Boxes And Arrows : The Design Behind the Design

Christina Wodtke

566 Reputation points | Submitted 22 stories | Posted 97 comments

Frequently found under the title Principal Instigator, Christina has most recently been developing new products at LinkedIn. Previously, she founded Cucina Media and developed the CMS PublicSquare . Before that she founded Boxes and Arrows, an online magazine of design; founded the Institute for Information Architecture; wrote Information Architecture, Blueprints for the Web, built the Search and Marketplace design team at Yahoo!, leading reinventions of the search and shopping product designs and has spoken on the topic of the human experience in information spaces at conferences worldwide.

Stories written by Christina Wodtke

• Welcome to Boxes and Arrows [54 comments]
• Speaking in Tongues [14 comments]
• Unraveling the Mysteries of metadata and taxonomies [7 comments]
• Fear of Design [39 comments]
• Leaving the Autoroute [8 comments]
• Prognostication Digitalis [8 comments]
• Happy Birthday B&A [12 comments]
• Building a Vision of Design Success [5 comments]
• Terrible Twos [13 comments]
• Redesigning Boxes and Arrows [41 comments]
• Under the Boxes-and-Arrows hood [31 comments]
• Putting the White Back in Strunk and White [8 comments]
• The Elements of Style for Designers [11 comments]
• Are We There Yet? [17 comments]
• Long Tails and Short Queries [5 comments]
• Career Choices for Designers [11 comments]
• March Conference Showdown [3 comments]
• Straight from the Horse's Mouth with Livia Labate and Austin… [4 comments]
• Straight From the Horse's Mouth with Derek Featherstone [3 comments]
• Straight From the Horse's Mouth with Tom Wailes [2 comments]
• Straight From the Horse's Mouth with Chris Fahey [7 comments]
• Sponsor Us! [ comments]

Comments made by Christina Wodtke

• thanks for the word "Apophenia," the spontaneous perception … [1 points]
• That's one advantage of the new "suggestions " area-- you ca… [0 points]
• Joe and all-- <a href="http://www.publicsquarehq.com">We</a>… [1 points]
• no worries! It's clearly not a stupid question, but rather a… [1 points]
• We'd love to, and our new CMS supports it, so let's get some… [0 points]
• note-- we were hacked, and are recovering. some things may l… [0 points]
• I agree-- we have many folks on the web talking about why th… [0 points]
• btw, WHO POSTED THIS? A bug let it slide through with no aut… [0 points]
• it would be interesting-- figuring out what the buzz is, wha… [0 points]
• Gabe Zentall: http://www.zentall.com was our first designer.… [0 points]
• it's entirely possible to upload anything to a story. Not so… [0 points]
• A neutral, third party article like this coudl be invaluable… [0 points]
• it will be redirecting to this link now http://www.elegantha… [0 points]
• I'm interested, but would like to know more... how woudl thi… [0 points]
• What I find interesting is most of the complaints are not IA… [0 points]
• I don't know if you have noticed it... but there is a little… [0 points]
• Have you looked at the pattern library article, by Erin malo… [1 points]
• Also, B&A is not a magazine just for IA's ... it's for desig… [0 points]
• it was more of a discussion than a suggestion [0 points]
• I'm not sure I agree Desiree-- I'm guessing your users are o… [-2 points]
• fixed. [0 points]
• Please... If people will send me the excel files they would … [0 points]
• We've just added a page about the reputation system. Let me … [0 points]
• Wow, terrific article! This is such a facinating area of stu… [1 points]
• Better late than never, but the file is now available here t… [1 points]
• This is almost a complete article, and it's already online. … [0 points]
• I'm sorry, we don't reprint articles. However, this is a ver… [0 points]
• Agreed, thsi does look the beginning of an interesting artic… [0 points]
• If you'd review it, I think it'd be a cool idea! [0 points]
• When writing this article, we should definately consider the… [1 points]
• Jeff Veen used to give a great talk on CMS's, and why the mo… [1 points]
• Nothing is faultless; Strunk and White are useful in this co… [-1 points]
• I'd love this filled out into an article, and directed espec… [0 points]
• Just a quick update: We are adjusting the software to accept… [0 points]
• Love to see this article -- I see this issue on mailing list… [0 points]
• Are you interested in creating an article around this issue? [0 points]
• Consider this accepted... we'll leave it up a tiny bit more … [0 points]
• Hi Jay! Are you asking for advice, or volunteering to write… [0 points]
• Hi Dominic! I don't know if you've looked through all the wi… [0 points]
• what a lovely and interesting case study. Thank so much for … [0 points]
• keith says "I remember seeing Matt's call for an article soo… [0 points]
• It's your definaition about the difference that drives my in… [0 points]
• I'm sorry, but any site with that confusing of a website has… [0 points]
• Agree with Adam: let's focus on feedback for Adam on how is … [0 points]
• I do. Adam has been enjoying editor status, and crafted that… [0 points]
• I think the problem is we are looking for "the ultimate CMS"… [1 points]
• You are in luck: Peter Norvig recently gave a talk on Search… [0 points]
• Well, I'd like to see this too! Let's see if someone steps u… [0 points]
• Yes, it's too easy to slide into shortcuts.. PS could be my … [0 points]
• PublicSquare is now launched. If you want to build a magazin… [0 points]
• We don't current reprint articles-- what are you proposing? [-1 points]
• it's not showing up on the new version of firefox. We'll loo… [0 points]
• Just finding out what you are worth is hard. salary.com help… [3 points]
• When I managed a team of designers, I used to say, you HAVE … [0 points]
• When I managed a team of designers, I used to say, you HAVE … [1 points]
• good point. I can have my liquor and drink it too! [0 points]
• Hi Lee. I am sorry to say that 100% of what's wrong with thi… [0 points]
• I'll tell chris about the newsletter. you may have noticed… [0 points]
• What a great idea! Bring it on! [0 points]
• Hi Matthew, As long as it hasn't been posted anywhere else,… [0 points]
• An editor will contact you. This idea will hang out here unt… [0 points]
• Speaking of Rachel, how would you article differ from hers? [0 points]
• Are you kidding? Jean-eric is a terrific name! And this is a… [0 points]
• We're here. GIve me a ping... christina@ [0 points]
• Can you provide a URL? [0 points]
• Olga-- wonderful article! As a former hiring manager, I cou… [0 points]
• A story: when I was hired at Yahoo, I was hired to be the fi… [4 points]
• It's nice to have someone give a little attention to advance… [3 points]
• agree with Noah.. I'm not certain if this is a proposal or a… [0 points]
• We take volunteer effort. Sometimes it's good, sometimes it'… [0 points]
• I think your idea is not yet formed enough for people to rea… [0 points]
• As long as you provide a link to the original, we are happy … [0 points]
• I'd like to hear more about what this article would include. [0 points]
• austin makes a good point-- usability is rarely a topic for … [0 points]
• Too often designers stand aside when they see organizational… [1 points]
• Hmmm... I'm getting a feeling that folks want shorter articl… [-1 points]
• Hi Tonda! The IAI has a mentoring program where they can m… [0 points]
• The forums are new, though B&A is old, so it doesn't have he… [0 points]
• Just an opinion, but it seems ot me it depends on if you nee… [0 points]
• hi andrew! We have a couple bugs, one of which is the rss … [0 points]
• GORGEOUS! [0 points]
• I've semi-faded them out in the past, and annotated it as su… [0 points]
• OMG you're at Lexy!?!?!! Fred and Tony created the environme… [1 points]
• a LOT of folks are digging powerpoint for prototyping http:/… [0 points]
• I'm sorry I'm usually more polite than this, but No one got… [1 points]
• Great article, I also recommend Chris Allen's awesome series… [4 points]
• Well, we may be gurus, but we are also working on a shoestri… [0 points]
• IAI does regular salary surveys. You might poke around on th… [0 points]
• How odd! It works for me, logged in and logged out. Can you… [0 points]
• It is wikipedia... I recommend you start rewriting it! [0 points]
• Have you checked out the IXDA? the mailing list can help you… [1 points]
• Just listening to the Don Norman/Peterme banter form teh key… [0 points]
• try leaving a note on the actual story. the authors get aler… [0 points]
• sorry about the paragraph break problem; it was an issue wit… [0 points]
• at a couple companies I've worked at, sketchy wireframe serv… [1 points]
• Hi- you post an idea for a story, then the editors work with… [0 points]