Reviews
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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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Visio Replacement? You Be the Judge
by Scott McDowell | [33 comments]
In the same way that the Internet took us to the next level of interaction, complete with rich visuals, simulations are doing the same for application definition. McDowell explores the ins and outs of new simulation tools. Will one of them work for you? more...
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The Art of Project Management
by James Kalbach | [2 comments]
Can project management be an art? Has Berkun truly created a jargon-free guide for the whole project team? Kalbach leads us through the high-level tasks and the major milestones of this new book, while keeping us on task. more...
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The Information Architecture of Email
by Dan Brown | [20 comments]
At least several times a year, I try (I really do) to set up folders to sort my email. I am an information architect, after all. Setting up folders is, according to my job description, my area of expertise. Actually, I suck at setting up folders for email. more...
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Yahoo! Mail: Simplicity Holds Up Over Time
by Jesse James Garrett | [15 comments]
It should come as little surprise that the basic flow of Yahoo! Mail has hardly changed at all since the portal first acquired the RocketMail service in 1997. But rather than offering an outdated solution to the web-based email problem, Yahoo! Mail demonstrates the lasting effectiveness of a simple approach. more...
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Redesigning Boxes and Arrows
by Christina Wodtke | [42 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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An Open-Source Conference: BarCamp
by Anders Ramsay | [7 comments]
The BarCamp "un-conference" recently held in New York City featured presenters as participants and participants as planners. This community-developed event provided the opportunity for open-source supporters to share their newest ideas as well as float in-progress concepts. Read more about this unconventional approach to bringing together people and ideas. more...
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Euro IA Summit Wrap-Up
by Deborah Gover | [4 comments]
The European IA Summit 2005 offered an outstanding line-up of speakers. Couldn’t make it? Find out when happened. In this article, Deborah Gover reviews some of the program highlights. more...
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Learning, Doing, Selling: 2006 IA Summit Wrapup: Overview and Pre-conference sessions
by B&A Staff | [0 comments]
The annual IA Summit turned seven this year in Vancouver, and old-timers and first-timers (in just about equal parts) turned up to hear and be heard on topics of tagging, social systems, business strategy, and of course wireframes. Oh, and even more tagging. more...
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Oldies and Goodies: A Book List of Holiday Pairs
by B&A Staff | [2 comments]
Still need a holiday gift for your favorite designer or writer? Current and former Boxes and Arrows staff talk about books that have thrilled them recently, as well as books they continue to go back to year after year. more...
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Learning, Doing, Selling: 2006 IA Summit Wrapup: Saturday
by B&A Staff | [0 comments]
Session summaries for presentations on Saturday, March 25, 2006. more...
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Zen and the Art of IA
by Clifton Evans | [10 comments]
Though Web 2.0 indicates promise for designing user experiences, Clifton Evans holds our feet to the fire of simplicity and draws us a map using Robert Hoekman's excellent book as a guide. more...
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Learning, Doing, Selling: 2006 IA Summit Wrapup: Sunday
by B&A Staff | [0 comments]
Summaries for presentations on Sunday, March 26, 2006. more...
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New Challenges Retreat: ideas, discussion, and a call to action
by Anders Ramsay | [0 comments]
Enterprise information architecture, cross-cultural issues, user experiences for complex systems, oh my: a review of this year's IA Retreat: "New Challenges in Information Architecture." The future is here. more...
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Learning, Doing, Selling: 2006 IA Summit Wrapup: Monday
by B&A Staff | [1 comment]
Session summaries for presentations on Monday, March 27, 2006. more...
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"Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping"
by Jeff Lash | [3 comments]
“Experience design” doesn’t just apply to online design. Paco Underhill’s “Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping” explores customer experience and consumer behavior as they affect retail and offline environments and in turn provides dozens of lessons for those in web development. more...
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Information Architecture: Blueprints for the Web
by Ryan Olshavsky | [3 comments]
While there are many fine books that go into great depth on various aspects of the information architecture and design process, “Information Architecture: Blueprints for the Web” is, essentially, a primer on successful website design. more...
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The Substance of Style: How the Rise of Aesthetic Value Is Remaking Commerce, Culture, and Consciousness
by Steve MacLaughlin | [12 comments]
Whether you have been paying attention or not we are living in an age of aesthetics. So says Virginia Postrel in her latest book, The Substance of Style: How the Rise of Aesthetic Value Is Remaking Commerce, Culture, and Consciousness. Postrel examines how the role of aesthetics and style are transforming our culture and economy in a variety of ways. more...
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Observing the User Experience: A Practitioner's Guide to User Research
by Andrew Hinton | [2 comments]
With all the attention to usability over the last five years or so and the wonderful swelling of information-architecture-related books just since 2001, you would think we would have enough methods and advice to keep our projects in perfect tack. But so many of these resources, excellent though they are, tend to be more about how to pilot the ship than how to find that all-important star and keep it in sight. more...
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Keeping Pace with Change
by Samantha Bailey | [5 comments]
Documentation isn't the most fun part of design and IA, but does it have to be the most painful? Samantha Bailey looks at a tool that may help. more...