You are browsing the subject "Methods and the Design Process" in which 35 posting(s) was found
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At Martin Belam's personal web-site, you'll find some very interesting articles on his search query analysis of the BBCi website. His findings shows us how such analysis can help us shape better interactions with websites.
Some of his major findings: - Over 80% of the users make unique searches that never make the top 500 searches - 1 in 12 searches are misspelled - 1 in 5 attempts to use advanced search fail - URLs make up around 3% of searches - 36% of searches consisted of just one word, 35% two words, 16% contained 3 words
According to Belam, we can use such findings to: - Discover misspellings, synonyms, non-conventional naming, URLs, and searches with few descriptive words and leverage this knowledge to provide the best possible content available within search results - Spot popular content to be promoted more prominently and what non-existent content to provide - Verify navigational labels against terms used by the visitorsLinks:
 | The article How Search Can Help You Understand Your Audience
|  | The article A Day In The Life Of BBCi Search
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Henrik Olsen | May 24, 2003
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Dan Willis has created a condensed overview of some of the core techniques used in information architecture. The descriptions are in a comic book form and serve as entertaining reminders of some of our development options. Willis one-pagers cover sitepath diagramming, topic mapping, free listing, card sorting, and personas. Links:
 | IA Classics: Tools of the Trade in Comic Book Form
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Henrik Olsen | April 28, 2003 | Via Usability Views
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In an article from 1999, Shirley Martin describes a method for user card-sorting to involve users in the organizational design of web sites, and how to use cluster analysis to make sense of multiple participants’ inputs, by comparing the strength of the perceived relationships between pairs of cards. Links:
 | The article Cluster Analysis for Web Site Organization
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Henrik Olsen | April 21, 2003
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An explanation of how Leonardo da Vinci understood experience, and what we should take from his writing on the subject.
Links:
 | full column text
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Mark Hurst | April 19, 2003 | Via Good Experience
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George (interactionbydesign) Olsen has expanded on jjg's Elements of model.
The main addition is an immersion-orientated strand that runs through the middle which highlights creativity, choreography, mise-en-scene (arranging the scene) and the visual-sensory design.
This is accompanied by an Article on Boxes and Arrows.
Links:
 | User Approaches Model
|  | Expanding the Approaches to User Experience
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ben HyDe(Sign) | March 11, 2003 | Via InfoDesign (to surf the community)
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George Olsen (in a recent B&A; article) argues that the user is only one of the sources of information that should be considered when designing systems.
There needs to be a balance between considering the UX and design driven by ideas - possibly that the user doesn't even realise they need/want.
So the focus is again on persuasion rather than coercion. With the goal to achieve relevance and desirability.
Links:
 | The New R&D;: Relevant & Desirable
|  | Interaction by Design (george's thoughts page)
|  | Boxes and Arrows
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ben HyDe(Sign) | March 03, 2003
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Using a lost-in-the-woods analogue, John S. Rhodes explains information architecture in a very simple and clear manner. Print plenty of copies and use them as handouts at family parties. Links:
 | The article Information Architecture for the Rest of Us
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Henrik Olsen | Febuary 26, 2003
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The Rational Unified Process© (RUP©) provides an extensive and an industry standard framework of best practices to organize software and web development projects in terms of disciplines and phases.
The RUP© provides guidelines, examples, and templates based on experience from thousands of projects, and creates a roadmap for the whole team involved. Suitable for both small and large projects.
The iterative approach integrates Interface Design and Usability Engineering smoothly. Therefor the RUP© can contribute to increasing awareness and/or understanding of the benefits of User-Centred Design.Links:
Pieter-Jan Pruuost | Febuary 10, 2003
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Winning on the Web: The Executive Pocket Guide to SMARTER Marketing is a guide on analyzing web visitor behaviour in order to evaluate the effectiveness of a site’s navigation, content and marketing campaigns.
Though it’s published by NetIQ, which produces the web analytics tool WebTrends, the methods described applies equally to other tools.Links:
Henrik Olsen | Febuary 03, 2003
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Craig Saila interviews web designer and author of Designing CSS Web Pages (New Riders), Christopher Schmitt. The topic is form and function. This can and often does apply to usability on the functional level. Links:
 | An interview with Christopher Schmitt
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Nick Finck | January 30, 2003 | Via Digital Web Magazine
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| Research and Statistics (39) Research and statistics on user behaviour, trends, demographics, technological issues, etc. Methods and the Design Process (35) Design techniques and development workflow. Resources and Tools (35) Sites, journals, mailing lists, software, and other useful stuff. Tips and Guidelines (29) Recommendations and design guidelines. Books (22) Reviews and sample chapters of books of interest to the interactive design community. Humor (22) Fun stuff for the interactive design community. | | Business and Strategy (17) Strategy, marketing, merchandising, ROI and the like. News, Weblogs, and Magazines (14) News, weblogs, and magazines of interest to the interactive design community. Cases and Examples (9) Case studies and examples of good and bad design. Interviews (9) Interviews of interest to the interactive design community. Technology (6) Browsers, HTML, frames, Flash etc. and their impact on usability. Communication and Visual Design (4) Communication, Visual Design, Information Design, Graphic Design, branding and the like. Organisations (1) Organisations involved in the interactive design community | |
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