Three Lessons From Tufte: Special Deliverable #6

Held up as a trio of 'must have' books for the Information Architect, Tufte’'s books are the quintessential resource for information design. But many IAs may wonder how Tufte'’s principles can be applied to their daily work. Dan Brown offers three lessons from Tufte.

Boxes and Arrows (2002). Design>Information Design>Web Design

Three Visio Tips: Special Deliverables

No column on information architecture deliverables would be complete without at least some mention of tools. Dan Brown offers three tips on using Visio, Microsoft's diagramming application, that should make your life easier and more efficient.

Brown, Dan. Boxes and Arrows (2002). Articles>Information Design>Software>Visio

Toggling Shapes in Visio

This article will expand upon the Visio techniques presented in the last Special Deliverable and will build on them, showing how to create a widget that can be toggled between two states.

Brown, Dan. Boxes and Arrows (2005). Articles>Information Design>Software>Visio

The Tool Makes the (Wo)Man

With all the bickering over the 'right' tools, we lose sight in these discussions of the fact that we already have the perfect tool: our brains. The knowledge, expertise and skills to solve problems are right between our ears.

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

Transitioning from User Experience to Product Management: Part 1

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.

Lash, Jeff and Chris Baum. Boxes and Arrows (2007). Design>User Experience>Project Management

Transitioning from User Experience to Product Management: Part 2

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.

Lash, Jeff and Chris Baum. Boxes and Arrows (2007). Design>User Experience>Project Management

Uncovering Users In Your Own Organization

Buying new clothes and looking at current fashions is usually much more interesting and exciting than digging through one's closet or laundry hamper. However, there is a lot one can learn by stopping and taking a minute to examine one's own clothes.

Rampoldi-Hnilo, Lynn. Boxes and Arrows (2005). Articles>User Centered Design>Methods

Uncovering Users In Your Own Organization

Buying new clothes and looking at current fashions is usually much more interesting and exciting than digging through one’s closet or laundry hamper. However, there is a lot one can learn by stopping and taking a minute to examine one's own clothes.

Rampoldi-Hnilo, Lynn. Boxes and Arrows (2005). Articles>User Centered Design>Methods

Understanding Organizational Stakeholders for Design Success

User-centered design professionals pay special emphasis to one type of stakeholder—the users of the system—arguing that user experience needs to be carefully crafted to satisfy user needs. While understanding user needs and goals is certainly necessary, it is often not sufficient for producing a successful design.

Boutelle, Jonathan. Boxes and Arrows (2004). Articles>User Centered Design>Methods

Understanding PowerPoint: Special Deliverable #5

PowerPoint: 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?'

Brown, Dan. Boxes and Arrows (2002). Articles>Software>Presentations>Microsoft PowerPoint

Unraveling the Mysteries of Metadata and Taxonomies

Samantha Bailey, formerly at Argus and current lead IA for Wachovia Corporation's Wachovia.com website, talks about the transition from being a consultant to an 'innie' IA, unravels the mysteries of metadata and taxonomies and shares her vision of the future of IA.

Bailey, Samantha and Christina Wodtke. Boxes and Arrows (2002). Articles>Information Design>Metadata

Unraveling the Mysteries of Metadata and Taxonomies

Recently Boxes and Arrows caught up with Samantha Bailey, formerly at Argus and current lead IA for Wachovia Corporation's Wachovia.com website. She talks about the transition from being a consultant to an 'innie' IA, unravels the mysteries of metadata and taxonomies and shares her vision of the future of IA.

Wodtke, Christina. Boxes and Arrows (2002). Design>Web Design>Information Design>Metadata

Usability Heuristics for Rich Internet Applications

Over the coming months and years, RIAs will move from cutting edge to mainstream. That transformation will accelerate with the Flash and user experience communities working together to understand and develop best practices and shared knowledge.

McMullin, Jess and Grant Skinner. Boxes and Arrows (2003). Design>Web Design>Interactive>Flash

Use of Narrative in Interactive Design

There will, and should always be, a tension between order and chaos, between standardization and creativity. So how do we invest creativity in our process? How do we reinvest ourselves into our work without starting from scratch every time?

Broden, Nancy, Marisa Gallagher and Jonathan Woytek. Boxes and Arrows (2005). Articles>Web Design>Theory

Users In The Development Cycle: Effective Project Communication

Don't be another project manager who thinks end users have no place in the development cycle. Get the right information from the right people and make sure your team has everything they need to do their jobs properly. When your application is loved by all and you're responsible for its success, your entire team will thank you for it.

Palmisano, Salvatore. Boxes and Arrows (2002). Design>User Centered Design>Workflow

Using Adoption Metaphors to Increase Customer Acceptance

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.

Rice, Sarah A. Boxes and Arrows (2006). Articles>Language>Technology>Tropes

Using Design Games

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.

McMullin, Jess. Boxes and Arrows (2007). Design>Collaboration>Methods

Using Site Evaluations to Communicate with Clients

How do you prove your worth to clients in today's difficult economy? Performed as part of a sales proposal or the discovery phase of a project, a site assessment can uncover opportunities for improvement and help you speak knowledgeably about solutions to your potential client's problems.

Rabinowitz, Dorelle. Boxes and Arrows (2003). Articles>Usability>Methods

Using Technical Communication Skills in User Experience

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.

Putkey, Theresa. Boxes and Arrows (2007). Articles>TC>User Experience

UX Design-Planning Not One-Man Show

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.

Maassen, Holger. Boxes and Arrows (2008). Articles>User Experience>Planning

Value-Driven Intranet Design

Within most corporations, taking ownership of an intranet is an unglamorous, exhausting, and thankless job for a new intranet manager. But if approached with the same rigor, discipline, and focus as any other business initiative, the task can quickly become much simpler.

Singh, Shiv. Boxes and Arrows (2004). Design>Web Design>Intranets

Value-Driven Intranet Design

Within most corporations, taking ownership of an intranet is an unglamorous, exhausting, and thankless job for a new intranet manager. But if approached with the same rigor, discipline, and focus as any other business initiative, the task can quickly become much simpler.

Singh, Shiv. Boxes and Arrows (2004). Design>Web Design>Intranets>Project Management

Views and Forms: Principles of Task Flow for Web Applications Part 1

One of the defining elements of web applications is their support for the editing and manipulation of stored data. Unlike the typical conversation that goes on between a user and a content-centric website however, this additional capability requires a more robust dialog between user and application.

Baxley, Bob. Boxes and Arrows (2003). Design>Web Design>Programming

Visible Narratives: Understanding Visual Organization

Visual designers working on the web need an understanding of the medium in which they work, so many have taken to code. Many have entered the usability lab. But what about the other side? Are developers and human factors professionals immersed in literature on gestalt and color theory?

Wroblewski, Luke. Boxes and Arrows (2003). Design>Web Design>Graphic Design>Visual Rhetoric

Visio Glue: Not For Sniffing

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.

Brown, Dan. Boxes and Arrows (2005). Articles>Information Design>Software>Visio