There’s been some discussion in the blogosphere recently about the importance of wireframes and how they should be handled within interactive agencies. Going by a recent post by Sarah Harrison and reiteration by Paul Boag of the Boagworld podcast, there seems to be a disconnect between information architects (IAs) and the designers that they work with in relation to the position of wireframes within the overall website development process. The basic caveat as introduced by Sarah is that wireframes, even if they are meant to be lo-fidelity representations of a final website that contain no true graphical direction, colors, or themes, still focus on physical information layout, something that is generally handled by designers in lieu of the IA (in a perfect world.) Sarah suggests a novel document known as the Page Description Diagram, as introduced by Dan Brown in his excellent work Communicating Design, as the perfect solution to this impasse. The Page Description Diagram  lists the elements of a page in a standard three-column format with the most important information featured in the left column with less important aspects listed in the center and right columns. The standard horizontal structure of the document keeps it layout-neutral in a design sense and leaves placement completely up to the designer. (more…)

Consider the time and dedication NASA puts toward preparing the space shuttle for its next mission. Months of research, planning, and prep to get all the details in place for a flawless launch. It’s launch day and the countdown is on…5…4…3…2..LIFTOFF!

You can hear the hi-five’s sparking all around the control center. Then the director announces over the loud speaker, “Okay everyone, great job…have a good night!”

Say what? 
(more…)

When approaching the development of a new website, project managers, designers, and application developers initially have little data to inform their design decisions and must rely upon research in order to construct successful user experiences. Research, however, is completely invalidated if the decisions it suggests end up being ineffective after a project launches. The fail safe for avoiding such an outcome is extensive usability testing, a portion of the development process many organizations sometimes wish to avoid due to perceived associative costs and resource drain. Usability testing, though, does not have to be expensive or take a prohibitive amount of time, and the changes that will come about due to interacting directly with users will reap benefits that far outweigh any costs in capital or time that is accrued throughout the process.

Keeping usability testing light and cost effective is key, and here are five quick tips on how to do just that:

(more…)