[IxDA Discuss] Any good examples of mixed IA structures?
I'm trying to design the IA for an application that has strong elements of two different organizational patterns. Looked at in one way the information very much resembles a directory or phone book (primary use cases are things like find the phone number of $NAMED ORGANIZATION). Looked at another way the information very much resembles a net- or tree-like hierarchy (example case find the company for which $NAMED PERSON is the sales representative). Unfortunately, about 30% of the data elements do not fit into the hierarchy. They'd be a very large group of others. Preliminary interviews with users shows about a 50-50 split between the two types of use cases, with no strong bias I can find. The users are demand-driven, responding to unpredictable requests from other people so they can't control ahead of time what requests or even what types of requests they get. I don't think I want to create two screens for the same person, nor do I want to make things strongly modal. (But maybe I'm wrong about that?) I'm looking for any good examples of cases where people have blended these two types of organizational schemes. TIA, --Alan Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
[IxDA Discuss] Design Training
Can anyone recommend a design company that provides training or consultation for a company looking to improve their design team and process? Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Design Training
Hi John, This is exactly the stuff I do during the summer and december. But I'd also say that orgs like Cooper and some others like them are very happy to do design training and what not. -- dave . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=42795 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Design Training
Thanks Dave. I knew you did workshops at conferences and such, but didn't know you did this too. This is actually for a friend, I'll pass the info on. Thanks! John . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=42795 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
[IxDA Discuss] IxDA Mentorship Program
Hi, The IxDA Mentorship volunteer group is ready to formally kickoff the first phase of the mentorship program. This phase is technically and logistically simple; volunteers act as match makers to pair potential mentors with those seeking some professional assistance. This is a fluid, amorphous initiative; there is no set program, or set of activities for people to do. Instead, we hope to encourage digital relationship building that can extend into the real world as appropriate. If you are interested in becoming a mentor, or finding a mentor, please fill out the forms listed below. If you are interested in joining the organizational side of this effort, please drop me an email. ** I need a mentor! Please visit http://www.ixda.org/mentee.php and fill out the form as thoroughly as you can. Please note that, while we hope to find mentors for everyone who needs them, there is no guarantee that we will find a perfect match for you. The mentorship initiative starts digitally, through email, but can extend in whatever direction you and your mentor see fit. ** I want to be a mentor! Please visit http://www.ixda.org/mentor.php and fill out the form as thoroughly as you can. An ideal mentor has not only thorough experience and skills, but also the time and patience to dedicate to working with those who are learning a new profession. Please note that, while we hope to find matches for everyone who needs them, there is no guarantee that we will find a perfect match for you. The mentorship initiative starts digitally, through email, but can extend in whatever direction you and your mentee see fit. Thanks, Jon Kolko Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Design Training
I work at InContext Design (www.incontextdesign.com) and we coach design teams to learn the Contextual Design process. This includes everything from gathering customer data to prototype testing (with a lot in between). We also offer what we call hybrid design projects where we mix the team members%u20142 team members from InContext and 2-3 team members from the client. In both cases, the teams are being coached while they are working on a project. We also help teach teams how to work effectively together and deliver on time. -dave David B. Rondeau Design Chair InContext Design ( http://www.incontextdesign.com ) Twitter: dbrondeau . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=42795 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Any good examples of mixed IA structures?
Maybe I'm just not following. I don't see two use cases here. I see two pre-existing interfaces that don't support the use cases that do exist. I realize it isn't always an option to go in a completely new direction. Ok. I realize it is almost never an option. But perhaps what you really need is not a blending of these two interfaces, but a third one that actually does what the users need. Retain the old ones, but offer cross connections that let them naturally fall into the more useful method. The questions you posed don't require anything like what you've suggested. Both are exacting questions with one answer. For the first, it would be a phone number. For the second, it would be a company name. What this suggests to me is a multi-field search. One of the more nifty ways I've seen this done recently is through AJAX. Each field is searched with a separate AJAX call. Some will come back quickly, others more slowly. In your case, you would throw out searches that come back empty and show the 'hopefully' one that came back with information. And if more than one comes back, you'd need some way to let the user pick which one they meant. Wolfram Alpha works a lot like this. Your examples would be searched like so: find the phone number of $NAMED ORGANIZATION - $NAMED ORGANIZATION Which would return entries for said organization, most likely including their phone number find the company for which $NAMED PERSON is the sales representative - $NAMED PERSON Which would bring back all of the records associated with that person. Which should include where they work as a sales rep. Along with many other use cases. Such as finding information on a phone number, an address, or any other fields you'd like to expose the same way in your system. Including more complicated sets of data not contained in a single table. I'm basing this on the assumption that search isn't already a paradigm for you because your tables would search too slowly. With AJAX, your users will wait longer because there is the illusion of feed back. And, if broken into parts, you won't have to wait for all 30 fields to be checked. The quick ones will come back first and give the user rich feedback that holds them over even when some queries take over a min. As is the case with some things in Wolfram Alpha. Anyway. I could have completely missed your point also. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=42794 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Simple and effective navigation for retail?
You'll do fine so long as you remember that things can logically fit in many categories. My new video game belongs in BOTH electronics and toys. If you try to pidgin hole everything into one group, when the case can be made for it to be in more than one. Some people won't find it. This is, incidentally, my biggest pet peeve with most music software. The Mars Volta is Metal AND Jazz! Static-x is Metal, Techno, AND Trance! Sites tend to be better about it. But my iPod knows not what multiple genres are. Don't be my iPod. That is the single biggest mistake you can make, next to only providing a search bar. Which you shouldn't do. Search is great... if the user knows what they want. However, you can remove most 'search-for-something-specific' users with a good search system. Try to correct spelling if you can. List off common misspellings at the very least. (I wonder if eyeQ wishes they hadn't named itself that?) What should be left are users that are poking about looking for things they might like, or that someone they know might like. Which means, like amazon, the more ways you can give them to find related or unrelated items the better. Think more about WHAT amazon lets you see and less about HOW they let you see it. If you can give them items that others who bought what they are looking at bought somewhere, that is big. But you most likely can't. Next best thing is to do some of that by hand, and do some of it completely at random, and some based on what the user has already been through. If they are looking at video games, show them accessories for the system they are looking at. Show them other games from the same genre. Show them something completely not related. Or so meta-related that it takes them aback. That last one is hard to do. If the game is Lego Indiana Jones if the links to items somewhere on the page look something like this, you win: - An Indiana Jones lego set - Lego Starwars the game for the same system - A second controller for the system - Indiana Jones DVD box set - A rubber Snake - A WWII shooter for the same system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=42786 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
