Information architecture exists in all levels of design, from the most abstract to the most concrete. Everything from thinking about the content of the site right down to embedding a navigation strategy determines the structure of a website. Through his experience, Dan Brown has developed a set of principles for information architecture.

With mobile quickly emerging as a viable and practical source of web based content, designers need to know how to adapt and keep up. With the sheer number of different devices out there it can be a daunting prospect. Josh joins Jared Spool in this podcast for a discussion about making the decision between mobile web and native apps.

There’s a lot of work that goes into making a graphic beautiful and informative. But how efficient is your graphic? Are you emphasizing the right content or data of the graphic? Can the reader quickly find what they are looking for? Last week we featured an excerpt from Noah Iliinsky’s book Beautiful Visualization. The article [...]

Jon writes: I am looking for suggestions of sites that offer good educated guesses about websites / web interactions in the future. We’re working on our five-year plan at our university. Keep up the great work – your presentations are always informative, feature great web talent, and I always walk away feeling like I’ve learned [...]

Greg wrote: I’m interested in finding information about “On Object UI”. To me, this term means displaying controls on or near an object after the user has interacted with the object by hovering over or clicking on the object. For example, in Microsoft Word, after highlighting/selecting some text, a Mini-toolbar appears near the text with [...]

The number of places that you can access the web grows every day. But are you designing for it? How do your users see your content? And more importantly, how are they interacting with it? Bill Scott joins Jared Spool and discusses the challenges and a few of the surprises that come with designing for multiple platforms.

The saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words” is dead-on when it comes to information visualization. The ability to convey a message clearly, in the appropriate context, and make the information beautiful is no easy task. Information visualization is the graphic presentation of data. Done right, it’s like you’re looking through the eyes of [...]

At this year’s IA Summit in Denver, I’m giving a presentation on measuring the value a UX person delivers, which I’ve called, The Most Valuable UX Person In The World. Borrowing liberally from the Dos Equis ads, I used this as the program description: The Most Valuable UX Person In The World She builds her [...]

Kate Brigham is the Patient Experience Manager at PatientsLikeMe. Rather than focusing solely on forums and discussion, she has helped create an environment that encourages sharing amongst the patients. In this podcast, Kate talks to Jared Spool about how PatientsLikeMe uses data visualizations to help create the level of understanding within the community.

I’ve always been in awe of high-speed photography, like the pictures of Harold Edgerton. You’ve probably seen his classics: shooting a bullet through an apple or what a drop of milk looks like when it collides with other milk. What I love about these pictures is how he’s slowed down time. Once it’s slower, we [...]