Case Studies
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We Tried To Warn You, Part 2
by Peter Jones | [8 comments]
Some failure allows organizations to learn and grow; others times it can be catastrophic. In Part 2 of his series, Peter Jones explores timing dynamics of large projects and alternatives to the framing of UX roles and organizations today. more...
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We Tried To Warn You, Part 1
by Peter Jones | [15 comments]
Some failure allows complex organizations to learn and grow; others can be catastrophic. Peter Jones explores
how, as designers, we have a
responsibility to detect and assess
the potential for large-scale failure.
How can we help stop the train? more... -
The Limitations of Server Log Files for Usability Analysis
by Karl Groves | [17 comments]
In the quest to gather more data on user behavior, some researchers and designers look to server log files for usability analysis. While the logs do provide a great deal of information, Karl Groves demonstrates why they are are inappropriate for gathering usability data. more...
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Blasting the Myth of the Fold
by Milissa Tarquini | [50 comments]
The need to cram as much into the top few inches of any interface has become nearly branded on the design psyche over the years. Milissa Tarquini considers how the myth of the fold does everyone involved a great disservice. more...
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It Seemed Like The Thing To Do At The Time
by Joe Lamantia | [18 comments]
Joe Lamantia shares three stories of failure and how changing your self-definition can open the way to continued success. (Part 1 in the Lessons From Failure series.) more...
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Lessons From Failure (Series Introduction)
by Christian Crumlish | [1 comment]
Christian Crumlish introduces a series on the messy realities and the honest lessons of failure. Read on to see how you can participate. more...
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Straight from the Horse's Mouth with Livia Labate and Austin Govella
by Christina Wodtke and Bill Wetherell | [4 comments]
Christina talks with Livia Labate and Austin Govella about the UX practice in Comcast and how they have created an environment where they are treated as colleagues rather than a service organization. (Part 1 of a series) more...
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Enterprise IA Methodologies:
by James Robertson | [12 comments]
Information architects working within enterprises are confronted by unique challenges, relating to organisational culture, business processes, and internal politics. James Robertson pulls the strands of situational spaghetti to get to the root of the project. more...
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Using Technical Communication Skills in User Experience
by Theresa Putkey | [8 comments]
Sometimes User Experience Design is chosen; sometimes it is thrust upon us. Theresa explains how technical communications was a natural path to a career in design. more...
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Two Designers, Two Years, One Facelift...
by Alex Chang | [11 comments]
From contest winners to struggling to define what "magazine" means online, Alex Chang and Matt Titchener reinvented Boxes and Arrows' look and feel. Here is their tale... more...
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Are We There Yet?
by Christina Wodtke | [18 comments]
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. more...
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Journeys, Needs, and Trust: A Volkswagen Case Study
by Jason Hobbs | [2 comments]
How do you establish trust and meaning for a dedicated and passionate audience, and do it across all media? Jason Hobbs gives a tour of creating a website for Volkswagen. more...
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The Guided Wireframe Narrative for Rich Internet Applications
by Andres Zapata | [26 comments]
Wireframes. We’ve all done them. We’ve all had to make sure our clients look at placement, labels, flow, and real estate distribution–but ignore color and design at all costs because, after all, they are wireframes.
AJAX, Laszlo, Flex, and other technologies and techniques that enhance usability challenge the way we think as architects but, more importantly, they also put a larger demand on our deliverables.
more... -
The ABCs of the BBC: A Case Study and Checklist
by Helen Lippell | [3 comments]
Can A-Z indexes hold their own against other popular navigational elements like search and sitemaps? Helen Lippell guides us through how the BBC online, a site with over two million pages, handled their own A-Z index. more...
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Implementing a Pattern Library in the Real World: A Yahoo! Case Study
by Erin Malone and Matt Leacock and Chanel Wheeler | [17 comments]
The Yahoo! platform design team shares their process for defining and designing a pattern and standards library, the process for defining the requirements of the repository and the process for defining the lifecycle of a pattern. more...
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Modeling the Creative Organization
by Erin Malone | [5 comments]
A few months ago, on the cusp of another reorganization, my boss challenged me to present ideas about how my group should be organized. The challenge: “If you could organize the group in whatever way you wanted, what would you recommend doing?” Everyone who has ever been a manager longs to hear those words. more...
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The Designers' Outpost: Capturing and Interacting with Design History
by Scott Klemmer | [1 comment]
In a high-tech field like web design, we might expect to find computer-savvy practitioners accomplishing all their work with the click of the mouse and a stroke of the keyboard. However, in our studies of the early stages of web design, we found that good ol' pens, paper, walls, and tables were the primary creative tools. more...
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MSWeb: An Enterprise Intranet #2
by Peter Morville and Louis Rosenfeld | [1 comment]
In our second excerpt from the newly-released second editon of “Information Architecture for the World Wide Web.” the authors look at how the MSWeb team succeeded at spreading its gospel through a huge organization like Microsoft when similar efforts at smaller companies often fail. more...
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MSWeb: An Enterprise Intranet #1
by Peter Morville and Louis Rosenfeld | [16 comments]
We’re please to bring you the first of two excerpts from upcoming second editon of “Information Architecture for the World Wide Web.” The excerpts look at MSWeb, which the authors say provides a glimpse of what most intranets will be doing in three to five years. more...
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Re-Architecting PeopleSoft from the Top Down
by Janice Fraser | [3 comments]
This follow-up to Chiara Fox’s case study on bottom-up efforts to unify PeopleSoft’s various sites looks at how to create a system that not only reflects content patterns, but also supports user needs and delivers on important business objectives. more...