From the Editors
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When Life Intervenes
by Chris Baum | [3 comments]
Samantha Bailey, the 2009 IA Summit Chair, talks about her approach to this year’s IA Summit, how the Summit community has changed, and what it means to be a part of this community of practice. more...
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Our Way: The Ingenuity of Unintended Uses
by B&A Staff | [12 comments]
People utilize our designs in their own way. These unintended uses can be strange, even brilliant. To welcome 2008, the B&A Staff tells a few stories about how we misuse for our own devices. 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 | [17 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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Check It Twice: The B&A Staff Reveals the Way They Make Lists
by B&A Staff | [10 comments]
Holiday lists, to-do lists, grocery lists. With the end of the year come the holidays, and holidays are usually a time for ... that's right ... making lists. Take a look into the process (and obsessions) of list-making from our staff. more...
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Under the Boxes-and-Arrows hood
by Christina Wodtke and Liz Danzico | [31 comments]
Think we look different? No, we didn't change our hair. We've launched some new features, and they're all for you. Starting today, you’ll begin to see some changes. And you (yes, you) are invited to be part of it all. more...
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Ambient Findability: Talking with Peter Morville
by Liz Danzico | [3 comments]
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. more...
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Leaving Las Vegas
by Erin Malone | [4 comments]
When Christina first approached me four years ago, it was to be a writer for this new secret project of hers. This was to be a place to share and learn and not be encumbered by the baggage of academic language or obscurity. This was to be a place of practice, craft, and open arms as we sought to find our home in the greater universe of the user experience realm. more...
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Goodbye 2004, Hello to Another Good Year
by B&A Staff | [1 comment]
Goodbye 2004, hello '05. At the end of 2004, we look back at the year and take stock of where things are, how the year has passed and are thankful for Boxes and Arrows' readers and community of authors and volunteers. more...
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Redesigning Boxes and Arrows
by Christina Wodtke | [41 comments]
For a while we at B&A have been feeling unsatisfied with our software and website. It was perfect when we were young turks, but now that we have a larger body of articles, increasingly richer material, and a growing audience, we know we need something different, something that will tell the world we are a magazine on the rise. more...
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Redesign Submissions Closed
by Erin Malone | [12 comments]
REDESIGN UPDATE Submissions are closed and we are no longer accepting entries. Thanks to all the folks who worked hard to submit a new visual vision for Boxes and Arrows and for all the great questions and discussion about the redesign. more...
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Boxes and Arrows Redesign
by B&A Staff | [36 comments]
UPDATED: Boxes and Arrows Redesign Call: This just in: Hillman Curtis joins the panel of judges. The entry deadline has been extended until August 15th, 2004 and the panelist of judges confirmed. more...
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Terrible Twos
by Christina Wodtke | [13 comments]
Little Boxia has just turned two. Look how proud she stands, barely wobbling at all! See how she toddles around, smearing food on the walls! So independent, so curious and wait… did she just say "no!"? No, no, no! Here they come… the terrible twos. more...
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Planning your future
by Erin Malone | [11 comments]
A few years ago, a manager of mine gave me the assignment to work on a five-year career plan. I had never created a career plan before (not even to plot out goals for the coming year), so I was completely unprepared for how and why I should do this. more...
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Looking Forward and Back
by Erin Malone | [5 comments]
At the beginning of 2004, Boxes and Arrows, takes a moment to reflect back on the predictions made for 2003 and where we landed at year's end. Feeling optimistic, we also invited our peers in the community to share some of their professional resolutions for the new year. more...
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Building a Vision of Design Success
by Christina Wodtke | [5 comments]
A common view of vision is that it’s something handed down by a leader to the troops. When a redesign goes awry, the troops complain, “There was no vision.” But the problem goes deeper than either scenario; the problem is that there was no shared vision. more...
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The Devil's in the Wireframes
by Liz Danzico | [7 comments]
Wireframes: At once a singular composition and a collaborative expression, communicating the vision of both an individual and a team. As a result, they can be stacked with an enormous amount of detail. Are we becoming victims of information pollution in our own wireframes? more...
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The Power of Process, The Perils of Process
by Erin Malone | [8 comments]
In my experience, I have found that creating and documenting process has been a good exercise to help institutionalize ways of working, to help educate new team members as well as to unveil the mysteries of what we do for executives, product folks, and development teams. more...
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DUX: Five Lessons Learned
by Erin Malone | [6 comments]
Normally I would write a traditional conference overview to inform people about the recent Designing for User Experiences conference (DUX) held in San Francisco, June 6-8. Instead, I would like to impart a few of the impressions I came away with and recommend that everyone go to the AIGA Case Study Archive to read the papers that were accepted. more...
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Coloring Outside the Lines
by Erin Malone | [12 comments]
Once upon a time, we were curious and everything we encountered was new. We were excited about discovering new things and the world offered unlimited possibilities. Then we went to school and were taught to color inside the lines, that everything had its place and the world was ordered. more...