Thinking about “scent” and information density:

I’m all for creating contextual (and conversational) experiences where people essentially click through to get to their desired goal (be it an action or content). However, a recent project got me thinking about passive and active experiences…

I’m working on the redesign of an online newspaper, where much of the interaction is of the passive sort– casually glancing at the headlines– I believe there is not much intent in this context. Normally, I’d favor presenting less information and channeling people to their desired content; however, in this context it seems like barfing up all the content you can (with good information design, of course!) is probably the better choice.

I was wondering if you had done any research into this area– do you have any insights into when it’s better to put more or less content on a (home) page?

Thanks!

Assuming these should be different treatments, should the treatments be organized by type of content, or by the user interaction necessary to display these?

The agencies are generally just running production lines and that really bores me.
I enjoy strategy, but the management consutlancies don’t take what we offer seriously enough, so it’s hard to convince them of the level of value we add. We are not a comforatble fit within their frameworks at the moment.

I don’t have the appetite right now to set up as a business – been there, done that, and not into 18 hour working days any more.

Having been independent for 8 years, I miss working with a team, having a supporting organisation, and having continuity, and am about ready for a change. But in our profession the onward career path seems hazy and difficult, and for once, I really don’t know what to do next in order to continue growing.

Posting here works fine!

This question came up as I thought about a story you told me in ’06 (Jared), where different teams of researchers with the same goal, using the same methodologies were coming up with different results/findings/outcomes. That problem aside, a lot of people say only experience will help one make better choices (the best approach to solving a problem), but everyone’s experiences is different. Can we make that process more objective? How would we start?

I feel we are throwing new practitioners under the bus by giving advice about being flexible, not sticking to a particular process (which I agree), and not providing more concrete answers about how to choose approaches, or at least, how to know what risks are taken and how to hedge bets.

Alright, that’s long. Make what you want of it!

Question: Multi-selects: SELECT tag, JS powered, or scrollable checkbox list?