Ads Are Here To Stay: Planning For Ad Placement

Site advertisements can interfere with content and disrupt layout. Yet they are most often part of website requirements, forcing IAs to come up with strategies for incorportating them. Is there a graceful way to handle ads online?

Kirtland, Alex. Boxes and Arrows (2005). Design>Web Design>Marketing>E Commerce

Advancing Advanced Search

Advanced search is the ugly child of interface design--always included, but never loved. Websites have come to depend on their search engines as the volume of content has increased. Yet advanced search functionality has not significantly developed in years. Poor matches and overwhelming search results remain a problem for users. Perhaps the standard search pattern deserves a new look. A progressive disclosure approach can enable users to use precision advanced search techniques to refine their searches and pinpoint the desired results.

Turbek, Stephen. Boxes and Arrows (2008). Articles>Web Design>Search

Adventures in Low Fidelity: Designing Search for Egreetings

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.

Farnum, Chris. Boxes and Arrows (2002). Design>Web Design>Information Design>Search

The Age of Findability

It doesn't replace information architecture. And it's really not a school or brand of information architecture. Findability is about recognizing that we live in a multi-dimensional world, and deciding to explore new facets that cut across traditional boundaries.

Morville, Peter. Boxes and Arrows (2002). Articles>Usability>Search

AIGA Experience Design - Past, Present and Future

At the end of April 2002, the AIGA Experience Design SIG will hold its first joint Forum as part of CHI 2002. Intended to be the first of several collaborative ventures to bring the Experience Design communities of practice together, the success of the forum marks a milestone in the life of the AIGA ED group.

Malone, Erin. Boxes and Arrows (2002). Design>Web Design>User Centered Design

Alan Cooper Speaks! Impressions from BayCHI April 2002

On the second Tuesday of every month, BayCHI, the Bay Area chapter of the Association for Computing Machinery's (ACM) special interest group on Computer-Human Interaction convenes. Brad Lauster shares his impressions of the discussion with Alan Cooper and the nature of Interaction Design.

Lauster, Brad. Boxes and Arrows (2002). Design>Web Design>Interaction Design

All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace: Some Ethical Guidelines for User Experience in Ubiquitous-Computing Settings

Essay on the threat and promise of ubicomp: It should be clear that ubicomp represents a substantial raising of stakes; that its field of operation is by definition total; and that its potential for harm is such that the user experience is too important to leave to chance.

Greenfield, Adam. Boxes and Arrows (2005). Articles>Technology

Ambient Findability: Talking with Peter Morville

Can we reasonably judge authority? How can we make good decisions in the information age? How do we know enough to ask the right questions? Peter Morville takes a moment to talk with us about these and other potential answers, his most recent book, the death of data, and our fascination with the future.

Danzico, Liz. Boxes and Arrows (2005). Articles>Interviews>Information Design

Analyzing Card Sort Results with a Spreadsheet Template

This article explains how to quickly derive easily-read, quantitative results from a card-sort activity by entering data into a spreadsheet template that is adaptable to any set of cards and categories.

Lamantia, Joe. Boxes and Arrows (2003). Articles>Usability>Methods>Card Sorting

Architecting Our Profession

The change within the interface design process over the past five to ten years has coincided with an increasing number of large companies refining an industrial style model of design instead of focusing on specialization or interaction sustainability through design accuracy.

Evans, Clifton. Boxes and Arrows (2005). Design>Web Design>History

Are We There Yet?

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.

Wodtke, Christina. Boxes and Arrows (2006). Articles>Web Design>Project Management>Case Studies

Arrows in Our Quiver

On mailing lists, at conferences, in conversations at cocktail hours, I'm starting to see a growing awareness of how our various disciplines form a community of practice.

Olsen, George. Boxes and Arrows (2002). Articles>Web Design>Community Building

Review: The Art of Project Management

Can project management be an art? Has Berkun truly created a jargon-free guide for the whole project team? Kalbach leads us through the high-level tasks and the major milestones of this new book, while keeping us on task.

Kalbach, James. Boxes and Arrows (2005). Articles>Reviews>Project Management

Automating Diagrams with Visio

By doing the demanding intellectual work first and then forcing the tools to succumb to need to produce seemingly speedy deliverables, you can get around the difficulty of choosing between 'Good, Fast and Cheap.' Here's one approach using Excel and Visio.

Angeles, Michael. Boxes and Arrows (2002). Design>Project Management>Information Design

Beauty is Only Screen Deep

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.

Horton, Sarah. Boxes and Arrows (2002). Design>Web Design>Aesthetics

Being Shallow

Information Architects are often put on the defensive by spears flung by brethren in related disciplines. In taking the accusations seriously and accepting truths within them, Grant Campbell reveals greatest strengths in shallowness, insularity, and being 'relegated' to history.

Campbell, Grant. Boxes and Arrows (2007). Articles>Information Design>Professionalism

Better Content Management through Information Architecture

Content Management Systems promise so much: content is easier to publish, easier to update, and easier to find and use. Lots of promises, but do CMSs really deliver? Masood Nasser examines why Content Management Systems often fail and shows how Information Architecture can come to the rescue.

Nasser, Masood. Boxes and Arrows (2007). Articles>Content Management>Information Design

Big Boxes and Shoppertainment: More Lessons for Web Design from Mall and Retail Design

Explores some tactical issues in structuring and presenting content.

Carliner, Saul. Boxes and Arrows (2003). Design>Web Design>E Commerce

The Big O: IA Lessons from Orienteering

Several orienteering strategies - including map simplification and contact, navigating by checkpoints, rough and precise map reading, and using attack points to find the goal - have useful IA parallels. Gene Smith explores how IAs can learn from these parallel techniques and create digital spaces that are easier to navigate.

Smith, Gene. Boxes and Arrows (2002). Design>Web Design>Information Design

Blasting the Myth of the Fold

There is an astonishing amount of disbelief that the users of web pages have learned to scroll and that they do so regularly. Holding on to this disbelief--this myth that users won't scroll to see anything below the fold--is doing everyone a great disservice, most of all our users.

Tarquini, Milissa. Boxes and Arrows (2007). Design>Web Design>Information Design>User Centered Design

Review: Book of Probes

Combine the probing thoughts of media culture sage Marshall McLuhan with the visual insights of design guru David Carson and the result is the quintessential coffee table book for anyone that works with technology and design. The Book of Probes is an intentional chocolate-in-my-peanut-butter experiment to combine the ideas of McLuhan with the images of Carson in thought provoking ways.

MacLaughlin, Steve. Boxes and Arrows (2004). Articles>Reviews>Graphic Design

Boxes and Arrows

Boxes and Arrows is the definitive source for the complex task of bringing architecture and design to the digital landscape. There are various titles and professions associated with this undertaking—information architecture, information design, interaction design, interface design—but when we looked at the work that we were actually doing, we found a “community of practice” with similarities in outlook and approach that far outweighed our differences. Boxes and Arrows is a peer-written journal dedicated to discussing, improving and promoting the work of this community, through the sharing of exemplary technique, innovation and informed opinion.

Boxes and Arrows. Journals>Web Design>User Centered Design>Interaction Design

Boxes and Arrows: Jobs List

Listings about open positions for user experience designers, web designers, information architects, user-centered design and similar positions.

Boxes and Arrows. Careers>Job Listings>User Experience>User Experience

Bring Your Personas to Life!

Method acting can take your personas from the page to the stage. Think beyond traditional practice to give emotional life to your personas.

Fugaz, Zef. Boxes and Arrows (2006). Articles>Usability>Methods>Personas

Bringing Your Personas to Life in Real Life

The way you communicate the personas and present your deliverables is key to ensuring consistency of vision. Without that consistency, you'll spend far too much time arguing with your colleagues about who your users are rather than how to meet their needs.

Freydenson, Elan. Boxes and Arrows (2002). Articles>Usability>Methods>Personas