Governments hire thousands of employees and spend millions of dollars on contractors to design, build, and operate websites. Chances are good that you will have some exposure to government work, and therefore, some exposure to the politics of user experience.
Continue readingJesse James Garrett’s “The Elements of User Experience” is a concise yet meaty exploration of the many roles and disciplines that combine to create effective websites. By advocating a balanced blend of usability, creativity, and business sensibility, this text is a worthwhile introduction—or re-introduction—to the process of creating successful user experiences.
Continue readingS.R. Ranganathan was the greatest librarian of the 20th Century. His ideas influenced every aspect of library science, yet, as impressive as his accomplishments were, Ranganathan didn’t start out with the intention of becoming a librarian at all.
Continue readingPowerPoint: the software we love to hate. Has there been any other software since the dawn of the personal computer that has earned so much criticism? The question at hand is not, “Does PowerPoint suck?” The answer to that, as we all know, is yes. The question is, in fact, “For information architects, does PowerPoint suck?” Or, more to the point, “Even though PowerPoint sucks, should I use it for my deliverables?”
Continue readingThe similarities between web design and retail shops, suggest that the retail environment, which has centuries of experience behind it, might have a few lessons to teach those of us in the emerging discipline of web design. This first part of a three-part article explores the first two of nine lessons.
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