Information Architecture, Internet Strategy, User Experience Design, Visual Design

BBC Discusses Changes to Its New Look July 19th, 2010

The BBC’s news Web site got a new look this month. They started discussing the changes at the beginning of July before they started rolling them out. They continued in mid-July when the changes went live. And since then, they have blogged about the feedback and the questions they’ve been receiving about the new design here and here.

Information Architecture, Project Management, User Experience Design

Integrated Solutions: Part 3 – Project Engagements, Process, Best Practices and Implementation July 8th, 2010

NavigationArts has extensive experience in Web-enabled solutions.  Our engagements span from strategic consulting services to design, development and implementation.   Generally, for the purposes of best practice and process discussion, I group some of our offerings into four major categories:

1. Web Strategy
2. Strategy to Presentation Layer Design (Information Architecture and Visual Design)
3. Strategy to Technology  Implementation
4. End to End Integrated Web-Enabled Solutions

Regardless of the scope of engagement, User Experience should be at the foundation of every project.  User Experience Design (UXD) is based on Architecture, Interaction Design, Visual Design, Technology and Content Strategy.  Because this work inherently is conducted across several disciplines and often incorporates members from multiple teams (such as the NavigationArts’ team in conjunction with client teams), it is imperative to have repeatable, traceable, and auditable processes as well as best practices in place.  Incorporating best practices into these disciplines ensures that you can reconcile business goals, platform constraints and user needs in order to create a UXD that is valuable, credible, scalable and maintainable.

Information Architecture, User Experience Design

Web App Masters Tour: Your Homepage Should Not Reveal Your Corporate Underpants! June 11th, 2010

I also attended the Web Apps Masters Tour, and heard something in the opening address that made me smile! At almost every business stakeholder meeting I have had as a consultant, the most common thing I hear is  “ but where does my stuff go on the homepage, it is very important!”

So let’s take a step back and realize the reality on the Web in the present time:

Information Architecture, Interaction Design, User Experience Design, Visual Design

Translation on the Web: Commonplace, Participatory, and Expected? May 14th, 2010

Above : “A Sampling of Chinglish” courtesy of The New York Times

On The Media is a favorite radio program of mine. Its hosts frequently present interesting takes on “new media” and recently, they had a fascinating segment on translation issues on the Internet. With only 27% of Internet users using English, it’s becoming unreasonable to expect English to be the default Internet language. To avoid the siloing that could occur along linguistic lines, innovative Web sites with an international or multilingual audience are experimenting with machine and human translation. (The importance of getting translation right should not be underestimated, as the images in a recent New York Times slideshow demonstrate.) Ethan Zuckerman, cofounder of the multilingual blog network, Global Voices, tells On The Media, “Translation is going to go from esoteric, rare, and expensive to becoming fairly commonplace, participatory, and expected.”

Information Architecture, Insight Article, Internet Strategy, Social Networking, Technology, Usability, Web Content Management

Digital Consolidation : Growing Urgency to Rationalize the Business Web May 3rd, 2010

When I pose the question “What’s keeping you up at night?” anywhere in the C-Suite these days, the conversation inevitably turns to issues of measuring and managing their extended Web enterprise.  In all sectors of business, not-for-profit organizations, and government agencies, the Web has rapidly and thoroughly become the undisputed platform for communications, commerce, and community building.  But while many execs celebrate the entrepreneurial spirit that has blossomed in their respective organizations around the Web, the proliferation of sites, applications, microsites, tools, widgets, and social media connections has confounded many user segments and placed growing strain on the ability of organizations to manage this distended organism.  Of course, it has also greatly complicated the challenge of extracting meaningful performance metrics from this platform which could indicate how cost effectively (or not) the organization’s business needs are being supported online.

As we dive into the depths of some of these large enterprises, we see symptoms of unplanned and unconstrained organic growth.  The benefits of time-to-market advantage are obvious, but the risks less so. I’m reminded of a comment made to me by Dr. Max Coppes, Head of Oncology at Children’s National Medical Center; he said, “Growth for the sake of growth is the philosophy of a cancer cell.”  That’s hardly the analog we’d hope for when inventorying a business Web enterprise.  But in many offices the idea still prevails that “If I can build it, I should build it.”  So as we watch organizations innovate, add new product lines, and expand their global markets, we see their technologies and business processes proliferate, and any vestiges of coherent discipline seem to vanish in that euphoria of growth.

Information Architecture, Interaction Design, User Experience Design, Visual Design

Drawing is Not Just for Designers April 16th, 2010

Dan Roam gave the opening keynote at the IA Summit 2010 in Phoenix.  His premise was this:  “Whoever best describes the problem is the one most likely to solve it.”  In other words:  Whoever draws the best picture gets the funding.

That may sound disheartening, but he’s not talking about works of art here.  Dan believes that basic shapes and stick figures can illustrate what the problem is and what the solution can be.  He showed a series of examples where powerful ideas were drawn out in simple shapes on the back of napkins – like the sketch that started Southwest Airlines or a graph that ended up being the idea behind Reaganomics.

Dan summarized the ways in which our brains process visual information and then outlined the types of sketches that can be used to answer relevant questions as we try to solve a problem. Here’s how he broke it down:

Information Architecture, Usability, User Experience Design, User Research

IA Summit ’10 Part Four April 13th, 2010

The IA Summit ’10 has had a great mix of the tactical and the inspirational.  I’d like to share some highlights from a few of the sessions I attended.

Beyond Card Sorting:  Michael Hawley of Mad*Pow gave an overview of techniques other than basic card sorting to get content rich sites under control.  I’m eager to try out several on upcoming projects.

Information Architecture, User Experience Design

IA Summit ’10 Part Three: Prototyping April 12th, 2010

Building on my previous post, my second topic-of-interest at this year’s IA Summit is prototyping. I’m very interested in this topic because I’ve experienced, first hand, the mental leap needed when reviewing static images that attempt to convey dynamic, on-page behavior…it often involves a significant number of static pages, with text explaining the motion and interaction rules, and a lot of client review time. It is situations like these for which I’m most interested in presenting dynamic prototypes in the future.

While at the conference several sessions and conversations focused in the idea of prototyping in-general:

Information Architecture, User Experience Design

IA Summit ’10 Part Two: Pervasive IA April 12th, 2010

We finished the second day of IA Summit ’10 presentations and in general the sessions I’ve attended so far fall into two major categories:

-          Pervasive IA/cross channel marketing

-          Prototyping

In this post I’ll cover some of the revelations around pervasive IA. My interest in this topic has grown steadily in the past 5 years as the importance of mobile has grown…and also because, now more than ever, customers can interact with brands and related information in so many different ways, both in the cyber and physical worlds.

Information Architecture, Social Networking, Usability, User Experience Design

IA Summit ’10 Part One April 9th, 2010

With a few minutes to spare before boarding my flight to Phoenix I thought I’d kick-off my blog coverage of IA Summit 10. A small contingent of NavigationArts Information Architects / User Experience Designers will once again have the opportunity to chat with our peers, as well as share impressions of the current state of the discipline and where it’s going.

Sitting at the airport, heading to this conference, made me think: just to get this far I’ve already interacted with several interfaces designed by my peers…and in doing so I have seen the successes and pitfalls of how they’ve crafted their online processes:

Information Architecture, Interaction Design, Technology, User Experience Design, Web Development, HTML5, IE9, Microsoft

Microsoft MIX10: Day Two March 18th, 2010

Day two at MIX10 and the information overload continues:

Keynote Highlights:

IE9 and HTML 5

IE9 has true support for HTML 5 including HTML 5 video. Reduced processing capacity required for JavaScript and HTML 5 video. The demo provided was truly amazing. The demo ran on Windows 7. This made me wonder what the performance would be like on older versions of Windows as well as other OS platforms.

Information Architecture, Interaction Design, Technology, User Experience Design, Visual Design, Web Development, Microsoft, SharePoint2010, Silverlight

Microsoft MIX10: Day One March 17th, 2010

There’s a lot going on at MIX10, here are my thoughts on day one:

Keynote introduced the design and development community to the new Windows phone. The interface is interesting. As with most new concepts, there are some good things and some bad. Also introduced the Pivot Control for Silverlight 4, which uses content type attributes and values to help winnow down a large set of similar content types down to a narrow set.

Information Architecture, User Experience Design, prototype, Sketch, wireframe

Start Sketching: Sometimes Perfect Lines Can Get in the Way of Creative Thinking February 5th, 2010

Anyone involved with building a web site can benefit from sketching from time to time. It’s a natural activity. We’ve all sketched as kids, whether it was a detailed masterpiece or a stick figure. Sketching removes the intimidating wall not only between Information Architects and the team, but also between IAs and the task-at-hand.

Information Architecture, User Experience Design, User Research, Webcast

Leveraging the Web to Extend Global Reach: SHRM India Case Study January 28th, 2010

If you missed the live session of “Leveraging the Web to Extend Global Reach: SHRM India Case Study,” you can check out the presentation on SlideShare.

Information Architecture, Usability, User Research

Going Green in Usability Testing January 21st, 2010

A few months ago, the theme of World Usability Day was “Designing for a Sustainable World.”  Well, think about going green with your usability testing for your Web sites by offering more remote testing options than in-person usability test sessions.

A common question clients ask me is whether remote testing will be comparable to in-person sessions.  You will definitely get the same results while offering more flexibility to your users, since they can conduct the tests while they are at home, work, or anywhere.   There’s no need for them to take a couple of hours out of their day to drive to your testing facility or office. Here are a few moderated and unmoderated remote testing options that you can try:

• UserVue
• UserTesting.com
• Silverback
• Userfly

Information Architecture, Interaction Design, User Experience Design

A Little User Experience Around the Holidays January 14th, 2010

As we end the year and our minds are preoccupied by the holidays I am once again reminded of how important web usability is and how it affects the bottom line everyday. The latest example came from an unlikely source: ballet. Not just any ballet production, though, but The Nutcracker. Let me explain:

Information Architecture, Internet Strategy, Social Networking, twitter

Twitter in 2010 January 8th, 2010

I must admit I was amongst the skeptics who wondered about the usefulness of the 140 word microblog post. As one of my colleagues often says – “Why do I care to know if someone is headed to the bathroom?”

And then I read this recent article in the New York Times Why Twitter Will Endure that made me reconsider my thinking.

Information Architecture, Webcast, prototype, Web Application

AxureWorld 2009 January 7th, 2010

Recently, Ezra Schwartz gathered together a group of Axure power-users to put on a one day (12 hour) webinar. The webinar is chock-full of helpful tips for all users of the Axure product. For those not in the know, Axure is a powerful design tool that makes creating click-through prototypes of complex interactive Web applications easy. The event covered documentation, event-driven widget creation, collaboration and more. AxureWorld posted all the video from the webinar.

Information Architecture, Internet Strategy

Designing for Change December 14th, 2009

Because the implementation of a new Web site is a large endeavor, it’s easy to overlook some aspects of the launch while you’re dashing across the finish line.

Before the button is pushed to launch the product, a Web team should choose a launch strategy that’s appropriate for their Web site. These strategies can help ease the transition and also maximize the impact of the launch.

Application Development, Information Architecture, Interaction Design, Internet Strategy, Social Networking, User Experience Design, personas, prototype, scenarios, smithsonian, strategy

Smithsonian Commons: Vast, Findable, Shareable, Free December 3rd, 2009

Have you visited a Smithsonian website lately? Probably not. Don’t worry, you’re not alone. Even those we interviewed on the National Mall in Washington DC at a physical Smithsonian museum hadn’t considered using a Smithsonian website. It’s a shame, considering the rich education available on their numerous affiliated websites. Few also realize the tradition of excellent and influential research conducted by the Smithsonian. What a lost opportunity to learn from one of the nation’s greatest collections of history, culture, art and science.

Application Development, Information Architecture, Internet Strategy, Social Networking, Visual Design, Web Content Management, Web Development, Video

Professional Video Services for Businesses November 11th, 2009

An unlikely source for cutting edge technology news of course, but USA Today has an interesting article discussing the future of online video for businesses. They point out that video has a huge and critical future for most everyone doing business online these days, and there’s several major players coming in that exceed the offerings by such commonly known entities from YouTube and Vimeo.

Specifically, pay services targeted for businesses include:

Information Architecture, Internet Strategy, User Experience Design, Business Decisions, Web Redesign

Does Your Web site Need a Redesign? November 9th, 2009

Choosing whether to redesign your Web site can be a difficult decision to make, especially when many organizations are cutting costs in the midst of the current economic downtown. A Web site redesign project usually requires a cross-functional team with members from multiple departments and strong internal leadership. The resources required for a redesign can be considerable, particularly for organizations which already have a lot of Web content or have multiple third-party systems integrated with their Web sites.

Application Development, Information Architecture, Web Development

Knowing When to Say "No" October 21st, 2009

Something to think about….

Steve Jobs gave a small private presentation about the iTunes Music Store to some independent record label people. My favorite line of the day was when people kept raising their hand saying, “Does it do [x]?”, “Do you plan to add [y]?”. Finally Jobs said, “Wait wait – put your hands down. Listen: I know you have a thousand ideas for all the cool features iTunes could have. So do we. But we don’t want a thousand features. That would be ugly. Innovation is not about saying yes to everything. It’s about saying NO to all but the most crucial features.”
-Derek Sivers, president and programmer, CD Baby and HostBaby (from Say NO by default)

Information Architecture, Insight Article, User Experience Design, Visual Design, Grids

Creative Standardization in Web Site Design September 1st, 2009

Beautiful Solutions

When I am working on a problem I never think about beauty. I only think about how to solve the problem. But when I have finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I know it is wrong.

Buckminster Fuller, architect, designer, and inventor:

Recently, Jeff Applegate, an Art Director in our office gave a presentation explaining the origins and advantages of using grids in Web site designs. He explained that grids are used to create visually harmonious design layouts and that principles of good design are rooted in the Golden Mean, a mathematical proportion that—when followed—produces designs that are aesthetically pleasing to most people.

Information Architecture, Usability, User Experience Design, User Research, Webcast, Healthcare

M. D. Anderson: Creating a Hospital Web Site to Drive Value September 1st, 2009

If you missed the live session of the “M. D. Anderson Case Study: Creating a Hospital Web Site that Drives Value,” you’ll find the presentation below.

To learn more about applying Web strategy and a user experience design process to a hospital Web site, you’ll want to view the presentation.

The presentation covers:

Information Architecture, Insight Article, Internet Strategy, Usability, User Experience Design, User Research, Visual Design, Web Content Management, Healthcare

7 Principles for Designing a Successful Hospital Web Site August 1st, 2009

With health information Web sites like WebMD setting the standard, hospital Web sites must at a minimum meet basic user expectations. Your hospital Web site is a direct extension of your brand and a poorly designed or outdated Web site will translate in the public’s perception to a poorly run hospital with outdated services.

What are the keys to developing a successful hospital Web site? All of the principles outlined below are rooted in the practice of user-centered design.

Information Architecture, labelling, navigation, nomenclature

The Extraordinary Experience of Dune Crossing October 16th, 2008

I did a double take as I approached this sign while walking from the beach this summer.  Nomenclature like this may make sense in the context of the beach but without the other points of reference, i.e. the path leading up and over the sand dune, the sign taken out of context, say placed on a highway intersection, may be misinterpreted by many people and cause unnecessary alarm by others. I took a glance to my left and right just to make sure I wouldn’t get squashed by a runaway dune.

Information Architecture, User Experience Design, transit

Good User Experience: NYC Subway's New In-Car LED Signs July 14th, 2008

I ride the Metrorail in DC (and Virginia) almost every day, and sometimes I have a hard time figuring out which stop my train is at. The trains’ windows are heavily tinted, and the underground stations are significantly darker than the interior of the cars, making it difficult to read signs through the windows. Also, the text on the signs is not particularly large—certainly smaller than the ample signs in many NYC Subway stations. My intention in this post is not to bash my home transit system (which, it should be noted, totally smokes NYC’s in several important ways). Rather, I bring up this issue with the signs because it can make for a frustrating user experience. I also bring it up because I’m fascinated by obsessed with public transit.