Stories
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Natural Selections: Colors Found in Nature and Interface Design
by Luke Wroblewski | [20 comments]
The web is awash with sterile design solutions. IBM, Dell, Microsoft, and countless others are virtually indistinguishable from each other. Though one might say this makes browsing easier by virtue of a standardized interface, in reality such sites create mundane experiences for their users and fail to make a positive connection with their audience. more...
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Card sorting: a definitive guide
by Donna Maurer and Todd Warfel | [38 comments]
Card sorting is a simple user-centered technique for obtaining insight into the structure of a site. But is it really so simple? This definitive guide to card sorting includes detailed instructions on how to execute and analyze a sort, plus helpful hints to improve your sorts. It is the first in a series of articles about card sorting. more...
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HTML Wireframes and Prototypes: All Gain and No Pain
by Julie Stanford | [25 comments]
Mention the use of HTML for wireframing or prototyping, and some information architects and interaction designers frantically look for the nearest exit. In some circles, HTML has acquired the reputation of being a time-consuming, difficult undertaking best left to developers. This is very far from the truth. more...
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Blasting the Myth of the Fold
by Milissa Tarquini | [51 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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Storyboarding Rich Internet Applications with Visio
by Bill Scott | [29 comments]
The recent rise in more powerful technologies that provide richer user experiences online has presented us with a challenge. As designers, we are moving from from designing for "PIAs" to designing for "RIAs." Does our documentation style change with the technology? Will our standard ways do the job? more...
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Icon Analysis
by Matt Queen | [34 comments]
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. more...
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The Lazy IA's Guide to Making Sitemaps
by Stephen Turbek | [64 comments]
The more automated our lives become, the less time we seem to have. And as an information architect, a lot of time is spent making sitemaps ... by hand. How valuable are sitemaps to a project team and to clients? Would your time be better spent doing other tasks than hand building sitemaps? What if we told you, "now you can." Find out how. more...
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Understanding Organizational Stakeholders for Design Success
by Jonathan Boutelle | [6 comments]
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. more...
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Automating Diagrams with Visio
by Michael Angeles | [53 comments]
By doing the demanding intellectual work first and then forcing the tools to succumb to need to produce seemingly speedy deliverables, you can get around the difficulty of choosing between "Good, Fast and Cheap." Here's one approach using Excel and Visio. more...
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Site Diagrams: Mapping an Information Space
by Jason Withrow | [23 comments]
Site diagrams can be quite helpful in answering all kinds of hard questions. How to create the right diagram became a personal challenge for Jason Withrow. He shares his story through tips and techniques... 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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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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Analyzing Card Sort Results with a Spreadsheet Template
by Joe Lamantia and Joe Lamantia | [20 comments]
This article explains how to quickly derive easily-read, quantitative results from a card-sort activity by entering data into a spreadsheet template that is adaptable to any set of cards and categories. more...
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Our Favorite Books: Recommendations from the Staff of Boxes and Arrows
by B&A Staff | [9 comments]
To welcome in December and the holiday season, the staff at Boxes and Arrows has put together a list of their favorite books. These are the tried and true. The books we can't live without or have learned great lessons from over the years. more...
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Four Modes of Seeking Information and How to Design for Them
by Donna Maurer | [28 comments]
Information-seeking behavior varies from situation to situation. Donna Maurer explores different ways in which users look for information and offers tactics for accommodating them. more...
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Competitive Analysis: Understanding the Market Context
by Jason Withrow | [10 comments]
Just when you thought you fully understood the three circles of information architecture, your assumptions are being challenged again. Withrow comes around with an argument for looking at the context circle differently. more...
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Mission Statements: Why You Might Want One
by Erin Malone | [33 comments]
I recently started a new job. The group I manage is new and all the people on my team have recently been transferred into this group. Additionally, each person has spent a lot of time in the recent past working on individual, solitary projects, and has not regularly been part of a collaborative team. more...
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A Web 2.0 Tour for the Enterprise
by Shiv Singh | [28 comments]
While Web 2.0 sweeps the internet buzz machine, businesses are a bit slower to pick up the new paradigm. Shiv Singh shows how taking the leap and embracing the collaborative nature of Web 2.0 can provide great rewards. more...
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Dreamweaver Primer
by Julie Stanford | [5 comments]
So, you’ve read the article, “HTML Wireframes and Prototypes: All Gain and No Pain” and now want you want to make an HTML wireframe or prototype. This an easy and pain-free process, using Macromedia Dreamweaver 4.0. Follow this step-by-step guide and you'll be up and prototyping in a jiffy. more...
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Why Is That Thing Beeping? A Sound Design Primer
by Max Lord | [4 comments]
We spend a lot of time talking about the visual identity of a project, but who thinks about its audible identity? Do we need to consider it at all? By learning to consider audio as an important design parameter, we just might learn something... more...