Peter Morville is an expert in information architecture who argues that search has become a disruptive innovation that shapes how people learn, buy things, and form beliefs. He discusses how search improvements led to increased sales, traffic, and conversions for several companies. Morville also summarizes key principles for designing search experiences, such as incremental construction, progressive disclosure, and immediate feedback.
Will the Real Information Architect Please Stand Up?Gail Leija
There has been a lot of discussion over the years about what exactly information architecture is. These "Defining The Damned Thing (DTDT)" conversations have been primarily around the What, rather than the Who. But who are these people? Where do they come from? And why?
I am collecting IA "stories" and will be posting them in an extended deck soon. If you are an IA and want to share your story, please contact me at gail@gl-ue.com.
This presentation was part of the Refresh Events (http://www.refresh-events.ca/) speaker series in Toronto.
My keynote address from the fifth Italian Information Architecture Summit, wherein I talk about what information architects do, why I consider myself one, and what the future may look like.
Will the Real Information Architect Please Stand Up?Gail Leija
There has been a lot of discussion over the years about what exactly information architecture is. These "Defining The Damned Thing (DTDT)" conversations have been primarily around the What, rather than the Who. But who are these people? Where do they come from? And why?
I am collecting IA "stories" and will be posting them in an extended deck soon. If you are an IA and want to share your story, please contact me at gail@gl-ue.com.
This presentation was part of the Refresh Events (http://www.refresh-events.ca/) speaker series in Toronto.
My keynote address from the fifth Italian Information Architecture Summit, wherein I talk about what information architects do, why I consider myself one, and what the future may look like.
Wearable Ecologies - Insights From Intel Sponsored CoursePhilip van Allen
This stack is a compilation of projects and insights on wearables and their implications. It is based on an Intel sponsored studio taught by Philip van Allen, Ben Hooker, and Wendy March (of Intel) in the Art Center College of Design, Media Design Practices MFA program.
The project brief was to discover new approaches to wearable technologies rather than design a specific product. Out of these experimental and speculative projects by the students, Phil and Ben sought to distill insights that can inform future design work in the wearables area. These are in the second part of the stack, starting with a mapping of the ideas.
We were particularly interested in the three themes of the course: Transactions, Contextual Adaptability, and the Aesthetics of Behavior.
See the project brief:
http://www.philvanallen.com/learning/wearables/course-notes/final-project-brief/
Special thanks to Ian Besler for designing the map and presentation
Joy Mountford at BayCHI: Visualizations of Our Collective LivesBayCHI
The lines between art, design, and information are dissolving as we experience new places and objects. Consider, for example, the organic flow of air traffic over North America at daybreak, the bursts of search query memes spreading around the globe, and the pointillist surge of mobile phone usage on New Year's Eve. Using the new techniques of generative data visualization, a new generation of artist/designers/engineer/scientists are creating gorgeous, dynamic experiences driven by massive sets of data about our own lives. Their work comes to life in architectural spaces, on walls of wood and metal and light and shimmering glass clouds suspended overhead. Of course it must be touched to be appreciated and engaged with, simple gestures launch a thousand images and possibilities. Many of these projects have received international recognition. They are primarily 3D applications that can run in real time, but really can only be appreciated by watching them, as movies. These data movies aim to make information easier to understand while being enjoyable to watch. Surprising insights surface through looking at our 'data life' in new ways, and may compel us to design in different, even better ways.
Opening Keynote for the 2019 STC Technical Communication Summit in Denver, Colorado by Peter Morville. Transcript is available at https://semanticstudios.com/tomorrows-architects/
Wearable Ecologies - Insights From Intel Sponsored CoursePhilip van Allen
This stack is a compilation of projects and insights on wearables and their implications. It is based on an Intel sponsored studio taught by Philip van Allen, Ben Hooker, and Wendy March (of Intel) in the Art Center College of Design, Media Design Practices MFA program.
The project brief was to discover new approaches to wearable technologies rather than design a specific product. Out of these experimental and speculative projects by the students, Phil and Ben sought to distill insights that can inform future design work in the wearables area. These are in the second part of the stack, starting with a mapping of the ideas.
We were particularly interested in the three themes of the course: Transactions, Contextual Adaptability, and the Aesthetics of Behavior.
See the project brief:
http://www.philvanallen.com/learning/wearables/course-notes/final-project-brief/
Special thanks to Ian Besler for designing the map and presentation
Joy Mountford at BayCHI: Visualizations of Our Collective LivesBayCHI
The lines between art, design, and information are dissolving as we experience new places and objects. Consider, for example, the organic flow of air traffic over North America at daybreak, the bursts of search query memes spreading around the globe, and the pointillist surge of mobile phone usage on New Year's Eve. Using the new techniques of generative data visualization, a new generation of artist/designers/engineer/scientists are creating gorgeous, dynamic experiences driven by massive sets of data about our own lives. Their work comes to life in architectural spaces, on walls of wood and metal and light and shimmering glass clouds suspended overhead. Of course it must be touched to be appreciated and engaged with, simple gestures launch a thousand images and possibilities. Many of these projects have received international recognition. They are primarily 3D applications that can run in real time, but really can only be appreciated by watching them, as movies. These data movies aim to make information easier to understand while being enjoyable to watch. Surprising insights surface through looking at our 'data life' in new ways, and may compel us to design in different, even better ways.
Opening Keynote for the 2019 STC Technical Communication Summit in Denver, Colorado by Peter Morville. Transcript is available at https://semanticstudios.com/tomorrows-architects/
6. The combination of organization, labeling, search, and navigation systems in web sites and intranets.
7. The art and science of shaping information products and experiences to support usability and findability.
8.
9. 7 “Search is among the most disruptive innovations of our time. It influences what we buy and where we go. It shapes how we learn and what we believe.” Illustrated by Jeff Callender, Q LTD
11. 9 $earch Metrics Home Depot • Conversion rate increased over 30% in first two weeks. • Double digit increase in average order size. Cabot Corporation • Technical information downloads increased by 48%. • Email and telephone inquiries reduced by 21%. Sigma-Aldrich • Increased successful searches from 53% to 83%. • Increased site traffic to the final product detail page by 80%. “A leading e-commerce site reported a revenue increase of $370 million in the year following launch.” Source: Endeca
13. 11 Search is a…Complex, Adaptive System Source: Search Patterns (2010)
14. Principles of Design Incremental Construction Progressive Disclosure Immediate Response Predictability Alternate Views Recognition Over Recall Minimal Disruption Direct Manipulation Context of Use 12
24. 22 There is one timeless way of building. It is thousands of years old, and the same today as it has always been. The great traditional buildings of the past, the villages and tents and temples in which man feels at home, have always been made by people who were very close to the center of this way. It is not possible to make great buildings, or great towns, beautiful places, places where you feel yourself, places where you feel alive, except by following this way. And, as you will see, this way will lead anyone who looks for it to buildings which are themselves as ancient in their form, as the trees and hills, and as our faces are. The Timeless Way of Building Christopher Alexander
25. 23 Window Place (180) Everybody loves window seats, bay windows, and big windows with low sills and comfortable chairs drawn up to them. May be part of: • Entrance Room(130) • Zen View(134) • Light on Two Sides(159) • Street Windows(164) May contain: • Alcoves(179) • Low Sill(222) • Built-In Seats(202) • Deep Reveals(223) A Pattern Language Christopher Alexander et al.
61. 59 BrainPort Camera in glasses captures video. Image recreated on grid of 400 electrodes. User feels the shape on the tongue. Brain learns to see through the tongue.
62. 60 find·a·bil·i·tyn The quality of being locatable or navigable. The degree to which an object is easy to discover or locate. The degree to which a system or environment supports wayfinding, navigation, and retrieval. am·bi·entadj Surrounding; encircling; enveloping (e.g., ambient air) the ability to find anyone or anything from anywhere at anytime
64. 62 I follow a plant that tweets. Her name is pothos and she lives in Toronto with Angela, an information architect. When pothos is thirsty, she asks for help. Sometimes days pass before the water comes. Bruce Sterling once noted, "Futurism doesn't mean predicting an awesome wonder; rather it means recognizing and describing a small apparent oddity that is destined to become a great commonplace." Ubiquitous Service Design by Peter Morville
65. 63 “Information is blurring the lines between products and services to create multi-channel, cross-platform, trans-media, physico-digital user experiences.” Peter Morville “People keep pretending they can make things deeply hierarchical, categorizable, and sequential when they can’t. Everything is deeply intertwingled.” Ted Nelson
89. 78 What is Information Architecture? http://www.maya.com/the-feed/what-is-information-architecture
90. 79 The Original Information Architect in•for•ma•tion ar•chi•tectn. An individual who organizes the patterns inherent in data, making the complex clear. I mean architect as used in the words architect of foreign policy…as in the creating of systemic, structural, and orderly principles to make something work. The person who creates the structure or map of information that allows others to find their personal paths to knowledge.
92. 81 “Aboriginal Creation myths tell of the legendary totemic beings who had wandered over the continent in the Dreamtime, singing out the name of everything that crossed their path - birds, animals, plants, rocks, waterholes - and so singing the world into existence.” The Songlines by Bruce Chatwin
94. 83 Animals use a combination of egocentric and geocentric techniques for wayfinding. Ambient Findability by Peter Morville
95. 84 “Probably the best statistical graphic ever drawn, this map by Charles Joseph Minard portrays the losses suffered by Napoleon’s army in the Russian campaign of 1812.” Edward Tufte http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/posters
99. 88 Service Design The difference between products and services is more than semantic. Products are tangible objects that exist in both time and space; services consist solely of acts or process(es), and exist in time only. The basic distinction between ‘things’ and ‘processes’ is the starting point for a focused investigation of services. Services are rendered; products are possessed. Services cannot be possessed; they can only be experienced, created or participated in. Though they are different, services and products are intimately and symbiotically linked. How to Design a Service by G. Lynn Shostack (1982)
102. 91 “I’m an information architect. I map paths and places across physical, digital, and cognitive spaces.” Peter Morville “A picture can connect the strategic with the tactical in a way no other communication form possibly can.” Dave Gray
103. 92 Dave Gray http://www.flickr.com/photos/davegray/5072115549/ Peter Morville http://findability.org/archives/000640.php
105. 94 Up The Stairs “How do we make it easier for people to learn about multi-channel possibilities?” http://findability.org/archives/000640.php
106. 95 Visual Thinking Unwritten Rule #1 “Whoever best describes a problem is the person most likely to solve the problem. …or, whoever draws the best picture gets the funding.”
117. 100 IA Therefore I Am Peter Morville morville@semanticstudios.com Search Patterns http://searchpatterns.org/ Semantic Studios http://semanticstudios.com/ Blog http://findability.org/ New!