Lis Pardi, Author at Boxes and Arrows

Articles by this author:

November 1, 2016 Learning From Others

Panda’s Guide to User Experience

I blacked out when he said he wanted to underline text so that the site looked more interactive. I couldn’t hear him anymore because of the internal dialogue reinforcing my superiority. “He doesn’t think of the user. He only cares about sales. What kind of stupid idea is that? A really, really stupid one. What happens when someone tries to click the underlined text? Nothing? Awesome plan.” I was stuck in the room for another 15 minutes, so I decided

January 6, 2015 Workplace and Career

Grow Your Career without Leaving Your Company

Posted by Lis Pardi

When I wanted to make a career shift to information architecture, I was reluctant because I loved the team I worked with. So instead of leaving to find the right work, I tried to start doing it where I was. What follows are my recommendations on how to make similar moves. It’s not rocket science, but it’s always nice to get some reminders. The least rocket science-y part is the first: Set a goal. You can’t get to where you’re

June 18, 2013 Design Principles / Visual and Visible

In Defense of Floppy Disks: The Vocabulary of the Interface

Posted by Lis Pardi

I work on interfaces used by college students to search for academic articles. Librarians buy these databases. Librarians happen to be wonderful clients to build products for because they always let you know what they don’t like. A few years ago, my department started hearing complaints about the “save” icon on our interface. The librarians were concerned that, since college students had never seen floppy disks, they wouldn’t know what the icon meant. In the next round of user testing,