http://tc.eserver.org/publisher/Boxes_and_Arrows A listing of works published by Boxes and Arrows in the field of technical communication. en-us Copyright (c) 2005-08 by the EServer. All rights reserved. tclib-editorial@eserver.org (TC Library Editorial Board) webmaster@eserver.org (Geoffrey Sauer) http://tc.eserver.org/images/newlogo.gif http://tc.eserver.org/dir/Boxes_and_Arrows http://tc.eserver.org/35755.html http://tc.eserver.org/35755.html As I transitioned from academia to industry, I discovered that while mobile UX was discussed, it wasn’t discussed from the same broad frame of reference that I was used to within the confines of a research-based institution. Although more recent mobile UX conversations I have found myself in have undoubtedly benefited from the ongoing smart phone revolution, overall I still find these conversations to be needlessly driven by tactical adoration and lacking a conscious consensus regarding the fundamental principles of the mobile-user experience. http://tc.eserver.org/35756.html http://tc.eserver.org/35756.html We’ve come to realize that the techniques used by hostage negotiators to resolve crises are also extremely valuable to user experience researchers. In essence, both parties are attempting to establish a relationship, both are trying to keep the communication flowing, and most importantly, both are trying to extract valuable data. http://tc.eserver.org/35549.html http://tc.eserver.org/35549.html Thanks to the hype generated by Business Week, The New York Times, Fortune, and Newsweek (among others), Web 2.0 has captured the imagination of consumers and businesses alike. But knowing how to leverage Web 2.0 concepts to fuel collaboration and innovation among employees, partners, and customers is another story. http://tc.eserver.org/35367.html http://tc.eserver.org/35367.html When a screenwriter can summarize a story in one sentence, he has a compass that can guide him throughout the writing process. Cindy Chastain chronicles how we can translate this approach to help us remember the quality and value of the experience we intend to deliver. http://tc.eserver.org/35368.html http://tc.eserver.org/35368.html Prototyping is a big deal right now. We get wrapped up in mailing list threads, new tools are released at an astonishing pace, books are being published, and articles show up on Boxes & Arrows. Clients are even asking for prototypes. But here’s the thing… prototyping is not a silver bullet. There is no one right way to do it. However, prototyping is a high silver content bullet. When aimed well, a prototype can answer design questions and communicate design ideas. In this article, I talk about the dimensions of prototype fidelity and how you can use them to choose the most effective prototyping method for the questions you need answered. http://tc.eserver.org/35176.html http://tc.eserver.org/35176.html Prototyping is a big deal right now. We get wrapped up in mailing list threads, new tools are released at an astonishing pace, books are being published, and articles show up on Boxes & Arrows. Clients are even asking for prototypes. But here’s the thing… prototyping is not a silver bullet. There is no one right way to do it. However, prototyping is a high silver content bullet. When aimed well, a prototype can answer design questions and communicate design ideas. In this article, I talk about the dimensions of prototype fidelity and how you can use them to choose the most effective prototyping method for the questions you need answered. http://tc.eserver.org/35177.html http://tc.eserver.org/35177.html There’s often an unsettling discrepancy between the stakeholder approved wireframes and visual comps and the actual product in production. What you see in those environments is sometimes a far cry from those polished wireframes and those shiny, pixel-perfect visualizations that were filled with placeholder content (such as lorem ipsum text, dummy copy, and image blocks). What you’re seeing in production environments now holds the real content. The imagery doesn’t support the interactions, is meaningless, useless, or worse, contradictory to the design intent. The copy, headers, and labels are unclear, too long, too short, or simply irrelevant. What happened? http://tc.eserver.org/35178.html http://tc.eserver.org/35178.html The role of the interaction designer is to specify the interface’s behaviors and elements, so that engineers know what to build and how the product should operate. This documentation is commonly known as a UI specification or UI spec. There are several applications for authoring a UI spec, with wikis being a relatively new tool. However, designers should be aware of a wiki’s benefits and drawbacks for documentation, since UI specs uniquely reflect a project and its context. The documentation needs are often based on the size of the project, launch date, team dynamics, audience, technology, and the product development process. The development process usually plays a major role in how teams interact and how work is completed or delivered, thus, there is a direct relationship between the UI spec and the process the team is using. http://tc.eserver.org/35179.html http://tc.eserver.org/35179.html User interface (UI) patterns have the potential to make software development more efficient. The prospect of such efficiency gains has led to interest in user interface (UI) patterns by individuals and organizations looking for ways to increase quality while at the same time reducing the costs associated with software development. http://tc.eserver.org/34751.html http://tc.eserver.org/34751.html As Agile gains momentum as a development approach of choice, documenting design becomes a challenge. Peter Gremett shows how using a wiki to capture your design is a great way to be adaptive as you build and deliver product to customers. http://tc.eserver.org/34752.html http://tc.eserver.org/34752.html Like many companies, CorVu has extensive knowledge of its own products and a desire to make that knowledge available to customers. A major block to achieving that desire has been a lack of people with the time to either record the internal knowledge or to fashion the knowledge into a customer-ready format. We needed to spread the load so that a broad range of developers, tech writers, professional service consultants and others could all contribute what time and knowledge they had to a shared goal. Our hope was that a process built around several Wiki sites would facilitate this collaborative approach. http://tc.eserver.org/34399.html http://tc.eserver.org/34399.html There are a wide variety of uses for Wikis and a level of interest in using them that’s matched by an extensive range of Wiki software. Wikis introduce to the Internet a collaborative model that not only allows, but explicitly encourages, broad and open participation. The idea that anyone can contribute reflects an assumption that both content quantity and quality will arise out of the ‘wisdom of the crowd.’ http://tc.eserver.org/34167.html http://tc.eserver.org/34167.html There is plenty of hype about “Collaboration 2.0” at the moment, but the bugle is being blown too loudly, too soon. Take, for instance, the Enterprise Collaboration Panel at last year’s Office 2.0 Conference. Most of the discussion was really about communication rather than collaboration, with only a hint that beyond forming a social network (“putting the water cooler inside the computer”) there was still a lack of software that actually helped groups of people get the work done. What’s missing from the discussion is any formulation of what the process of collaboration entails; there’s no model from which collaborative applications could arise. If we can figure out a model then we in the UX community should be able to make a significant contribution to it. http://tc.eserver.org/34168.html http://tc.eserver.org/34168.html The role of the information architect (IA), interaction designer, or user experience (UX) designer is to help create architecture and interactions which will impact the user in constructive, meaningful ways. Sometimes the design choices are strategic and affect a broad interaction environment; other times they may be tactical and detailed, affecting few. But sometimes the design choices we make are not good enough for the users we’re trying to reach. Often a sense of democratic responsibility is missing in the artifacts and experiences which result from our designs and decisions. http://tc.eserver.org/34169.html http://tc.eserver.org/34169.html Software companies and other parties involved begin to use the power of a distinct visual design to express both their brand identity and custom interactive design solutions to the users. While this implies a new freedom for designers working in the field of interactive software products, it strengthens the importance of visual design for the design of user interfaces. Designers working on concrete graphic solutions for a specific interface are breaking away from established standards defined by a software vendor. It is now the responsibility of those user interface designers to choose graphical elements wisely to make a product’s interaction principles visible and usable. http://tc.eserver.org/34170.html http://tc.eserver.org/34170.html All of the members of the best teams could tell us, with relative ease, the top five business goals of their application, the top five user types the application was to serve, and the top five platform capabilities and limitations they had to work within. And, when questioned more deeply, each team member revealed an appreciation and understanding of the challenges and goals of their teammates almost as well as their own. http://tc.eserver.org/33666.html http://tc.eserver.org/33666.html The beauty of the whiteboard method is that your report becomes simply a summary of what you have already written on the whiteboard, including completion metrics, findings, and recommendations that have been vetted by key stakeholders. http://tc.eserver.org/33355.html http://tc.eserver.org/33355.html I would like to encourage the community to talk about the need for professional networks within the information architecture field, especially as it relates to creating successful software and information systems. And, I would like to compare our needs in the field of IA with the systems that have been used in other areas to determine if we can develop an appropriate support system in moving towards specialization in our profession. http://tc.eserver.org/33362.html http://tc.eserver.org/33362.html Even in an ideal world, designs must optimise both the user experience and the business return. When resources are limited, the design must be optimised to make the best use of all resources as well. To account for this complexity, it is important to have a clear understanding of both sides of the design equation--what you have to work with and what you are trying to build. http://tc.eserver.org/33366.html http://tc.eserver.org/33366.html Just what are the design practices on the web that have the highest frequency? And are there design practices that all (or nearly all) sites employ? http://tc.eserver.org/33311.html http://tc.eserver.org/33311.html Sometimes we need to take a step back to ensure that our motivations are in the right place. It can be easy to forget that, when people participate in our studies, they are our partners. Dana Chisnell has taken the time to examine these attitudes and help us understand how to avoid falling into such traps. http://tc.eserver.org/33312.html http://tc.eserver.org/33312.html Looking for another way of realizing your design deliverables? XHTML are easy to code, can double as specifications, and create constraints that increase design effectiveness. http://tc.eserver.org/33284.html http://tc.eserver.org/33284.html Content management systems suck. Or so you would think from the strife heard from analysts and practitioners alike. And yet, many websites regularly publish vast amounts of information with superior control and ease compared to manually editing pages. So where’s the disconnect between what’s possible and the too-often failure of CMS? http://tc.eserver.org/33226.html http://tc.eserver.org/33226.html For some websites the user experience already extends onto paper, like it or not. Ignoring this may result in lower overall user satisfaction. Consider the following factors when designing web pages that will be printed. http://tc.eserver.org/33228.html http://tc.eserver.org/33228.html Visual communication can be thought of as two intertwined parts: personality, or look and feel, and visual organization. The personality of a presentation is what provides the emotional impact —your instinctual response to what you see. Creating an appropriate personality requires the use of colors, type treatments, images, shapes, patterns, and more, to “say” the right thing to your audience. This article, however, focuses on the other side of the visual communication coin: visual organization. http://tc.eserver.org/33088.html http://tc.eserver.org/33088.html Designing, developing, and deploying an intranet can be expensive, time-consuming and organizationally tricky. Complicating factors include: supervising the budget; prioritizing features; addressing user requests; collaborating with other departments to produce and deploy content; and leading interdisciplinary teams of site administrators, information architects, content writers, visual designers, technical architects, and developers. Nevertheless, certain strategies, when carefully executed, can simplify designing and managing your intranet. http://tc.eserver.org/33017.html http://tc.eserver.org/33017.html The way you communicate 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. Let’s start with a review of what we know about personas, and why they are useful. http://tc.eserver.org/33023.html http://tc.eserver.org/33023.html In content metadata and hierarchies, you will often find a goldmine of implicit and explicit data that you can leverage to creatively contextualise content. After a brief introduction on taxonomy and metadata, this article focuses on finding and utilising such relationships in hierarchies. http://tc.eserver.org/32986.html http://tc.eserver.org/32986.html As a specialist in the user, you gain knowledge through observation and direct questioning of individual users. Now, you can add to that insights gained from data pulled during their actions on the site. By looking at this information, you will get a fuller picture of user behavior, not in a lab, but in the true user environment. http://tc.eserver.org/32937.html http://tc.eserver.org/32937.html In the information economy, the longevity of an organisation is based as much on the sophistication of its knowledge management practices as it is on traditional differentiators such as the strength of its products, the talent of its employees, and its marketplace reputation and partner relationships. Simply speaking, as actionable and insightful information becomes the currency of an organisation, there are few other ways to tap into any latent potential lost in the office corridors. http://tc.eserver.org/32378.html http://tc.eserver.org/32378.html Completing usability testing quickly is a challenge anywhere but especially in consultancies, which have to overcome additional challenges, such as learning a new application. To assure success on these projects, I’ve developed a quick turnaround usability testing methodology (QTUT) that minimizes the time needed to complete testing. http://tc.eserver.org/32379.html http://tc.eserver.org/32379.html There are a million websites out there. There are a million email service providers out there. How do you ensure that you gain the right audience to join your service? What are those factors that will help users move ahead and become your loyal customer? Part of the answer has to do with the first step: Registration! http://tc.eserver.org/32281.html http://tc.eserver.org/32281.html Audio content is becoming increasingly prevalent. But do you know how to design it effectively? Jens Jacobsen combines information architecture, journalism, usability engineering and interface design to resolve some of the issues that arise from introducing audio. http://tc.eserver.org/32282.html http://tc.eserver.org/32282.html Where the seams of information and public space overlap and intersect, Elliott Malkin creates projects that span genres from religion to natural science. In a preview of his upcoming IDEA conference talk, Malkin talks about home-movies, butterflies, and designing for unofficial signs in public space. http://tc.eserver.org/32234.html http://tc.eserver.org/32234.html A controlled vocabulary is a way to insert an interpretive layer of semantics between the term entered by the user and the underlying database to better represent the original intention of the terms of the user. http://tc.eserver.org/32139.html http://tc.eserver.org/32139.html Users hold search to a human standard of understanding that computers cannot as yet achieve. This is more than just a curiosity: The Turing test has something to tell us about how we can better design our website search interfaces today. http://tc.eserver.org/31998.html http://tc.eserver.org/31998.html We create software and websites to display and represent information to people. That information could be anything; a company’s product list, pictures of your vacation, or an instant message from a friend. At this moment, there’s more information available to you than at any other time in history. http://tc.eserver.org/31997.html http://tc.eserver.org/31997.html Bill DeRouchey is fascinated with buttons and the history of interface design. He talks to us as he prepares for IDEA 2008, October 7-8. In Chicago, Bill hopes to help attendees expand their sources of inspiration to include just about anything in their everyday lives. http://tc.eserver.org/31996.html http://tc.eserver.org/31996.html One of the most frequent tasks on many intranets is finding people within the company. Providing an effective way to search people is thus a key goal in designing intranets. This goal becomes even more important for an organization like Emirates, a leading international airline, which has over 35,000 employees with over 140 nationalities and where more people are likely to use this feature more frequently. http://tc.eserver.org/31999.html http://tc.eserver.org/31999.html Games are fun, addictive, beautiful, and immersive. Websites, for the most part, are not. Take a moment and think about what video games look like, what they sound like, the way you can move on the screen, what “you” can be. Think of how you feel when you play and who you play with. Consider the launch of Halo 3 on Xbox 360, with unprecedented graphics, sound, and interactivity that Time.com called “refined to the point where it delivers only pure unadulterated gaming bliss.” http://tc.eserver.org/31828.html http://tc.eserver.org/31828.html Skills in research, information architecture, interaction design, graphic design and writing define the recognized areas of User Experience design. However, there still remains much to discuss about what makes a UX team dreamy. Each UX Dreamteam has a finely tuned mix of skills and qualities, as varied as the environments in which they operate. Part two will address whether a person has the right ‘hard’ skills and ‘soft’ qualities like communication style, creativity and leadership ability to fit your particular organizational context. We’ll also touch on the quality of an individual’s personality that may or may not complement the others on your team. http://tc.eserver.org/31829.html http://tc.eserver.org/31829.html What is likely to win the most converts is the joy Wroblewski takes in designing. This impression becomes clear as you page through the book. He isn’t just an ardent evangelizer, following the rituals of going to conferences selling snake oil. He’s been there in the trenches, just like you; he’s done this a hundred, maybe a thousand times. He’s tested these ideas and provides a framework for you to use from day one. Half the battle in good form design is defending your decisions to stakeholders. http://tc.eserver.org/31830.html http://tc.eserver.org/31830.html Where would we be without rating and reputation systems these days? Take them away, and we wouldn’t know who to trust on eBay, what movies to pick on Netflix, or what books to buy on Amazon. Reputation systems (essentially a rating system for people) also help guide us through the labyrinth of individuals who make up our social web. Is he or she worthwhile to spend my time on? For pity’s sake, please don’t check out our reputation points before deciding whether to read this article. http://tc.eserver.org/31642.html http://tc.eserver.org/31642.html The rising popularity of the comic as an internal communication device for designers has increased our ability to engage our stakeholders as we build interfaces. Yet, social service agencies looking to provide services to hard-to-reach groups like immigrants, cultural minorities, and the poor have taken pride in innovative outreach methods. In situations where traditional printed matter is a barrier, graphical methods can be used very effectively to communicate with audiences. From guerilla theatre to testimonials, posters to graphic instructions, users have benefited from alternative communication methods, particularly in situations where education or cultural barriers make it difficult for people to access services important to their well-being and safety. In some cases, the comic book format has been used as a way to help people get access to critical legal help. This case study from my time as a Publication Manager at the Legal Services Society (LSS) of British Columbia (BC) could inspire the use of comics outside the development process. http://tc.eserver.org/31641.html http://tc.eserver.org/31641.html To tackle the classic “how to prototype rich interactions” problem, Alexa Andrzejewski developed a process for translating static screen designs (from wireframes to visual comps) into interactive experiences using Flash. Requiring some fairly basic ActionScript knowledge, these prototypes proved to be a quick yet powerful way to bring interaction designs to life. http://tc.eserver.org/31629.html http://tc.eserver.org/31629.html Suppliers sell. Customers buy. Various people discuss UX, but don’t really identify what it is. Agencies search for ways to offer this line of work to clients and seek best practises to develop UX. Holger Maassen posits his ideas about the process of planning and designing for User Experience Design-Planning (UXD-P) as Expectation Design. http://tc.eserver.org/31094.html http://tc.eserver.org/31094.html Jamie Owen explores how we can best utilize cues in our work by understanding how memory, cognitive psychology, and multimedia research affect how information is encoded and retrieved. http://tc.eserver.org/31092.html http://tc.eserver.org/31092.html What is the biggest problem I face almost every time a client hires me to do something about a web project going awry? They don't know a thing about their users. They don't have a clue, whatsoever. Unbelievable but true! http://tc.eserver.org/31093.html http://tc.eserver.org/31093.html Some failure allows complex organizations to learn and grow; others can be catastrophic. In Part 2 of his series, Peter Jones explores the factors of user experience role, the timing dynamics of large projects, and several alternatives to the framing of UX roles and organizations today. http://tc.eserver.org/31002.html http://tc.eserver.org/31002.html Rosenfeld Media has just released Indi Young's Mental Models: Aligning Design Strategy With Human Behavior. Boxes and Arrows sits down with Indi to talk about the origins and evolution of the mental model. http://tc.eserver.org/30795.html http://tc.eserver.org/30795.html 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. http://tc.eserver.org/30796.html http://tc.eserver.org/30796.html An interview with Dan Saffer, 2008 Conference Chair and IxDA Director. Dan discusses the context of the organization, how the conference emerged and formed, what the conference will be like, and how one might get a flavor even if attendance is not an option. http://tc.eserver.org/30633.html http://tc.eserver.org/30633.html Finding the right person to complement your User Experience team is part art and part luck. Though good interviewing can limit the risk of a bad hire, you need to carefully analyze your current organizational context, before you can know what you need. Herein lies the art. Since you can't truly know a candidate from an interview, you gamble that their personality and skills are what they seem. Aimed at managers and those involved in the hiring decision process, this article looks at the facets of UX staff and offers ways to identify the skills and influence that will tune your team to deliver winning results. http://tc.eserver.org/30632.html http://tc.eserver.org/30632.html An interview with David Malouf on his article, Foundations of Interaction Design. We discuss several foundations of Interaction design including time, metaphor, abstraction, and negative space. David also provides greater detail to comments posted on his article from readers from around the world. http://tc.eserver.org/30634.html http://tc.eserver.org/30634.html We began to work on an event to gather professionals and employers to help us figure out what UX employers really want. http://tc.eserver.org/30226.html http://tc.eserver.org/30226.html Incorporating the voice of the user into user experience design by using personas in the design process is no longer the latest and greatest new practice. Everyone is doing it these days, and with good reason. Using personas in the design process helps focus the design team's attention and efforts on the needs and challenges of realistic users, which in turn helps the team develop a more usable finished design. While completely imaginary personas will do, it seems only logical that personas based upon real user data will do better. Web analytics can provide a helpful starting point to generate data-backed personas; this article presents an informal 5-step process for building a 'persona of the people.' In practice, outcomes indicate that designing with any persona is better than with no personas, even if the personas used are entirely fictitious. Better yet, however, are personas that are based on real user data. Reports and case studies that support this approach typically offer examples incorporating data into personas from customer service call centers, user surveys and interviews. It's nice work if you can get it, but not all design projects have all (or even any!) of these rich and varied user data sources available. However, more and more sites are now collecting web analytic data using vendor solutions or free options such as Google Analytics. Web analytics provides a rich source of user data, unique among the forms of user data that are used to evaluate websites, in that it represents the users in their native habitat of use. Despite some drawbacks to using web analytics that are inherent to the technology and data collection methods, the information it provides can be very useful for informing design. http://tc.eserver.org/30228.html http://tc.eserver.org/30228.html The building block system includes several types of Connectors that make it possible for designers and architects to link the different areas of a Dashboard together via a consistent, easily understandable navigation model. The system also ensures the resulting information architecture can grow in response to changing needs and content. There's no special stacking hierarchy for the Connectors. However, they do have an official stacking size (most are size 3) in order to keep Dashboards constructed with the building blocks internally consistent. http://tc.eserver.org/30227.html http://tc.eserver.org/30227.html As information architects, interaction designers, usability consultants, and developers, we don't have to change our careers to do something good for society. All we have to do is connect with the right nonprofit: One that shares our goals and whose mission we support. http://tc.eserver.org/30039.html http://tc.eserver.org/30039.html Dives into the components of the building block system. Each has a place in his design framework for dashboards and portals. http://tc.eserver.org/30038.html http://tc.eserver.org/30038.html Argues that IAs can do their jobs better if they understand organizational change management, even if they don't need to be change management specialists. I'll also suggest a variety of concepts and practices that can (hopefully) help IAs in their change agent role, and I promise to throw in something entertaining as well. http://tc.eserver.org/29677.html http://tc.eserver.org/29677.html What strategies has society employed to collect, manage, and store information, even with the constant threat of oversupply, and still make this information accessible and meaningful to people over time? http://tc.eserver.org/29673.html http://tc.eserver.org/29673.html A map-based approach to building a content inventory allows it to be a tool from the concept stages and throughout the life of the website. Patrick Walsh tells us why to use them, shows us how to create the maps, and how to leverage them over the long haul. http://tc.eserver.org/29675.html http://tc.eserver.org/29675.html Understanding the formation, evolution and utilization of online social networks becomes important. While the Internet contributes to the information overload, it also provides useful tools to effectively manage ones social networks and through them gain access to the right pieces of information. http://tc.eserver.org/29676.html http://tc.eserver.org/29676.html Acquiring and installing a search engine is just the beginning of creating an effective enterprise search system. John Ferrara walks us through strategies for addressing critical aspects of the user experience often overlooked or ignored. http://tc.eserver.org/29495.html http://tc.eserver.org/29495.html Interaction Design: Beyond Human-Computer Interaction is cunningly released at a time when acceptance of Interaction Design as a discipline is reaching a critical mass. The book precipitates a huge turn in the creation of interactive technologies toward the more research/creative or human-centric model, approaching the subject of this change from different angles and illuminating historical insights. http://tc.eserver.org/29494.html http://tc.eserver.org/29494.html Interaction Design is distinct from the other design disciplines. It's not Information Architecture, Industrial Design or even User Experience Design. It also isn't user interface design. Interaction design is not about form or even structure, but is more ephemeral--about why and when rather than about what and how. http://tc.eserver.org/29469.html http://tc.eserver.org/29469.html I started The Myths of Innovation in a positive frame of mind, generated by my interest in the topic (and the excitement of seeing my photos in print). I ended the book similarly enthusiastic. While it isn't a long read (I started in Cambridge and finished before I touched down in Los Angeles), good books don't need a lot of words to make their point. Scott Berkun clearly presents his arguments, demolishing many of the misconception about innovation. For those of us running businesses or developing new products, it's a must-read. http://tc.eserver.org/29471.html http://tc.eserver.org/29471.html As user experience designers in an enterprise, we find ourselves knee deep in pixels. Should we use a dropdown element or a set of radio buttons? 10pt or 12pt size font? A broad-and-shallow or narrow-and-deep information architecture? While such design considerations are necessary and important, we miss huge user experience opportunities outside the webpage, outside the website, outside the browser. By tackling inter-application usability opportunities, user experience (UX) professionals can make things easier in a big way. http://tc.eserver.org/29472.html http://tc.eserver.org/29472.html Have you ever wished your early design mockups could come to life, so you could try out the navigation, test an interaction, or see if a button label just feels right when you click on it? Sure, you could invest in a dedicated prototyping tool, but you can create surprisingly quick and effective prototypes with a software program that's probably sitting on your hard drive right now. It's PowerPoint. http://tc.eserver.org/29470.html http://tc.eserver.org/29470.html Creating a clickable PDF to prototype a new design is not a new concept, but it is a valuable tool that is often overlooked and underutilized. While working over the years with other designers, information architects and usability professionals, I've noticed that many of my colleagues believe the same fallacies about the limitations of PDFs. Contrary to popular belief, you can do more than just create links and interactive forms with PDFs; you can also add dynamic elements such as rollovers and drop-down menus, embed audio and video files, validate form data, perform calculations and respond to user actions. PDF prototypes have the ability to replicate most interactive design elements without investing a lot of time and effort. http://tc.eserver.org/29293.html http://tc.eserver.org/29293.html 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. http://tc.eserver.org/29297.html http://tc.eserver.org/29297.html Outlines the design principles underlying the building block system of website design, and simple guidelines for combining blocks together to create any type of tile-based environment. http://tc.eserver.org/29298.html http://tc.eserver.org/29298.html Design games offer an alternative to traditional methods for brainstorming, collecting requirements, building team communication, modeling, and prototyping. Jess McMullin shows us how game principles and examples can complement existing methods. http://tc.eserver.org/29280.html http://tc.eserver.org/29280.html By crossing the characterizing facets with constraints, you are combining the subjective needs of the project stakeholders with the objective constraints of the project in a way that ensures all points of view are fairly considered. It also ensures that a project requirement is not included or excluded simply because one person yelled louder than the others. http://tc.eserver.org/29279.html http://tc.eserver.org/29279.html Accessible design requires a deeper understanding of context. It's about providing alternative routes to information, whether that route is a different sense (seeing or hearing), a different mode, (using a tab key or a mouse), or a different journey (using an A to Z site index instead of main navigation). However, accessibility is much easier to achieve when the right foundations are put in place as prerequisites during site planning and strategy. http://tc.eserver.org/28918.html http://tc.eserver.org/28918.html 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. http://tc.eserver.org/28933.html http://tc.eserver.org/28933.html 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. http://tc.eserver.org/28943.html http://tc.eserver.org/28943.html Listings about open positions for user experience designers, web designers, information architects, user-centered design and similar positions. http://tc.eserver.org/28940.html http://tc.eserver.org/28940.html What do you want to be when you grow up? Some people think there is only one choice, but Christina Wodtke shows us that there are as many choices as there are people making them. http://tc.eserver.org/28921.html http://tc.eserver.org/28921.html Every project has its own unique set of 'opportunities'--also known as challenges. Many of these challenges relate not to the quality of our work, but rather to the communication of our ideas. Often in the course of design, you must communicate complicated concepts to a non-technical (and often uninterested) project sponsor, client, or stakeholder. So how do you capture their interest, get their understanding and buy-in, and finally move on? http://tc.eserver.org/28931.html http://tc.eserver.org/28931.html Many Web professionals consider content inventories critical parts of most projects. Are there certain specific things to look for during a content inventory? Fred Leise definitely thinks so. He proposes a set of content analysis heuristics and discusses how to utilize each one. http://tc.eserver.org/28930.html http://tc.eserver.org/28930.html 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. http://tc.eserver.org/28932.html http://tc.eserver.org/28932.html Most IA tools and methods focus on the users and the content being developed for websites. Jorge Arango uses the ideas from anthropologist Edward Hall as a starting point to dig deep into the idea of context, its variations, and the impacts on how people interpret information. http://tc.eserver.org/28934.html http://tc.eserver.org/28934.html Where is the software that can help us cope with the massive amounts of information that we deal with on a daily basis? Patrick Dubroy points out the problems with current personal information management, and makes suggestions about how to improve the situation. http://tc.eserver.org/28924.html http://tc.eserver.org/28924.html I've used personas for years (though some might regard my process as a slightly heretical perversion of the method). I always think about the big picture, and I was just thinking BIG about personas at work when The Persona Lifecycle landed on my desk. Given my review of what's out there, The Persona Lifecycle is the most comprehensive book on personas I've come across. If you're so inclined, it can taking you from novice to expert. The authors, Jonathan Pruit and Tamara Adlin, take advantage of extensive teaching experience and punctuate their discussion with lots of real-world examples, case studies, anecdotes, bright ideas and handy guidelines. That being said, it's not an easy read, and it's not for everybody. http://tc.eserver.org/28941.html http://tc.eserver.org/28941.html Documentation isn't the most fun part of design and IA, but does it have to be the most painful? Samantha Bailey looks at a tool that may help. http://tc.eserver.org/28922.html http://tc.eserver.org/28922.html Basic problem solving still completely swamps any other creative concern when working on mobile sites. A refreshing blast of Spartan usability problems, mobile site design is uncluttered with your typical mamby-pamby web problems. Can a user get the information, and fast? Answer this question and you're far ahead of everyone else. The design process described was quite effective at powering through a lot of basic usability problems, but struck me as potentially ill suited to a younger project that might still be finding itself. http://tc.eserver.org/28937.html http://tc.eserver.org/28937.html More companies are doing user research than ever before, but what is becoming of all the information? Steve Mulder talks about strategies for getting research into shape so real people can actually use it. The key: user personas. http://tc.eserver.org/28925.html http://tc.eserver.org/28925.html When working with government and large private organizations on complex information systems, project managers and business representatives often demand early-stage validation that the proposed classification system provides the user-friendly solution they are charged with delivering. They also require this validation in a format that will be engaging for senior business stakeholders. http://tc.eserver.org/28929.html http://tc.eserver.org/28929.html In part one, Michael shared how to navigate company politics to set up great stakeholder interviews. Here he covers his five tips for navigating company politics, avoiding client bias, and eliciting the information you need to inform your design. http://tc.eserver.org/28928.html http://tc.eserver.org/28928.html Gathering business requirements from stakeholders is critical to good design, but setting up quality interviews can be tough. Tossing out the org chart may be the best way to figure out who really wields influence over a company's website. http://tc.eserver.org/28936.html http://tc.eserver.org/28936.html Achieving simplicity is not that simple when you are dealing with complex modern device design. Rob Tannen mused on lazy shortcuts, artificial constraints and Maeda's crusade on the complex. http://tc.eserver.org/28942.html http://tc.eserver.org/28942.html Every designer faces a choice at some point in their career -- to manage or not to manage. Erin Malone helps you walk through the questions you need to make that choice. http://tc.eserver.org/28919.html http://tc.eserver.org/28919.html Bill Wetherell talks with Tom Wailes about how one team at Yahoo! turned the normal design process on its head. Their thoughtful approach was successful, Wails posits, because they worked small and crafty while being inclusive in most useful ways. http://tc.eserver.org/28927.html http://tc.eserver.org/28927.html To succeed as a creative professional, you need more than talent. Chanpory Rith offers us a list of seven habits that can help put a junior designer's career on the path to success. http://tc.eserver.org/28935.html http://tc.eserver.org/28935.html The topic of test subject compensation generates a lot of conversation...how do you motivate test participants? http://tc.eserver.org/28938.html http://tc.eserver.org/28938.html 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. http://tc.eserver.org/28939.html http://tc.eserver.org/28939.html What will you need to leave behind to enter the wine-and-roses world of Product Management? In Part 2 of this series, Jeff Lash and Chris Baum give us a preview of what's in store for your new role and give us tips on how to prepare. http://tc.eserver.org/28926.html http://tc.eserver.org/28926.html Sometimes User Experience Design is chosen; sometimes it is thrust upon us. Putkey explains how technical communications was a natural path to a career in design. http://tc.eserver.org/28920.html http://tc.eserver.org/28920.html Amid the current hype of Web 2.0, rich has become the de facto buzzword suggesting fresh, sexy digital products, often marked by glossy buttons with AJAX-driven behaviors. But what does rich mean to a UI (user interface) designer who wants to craft intelligent, compelling, and memorable interactions? Given current digital and technological trends, today's UI designers must deepen their understanding of richness. Such an effort will strengthen designers' vocabularies (adding legitimacy and weight to client discussions), and enable designers to temper judgment when it comes to applying rich capabilities. http://tc.eserver.org/28923.html http://tc.eserver.org/28923.html New Web 2.0 interaction design can offer a lot of new suggestions for easier interactions, good use of white space and other glaring design solutions to the typically very busy space of information architecture. But, if you practice IA well, including some new Web 2.0 techniques, you can begin to create mental space as well as white space. Designing the Obvious: A Common Sense Approach to Web Application Design, a new New Riders book by Robert Hoekman, Jr., is a great place to find out how much mental space can be offered by your systems. http://tc.eserver.org/28359.html http://tc.eserver.org/28359.html 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. http://tc.eserver.org/28355.html http://tc.eserver.org/28355.html Method acting can take your personas from the page to the stage. Think beyond traditional practice to give emotional life to your personas. http://tc.eserver.org/28354.html http://tc.eserver.org/28354.html People disagree on what happens when IAs grow up, but Tom Reamy offers a foundation for information architecture as it advances, grappling with problems across the enterprise. http://tc.eserver.org/28358.html http://tc.eserver.org/28358.html Why haven't we figured out search yet? Amanda Spink talks with Christina Wodtke on why searchers still can't ask a useful question of a search engine, and how Google may be part of the problem rather than part of the solution. http://tc.eserver.org/28357.html http://tc.eserver.org/28357.html In part one of 'Metrics for Heuristics,' Andrea Wiggins discussed how designers can use Rubinoff’s user experience audit to determine metrics for measuring brand. In part two, Wiggins examines how web analytics can quantify usability, content, and navigation. http://tc.eserver.org/28356.html http://tc.eserver.org/28356.html In the same way that the Internet took us to the next level of interaction, complete with rich visuals, simulations are doing the same for application definition. McDowell explores the ins and outs of new simulation tools. Will one of them work for you? http://tc.eserver.org/28316.html http://tc.eserver.org/28316.html Documentation is a crucial component of successful product planning and implementation, so it's important that it communicates as effectively as possible. Good organization, complete information, and clear writing are, of course, key to the success of any design document, but there are some other, less-obvious techniques you can use to make your documents more readable and understandable. Here are a few of them. http://tc.eserver.org/28011.html http://tc.eserver.org/28011.html Can prediction markets be used successfully in a corporate environment? Kirtland forecasts that making them easier to use just might be the key. Through simple guidelines, he shares strategies for benefiting the wise crowds. http://tc.eserver.org/28012.html http://tc.eserver.org/28012.html With training in everything from stage design to Egyptology to hypertext games to web projects, Reiss has had extensive practice in finding out what makes an experience work. Could these be the principles I've been waiting for? I tracked down Reiss in Vancouver to find out. http://tc.eserver.org/28009.html http://tc.eserver.org/28009.html As we set out to enhance personalization on Marriott.com, we realized we needed guidelines to inform our thinking and shape our decisions, particularly decisions related to customer privacy. Our earlier user research revealed the need for greater personalization and helped us understand customer attitudes towards privacy. From there, we sought to build customer trust and loyalty by addressing concerns about privacy and security in every aspect of the user experience. In creating the Guiding Principles outlined here, we conducted a thorough analysis of eight major websites and then merged the findings with what we already knew. These principles apply specifically to 'remember me' personalization. http://tc.eserver.org/28008.html http://tc.eserver.org/28008.html In web design screeds, the most commonly cited book is not what you might expect. It is not by Jakob Nielsen or Jeffrey Zeldman or Edward Tufte. It's not even on design or typography or code. It is a thin volume of guidelines on writing by a professor 'at the closing of the first world war' and treasured by one student enough to put it into print. William Strunk was the professor, and E.B. White, author of Charlotte's Web, was that grateful student. White took the master's set of laws, removed some 'bewhiskered entries,' corrected some errors, and added his own chapter at the end for 'those who feel English prose composition is not only a necessary skill but a sensible pursuit as well.' http://tc.eserver.org/28010.html http://tc.eserver.org/28010.html This article explores some of the approaches needed to ensure that we are successful at implementing IA within organisations, with the goal being to encourage further discussion in the community about these issues. http://tc.eserver.org/27994.html http://tc.eserver.org/27994.html What if E.B. White had written 'Hanging Commas 99% Bad' instead of a gentle list of reminders for young writers? Wodtke outlines how White's list of 22 reminders for writing can be just what young designers need. http://tc.eserver.org/27993.html http://tc.eserver.org/27993.html Icons that are difficult to tell apart can lead to disastrous consequences. Queen shows us how studying the way the human visual system encodes information can lead to more effective icon design. http://tc.eserver.org/27995.html http://tc.eserver.org/27995.html 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. http://tc.eserver.org/26861.html http://tc.eserver.org/26861.html As information architects, we are not just architecting information; we are using information to architect change. Bob Goodman shows us how we can use business and management techniques to help us be more effective agents of change. http://tc.eserver.org/26863.html http://tc.eserver.org/26863.html Information-seeking behavior varies from situation to situation. Donna Mauer explores different ways in which users look for information and offers tactics for accommodating them. http://tc.eserver.org/26862.html http://tc.eserver.org/26862.html Is everyware overwriting what we know as everyday? On the heels of finishing his first book, Adam Greenfield talks with Boxes and Arrows about Everyware: The Dawning Age of Ubiquitous Computing and how the concepts are reshaping our lives. http://tc.eserver.org/26777.html http://tc.eserver.org/26777.html Effective web design, from the simplest brochure website to the most complex web application, needs to involve an understanding of context. While user-centered design focuses on user needs/tasks, and information architecture focuses on content, these two aspects alone offer an incomplete picture. What is missing is the context: the environment in which the website or web application is used as well as the market in which it exists. http://tc.eserver.org/26778.html http://tc.eserver.org/26778.html Interaction modeling is a good way to identify and locate usability issues with the use of a tool. Several methods exist. Modeling techniques are prescriptive in that they aim to capture what users will likely do, and not descriptive of what users actually did. http://tc.eserver.org/26779.html http://tc.eserver.org/26779.html Sitemaps are common deliverables, desired by clients who want a visual representation of a site. Since they are rarely used to make decisions, information architects may not consider them the valuable tools they are. The effort required to make and maintain them requires time that might be better used elsewhere. In fact, I would suggest that making sure the little boxes line up is a waste of an IA's mental abilities. http://tc.eserver.org/26561.html http://tc.eserver.org/26561.html 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. http://tc.eserver.org/26563.html http://tc.eserver.org/26563.html 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. http://tc.eserver.org/26564.html http://tc.eserver.org/26564.html User journeys are a method for conceptualising and structuring a website's content and functionality. These journeys allow us to shift away from thinking about structure in terms of hierarchies or a technical build; instead you create a narrative around your user's needs. http://tc.eserver.org/26562.html http://tc.eserver.org/26562.html How does the pursuit of one man's interests result in the creation of kindergarten and timeless design principles? Bill Lucas shows us how Friedrich Fröbel took basic elements to create intricate, scalable systems that can serve as a model for creating new experiential systems today. http://tc.eserver.org/26565.html http://tc.eserver.org/26565.html Spend any time with Visio and you'll find yourself wondering how glue works. In the real world, it's pretty straightforward: put glue between two things and they'll stick. Although glue is used for sticking shapes together in Visio, the metaphor ends there. http://tc.eserver.org/26545.html http://tc.eserver.org/26545.html We create personas to build upon that platform by bringing individuals within a current or potential audience to life.