Information design (also known as 'information architecture') is the study of the details of complex systems. Among these are websites, user interactions, databases, technical writing documentation, and human-computer interfaces.
#14200
Designing A New Information Architecture: An interview with Peter Merholz of Adaptive Path
Last year, Adaptive Path, working with interactive media agency Lot21, took on a challenging project -- the redesign of three PeopleSoft sites. The redesign involved over 40,000 pages as well as 40 divergent opinions from stakeholders! After four and a half months, the site's information architecture and navigation were transformed to the accolades of both PeopleSoft and their users. We recently interviewed Peter about this project.
User Interface Engineering (2002). Design>Information Design>Web Design
#20390
Designing a New Schema with XML Design Patterns
Proposes the design of an XML-based type library format. If you've had exposure to Microsoft COM or Mozilla's XPCOM, you're probably familiar with their binary TLB (MS) and XDT (Mozilla) formats that define the available operations and interfaces for a package of portable components. An interpreted language such as JavaScript can use these definitions as cheat sheets to find out what operations and parameters are available to call on-the-fly.
Downey, Kyle. XML.com (2003). Articles>Information Design>XML>Metadata
#15111
Describes how technical writers can design usable, helpful tables of contents for both printed documentation and help files.
Wright, Marcia G. Intercom (2002). Articles>Editing>Information Design
#26669
Designing Accessible T-Government Services 
This research shows some potentiality of Digital TV, and chiefly DTT, for promoting e-inclusion activities and granting accessible entertainment and t-government services.
Bertini, Patrizia. Informacios Tarsadalom-es Trendkutato Kozpont honlapja (2005). Books>Information Design>Multimedia>Government
#15112
Explains how to produce documents with good structure, which is essential to the use of structural markup.
Tyson, Paul H. Intercom (2002). Design>Information Design>Writing
#10286
Much discussion in web usability in recent years has revolved around designing web sites which are intended to be easily accessible by even the least technologically advanced user. This attempt to attract the highest number of visitors is especially appropriate for promoting and selling goods and services. The inexperienced user unaccustomed to reading text displayed on monitors and unable to efficiently download multimedia files should not be alienated by highly detailed or stylized web writing or a lack of bandwidth. Yet, there are more-advanced users on the web that designers should consider when appropriate.
Hinkelman, Andrew. Orange Journal, The (2001). Design>Information Design>Usability
#11892
Designing for Multiple Audiences
Current literature tells web designers to determine who their primary users are, then design the website for that group. However, in many cases a website must serve multiple audiences with very different needs. This article explores a few options that web designers have in creating a website that meets the needs of multiple audiences.
Riebeek, Holli. EServer (2001). Design>Information Design>Web Design>Personalization
#13299
“Single source” has come to mean many things to many different people. The basic distinctions are two: (1) distributing the same content in multiple formats and (2) distributing complementary content in the most appropriate medium. The two concepts are not mutually exclusive, i.e., you may have an information strategy that encompasses both ideas. Each methodology has its own advantages, suitability, and requirements. Distributing complementary content in the most appropriate medium requires research and planning, and often results in more effective documentation.
Florsheim, Stewart J. STC Proceedings (2000). Presentations>Information Design>Single Sourcing
#29192
Designing Information That Meets Users' Needs 
Understanding users' needs is a systematic approach that draws on techniques used in software design and ethnographic-style research. These techniques include user personas, tasks analyses, and scenarios. Taken together they provide the basis of an information design that works for users.
Lasalle, Joan. Content Management Professionals (2007). Articles>Information Design>User Centered Design
#22497
Designing Navigable Information Spaces
Currently, computer users are 'lost in hyperspace:' they have difficulty knowing where they are and locating the information they desire. To remedy this, information should be situated in an information space that enables people to explore knowledge in the same way they navigate in the physical environment. This thesis will enumerate a set of principles to guide information space design, enabling designers to create effective information spaces. The design principles fall into three categories: communication principles, which inform the spatial organization of information; wayfinding principles, which structure the space to allow successful navigation; and computational principles, which use the computational nature of digital media to enhance the information space. Two information spaces designed using these principles are presented and analyzed.
Foltz, Mark and Randall Davis. MIT (2001). Design>Web Design>Information Design
#18827
Designing Relational Databases
The phrase database design means the set of steps, techniques, guidelines, and tools for translating a logical data model into a database specification. The database design consists of a structural representation, but may also include an integrity representation for rules enforcement. The structural representation is usually a database design diagram, from which you generate database-specific definitions. The integrity representation can take many forms from database specifications that define rule enforcements in the dbms layer, program specifications that define rule enforcements in object methods or other implementation, as well as specifications that define rule enforcement in a rules layer. Think of relational database design as a process for transforming the Logical Data Model into a relational database where the database design preserves the high quality properties of the Logical Data Model described in the book.
#23076
Even with the best possible design of any single page, your site will fail to attract visitors if not equipped with a neat, consistent, and intuitive navigational interface. This article addresses the main issues designers confront when building effective navigation tools.
Kirsanov, Dmitri. WebRef (1997). Design>Web Design>Information Design
#19850
Designing Usable Forms: The Three-Layer Model of the Form
Why do people say 'I’m not good with forms' or 'I don’t like forms' when a form is only a piece of paper, or a screen, with some printing on it? There must be something special about forms that inspires these comments. The 'three-layer model” considers forms from three points of view: perceptual (layout), conversational (questions and answers) and relationship (the structure of the task). Analysing a form using the three layers helps to un-pick its problems, and to suggest ways of making it more usable.
Jarrett, Caroline. STC Proceedings (2000). Design>Information Design>Forms
#13357
Designing Web Ads Using Click-Through Data
Search engine ads are one type of Web advertising that can actually work. To create the best ads, do quick experiments and redesign ads based on usability principles for online writing. Doing so helped us increase ad click-through by 55 to 310 percent.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2002). Design>Web Design>Information Design>Usability
#27633
Designing Your Own XML Schema: Learn the Essentials
This is the first article in a series which guides you in designing XML Schemas right from the basics without any hurdles.
Chaterjee, Jagadish. Dev Articles (2006). Articles>Information Design>Databases>XML
#26336
The first blog network exclusively for creative professionals, by creative professionals, and driven by passion. Beginning with nine Topics ranging from Graphic Design and Illustration through Creative Culture and Strategy, Designorati’s mission of reporting on all professional creative disciplines and concerns is well underway. In time Designorati will encompass Topics representative of all areas of professional creativity, written some of the most passionate people working in those areas.
Designorati (2005). Design>Information Design
#26343
Designorati:In-House is intended as a resource and road map for creative professionals working from within the corporate office structure to communicate your company’s message to the outside world. With few direct resources available for the in-house designer, Designorati:In-House will try to fill that gap by collecting and commenting on issues most important to the corporate creative. In-house designers are hired because of their strong conceptual sense and ability to execute the needs of the company more efficiently than the person requesting the project. Producing effective design on little direction while meeting shortening deadlines can be daunting, so Designorati:In-House will focus on providing or pointing to solid articles which can make the job easier. Managing your own projects or dealing with micromanagers without losing your cool, finding inspiration between the walls of your cubicle, sharing and learning from your peers online or in the break room, even troubleshooting your computer (or your neighbor’s iPod) are all subjects Designorati:In-House will address.
Litvak, Vadim. Designorati (2005). Design>Information Design
#22774
How can I tell if JBIG2 compression was used on my PDF file?
Rosenthol, Leonard. PDFzone (2004). Articles>Information Design>Software>Adobe Acrobat
#18834
Developing an Information Strategy
The role of the technical communicator has been changing dramatically over the past few years. Gone are the days when hefty user manuals are considered desirable. Technical communicators must now think of ways of building intuitiveness into products to obviate the need for reams and reams of hard copy documentation. This understanding forms the basis for developing an information strategy.
Florsheim, Stewart J. STC Proceedings (1997). Design>Documentation>Information Design>Content Strategy
#23115
Developing and Creatively Leveraging Hierarchical Metadata and Taxonomy
In content metadata and hierarchies, you will often find a goldmine of implicit and explicit data that you can leverage to creatively contextualize content. After a brief introduction on taxonomy and metadata, this article focuses on finding and utilizing such relationships in hierarchies.
Ricci, Christian. Boxes and Arrows (2004). Design>Web Design>Information Design>Metadata
#20895
Wireframes: At once a singular composition and a collaborative expression, communicating the vision of both an individual and a team. As a result, they can be stacked with an enormous amount of detail. Are we becoming victims of information pollution in our own wireframes?
Danzico, Liz. Boxes and Arrows (2003). Design>Information Design>Web Design
#30013
Devilish Details: Best Practices in Web Design
Visual and interaction design for successful e-commerce Web sites and Web-based applications requires meticulous attention to detail. Because the smallest matters can ruin the user experience, an orderly process--such as usage-centered design--guided by robust principles is needed; iterative testing and repetitive redesign is inadequate to find and address all the diverse matters needing attention. This paper reviews basic principles and then surveys best practices in the detailed aspects of Web design in three broad areas: details of architecture or organization, details of interaction design, and details relating to commercial activity, especially shopping. Specific recommendations in each area are offered as examples of best practices based on usage-centered principles.
Constantine, Larry L. Constantine and Lockwood (2003). Design>Web Design>Information Design>Interaction Design
#20107
Digital Architectures: SGML, HTML, Multimedia and the Structure of Electronic Documents
With the use of online multimedia communication growing daily, online technologies have dramatically changed the ways we use and present information -- so much so, that we also need to have new theories and models for understanding how technology and content are related in this new communication environment. This paper presents a theory of digital architecture and explains how SGML, HTML, and Information Architecture are related in the creation of a new online literacy and rhetoric.
Heba, Gary M. STC Proceedings (1996). Design>Multimedia>Information Design
#26349
Digital Facsimiles on CD-ROM: A Potential Solution to the Interlibrary Loan of Rare Books 
Despite the approval, nearly ten years ago, of the ACRL Guidelines for the Loan of Rare Materials, few special collections departments regularly loan materials to other universities. For the researcher, obtaining rare books and manuscripts (or copies of the same) via interlibrary loan continues to be difficult if not impossible. The last ten years have shown a phenomenal growth in the production and marketing of digital facsimiles of rare books. This article examines research on digital facsimile CD-ROM collection patterns and presents the results of a survey on interlibrary loan lending practices in an effort to understand the impact that CD-ROMs may have on interlibrary loan and access to rare materials.
Visser, Michelle. Journal of Interlibrary Loan (2004). Articles>Information Design>Publishing
#28877
Digital Libraries: Still a Long Way to Go 
Apart from implementing the right technology, libraries need a clear understanding of changing user requirements, the capabilities and limitations of emerging technologies, and the changing nature of scholarly communication.
Kudesia, Saurabh. International Journal for Technical Communication (2007). Articles>Information Design>Databases
