Big Ideas
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HTML's Time is Over. Let's Move On.
by David Heller | [119 comments]
As users and builders demand more and more richness from the Web, we need to re-evaluate the technology that 99% of it is built on. It seems no matter how sophisticated our back ends get, the front ends remain stagnant. What other options are there? What are the requirements that we as user experience designers face that newer technologies miss the boat on? more...
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Welcome to Boxes and Arrows
by Christina Wodtke | [54 comments]
Many months ago, we started with a crazy dream of a magazine that would tear down the fences we so hastily built between our crafts. An intelligent and jargon-free meeting place for practitioners that would make us all a bit smarter. more...
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Fear of Design
by Christina Wodtke | [48 comments]
Not so long ago, on my personal site I posted a little entry on design. And a comment was made: “IA is not design.” This sentence has sat vibrating in my head for months. It speaks of bravado in the face of fear. But why should Information Architects fear design? more...
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Mission Statements: Why You Might Want One
by Erin Malone | [33 comments]
I recently started a new job. The group I manage is new and all the people on my team have recently been transferred into this group. Additionally, each person has spent a lot of time in the recent past working on individual, solitary projects, and has not regularly been part of a collaborative team. more...
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Content Strategy: The Philosophy of Data
by Rachel Lovinger | [29 comments]
As interactions proliferate, so does the content that supports them. Why should software professionals take a step back and examine their content from a philosophical perch? Rachel Lovinger takes a look at content strategy and the benefits of its perspectives. more...
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Computer Human Values
by Nathan Shedroff | [29 comments]
As computers and digital devices increasingly insert themselves into our lives, they do so on an ever increasing social level. Designers need to understand the context of use and include the whole of a user's experience into the solution when creating a computer interface. more...
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A Web 2.0 Tour for the Enterprise
by Shiv Singh | [28 comments]
While Web 2.0 sweeps the internet buzz machine, businesses are a bit slower to pick up the new paradigm. Shiv Singh shows how taking the leap and embracing the collaborative nature of Web 2.0 can provide great rewards. more...
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Four Modes of Seeking Information and How to Design for Them
by Donna Maurer | [28 comments]
Information-seeking behavior varies from situation to situation. Donna Maurer explores different ways in which users look for information and offers tactics for accommodating them. more...
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Why I'm Not Calling Myself an Information Architect Anymore
by David Heller | [27 comments]
Attending conferences often crystallizes the direction of a career or confirms choices made as people meet and communities bond over similar goals. It isn't often that you hear about someone throwing off the mantle of a title or dropping out of a discipline altogether. David Heller explains why he feels the title IA isn't appropriate to what he does anymore. more...
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Transitioning from User Experience to Product Management
by Jeff Lash and Chris Baum | [26 comments]
Part 1 Is there a smart and graceful way to transition into a product manager role? Chris Baum and Jeff Lash talk about the differences between product management and design and increasing your influence. more...
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Beauty is Only Screen Deep
by Sarah Horton | [26 comments]
What happens when web designers really “get” designing for the web? Sarah Horton, co-author of the Web Style Guide, ponders the meaning of beauty and quality in the context of being a good web designer. more...
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Personas and the Role of Design Documentation
by Andrew Hinton | [25 comments]
Andrew Hinton digs into the origins of the persona and reflects on how business uses (or misuses) design documentation. more...
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Expanding the Approaches to User Experience
by George Olsen | [22 comments]
Jesse James Garrett’s “The Elements of User Experience” diagram has become rightly famous as a clear and simple model for the sorts of things that user experience professionals do. But as a model of user experience it presents an incomplete picture with some serious omissions—omissions I’ll try address with a more holistic model. more...
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How to Architect Sites Across Cultures Without Losing Your Mind
by Adam Greenfield | [22 comments]
Ever since I started working formally as an information architect, I’ve clung to the belief that there’s a universal set of conditions that we’re trying to achieve. But what I’ve slowly begun to believe over my time working here in Japan is that there is simply no such thing as a universal good. more...
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(Not) Defining the damn thing
by Louis Rosenfeld | [21 comments]
Discussions of how we should label ourselves and define our work are like flu epidemics. They break out from time to time, follow a fairly predictable course, and often make us want to barf. more...
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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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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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Using Adoption Metaphors to Increase Customer Acceptance
by Sarah A. Rice | [17 comments]
We know a product has a lifecycle, but does the language we use for that product also have a lifecycle? From TiVo to the Internet Superhighway, Rice shows us how the metaphors we use have an evoluation all their own. more...
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Ambient Signifiers
by Ross Howard | [16 comments]
When navigating a complex system—be it a website or a large transport network—it's easy to get lost. Ross Howard points out how subtle signifiers can make a big difference. more...