I found this post on The Spectrum of User Experience over at the Information Architects Japan site. Nice visualization of forces and how they interact. Although I’m often weary of putting any one thing in the middle. I guess I’m just an anti centrist.
I almost forgot to mention this fine new publication / site The Journal of Information Architecture. Go and read the first issue.
And if you think you’ve got something worth saying then be sure to submit while the current call for papers is open until Aug 1st.
Like my previous post about Social Technologies I wanted to put together a better classification model in place for digital marketing. Often it seems terms are thrown around without much standardization.
Here’s my pass at trying to come up with some simple classification for social technologies available today.
Initial research around the application, service. Interviews of stakeholders and customers. Reviewing competition.
Gathering information in outline form can be an extremely helpful way to quickly collect short bits of information like product names and then group and sort them under different headings. I almost always start my projects here. It really helps me see the logical connections between the information and helps me ask questions about the classification and naming systems that are already in place.
User interface flow diagrams are created to model the interactions that a user has with a product or service. The diagram primarily will reflect the behavioral view of a single use case along with some optional pathways.
Paper prototyping is a variation of usability testing where representative users perform realistic tasks by interacting with a paper version of the interface that is manipulated by a person ‘playing computer,’ who doesn’t explain how the interface is intended to work.
A wireframe is a basic visual guide used in interface design to suggest the structure of an interface and relationships between its pages. Typically, wireframes are completed before any artwork is developed.
This documentation describes the behavior of a system. The documentation typically describes what is needed by the user as well as requested properties of inputs and outputs.
It is a technique used to evaluate a product by actually testing it on users. This can be seen as an irreplaceable usability practice, since it gives direct input on how real users use the system. This is in contrast with usability inspection methods where experts use different methods to evaluate a user interface without involving users.
Use cases describe “who” can do “what” within the system being designed. The use case technique is used to capture a system’s behavioral requirements by detailing scenario-driven threads through the functional requirements.
Observing how people interact with products, services and experiences in order to come up with new solutions. User studies can help reframe a problem in a new way. They can also help see things that have gone unnoticed before.
Details how content is/should be used on a site, how to increase value
Records type/location of site content, recommends action for each item
Plans how content should be re-purposed/created for a site, who should do it, etc.
Outlines how search should work for a site, what technologies can be used, how it integrates with other sites
Plans how the search system will ingest queries and produce a Search Engine Results Page, plus the interface design for that page
Outline how to design a taxonomy(ies) for a site, and how they will work
Detailed model of the taxonomy(ies) using customer data
Overall plan for how an ECM can be used on a customer’s site
Plan that details content types and content elements within a content management system
Details the entire lifecycle of content for a site, from creation to archive
Touchwall Demo from Joel on Vimeo.
It seems a little large if you ask me, otherwise I love the concept. Schematic has been making some amazing progress in the multitouch arena. They are still eons behind the work that Stimulant is doing. They really should just merge in to one company Schemulant
This tweet from Jeffrey Zeldman really sparked my thinking about this issue.
UX Titles have always been a discussion topic at IA Summits and other UX conferences. I myself have had a laundry list of titles from Information Architect, Digital Strategist, Experience Designer, and even Creative Director. My personal favorite is User Experience Designer, even though it’s a little long I’ve always felt like it required the smallest amount of explanation. That being said, I do believe that the different titles actually do mean different things. The challenge for most UX people is that in the end they always end up wearing a lot of hats.
I think a good list of titles and their primary focus really needs to be created.
I was excited to find out that Good Magazine has an archive of their “Transparencies” up on Flickr
Good Magazine Transparencies
Here’s a list of some of my favorite groups
User Experience Design Flickr Group
Information Architecture Flickr Group
IA Discuss Flickr Group
Diagram Diaries Flickr Group
Interaction Designers Flickr Group
I ♥ wireframes Flickr Group
Interaction Design Association (IxDA) Flickr Group
This is a short film by MAYA Design about information:
Information from MAYAnMAYA on Vimeo.
And, here’s another about what is architecture:
Architecture from MAYAnMAYA on Vimeo.
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