Your content is visible practically everywhere. Content strategists need to structure content to allow for viewing on an array of devices. What does that mean for your content management system? And what do you need to build into your content to make it flexible and adaptable?

In today’s UIEtips, Jeff Carr and Seth Earley discuss eight important things to keep in mind concerning taxonomy, metadata, and IA when using SharePoint. Here’s an excerpt from the article: Only after we have designed and constructed a solid foundation with respect to the organizing principles of our information can we consider how it is [...]

There’s nothing worse than spending considerable time on a web site searching for information just to be led down a dark hole. We’ve all experienced the frustration when you think you’re on the right path, about to reach that golden moment of insight and knowledge, only to discover that what you’re in search of can’t [...]

Years ago, we were watching people try to find products on IKEA.com. (Not for IKEA, but for our other nefarious purposes.) We took several stabs at our study because, well, the first ones seemed fishy to us. Our initial stab had simple tasks. One of them was “Find a bookcase for your living room that [...]

The goal of any site is for the right audience to find the right information. But beyond your actual content there are many things that can cause findability issues. These tend to be unanswered questions about your primary audience and whether or not you’re satisfying the need of that audience. Good information architecture can help guide your design decisions so that your users can effectively engage with your content.

“The problem with this is there’s too much clutter.” That’s what the legal secretary told me when we were studying her firm’s intranet home page. In fact, the page was pretty sparse in layout. The text was nicely laid out in a readable font, with different weights given to headings and body text. Overall, it [...]

UX professionals have made a lot of progress in large organizations. Companies realize the importance of connecting with their users more and more. User research is becoming firmly rooted in many organizations as companies try to produce better products and services for their users. But user research itself can be narrow in focus and full of biases. Lou Rosenfeld of Rosenfeld Media, suggests that by breaking down the silos that exist between other research practices, we can create a complementary research experience. This will produce even better analysis and therefore, better products as a whole.

A good starting point is crucial. It sets the tone for everything that comes after. All too often, projects are unsuccessful or labor through growing pains because the importance of this starting point was overlooked. When done right, the kickoff to a project will leave the team energized, inspired, and engaged. Kevin discusses that kickoff meetings are the time to identify business strategy as well as company culture. It’s also important to assess any risks associated with the project.

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.

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 [...]