie digs into her past to show us how she has used comics in the past in the hope that we can utilize them with a wider audience. more...
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Modeling the Creative Organization
by Erin Malone | [5 comments]
A few months ago, on the cusp of another reorganization, my boss challenged me to present ideas about how my group should be organized. The challenge: “If you could organize the group in whatever way you wanted, what would you recommend doing?” Everyone who has ever been a manager longs to hear those words. more...