Information architect + UX designer + Tabletop gamer + Jewish Dad + Family cook / Black Lives Matter / ✏️ https://t.co/x3yAGVb7K2 / 🎲 https://t.co/KyCdzg487D
Aug 17, 2022 • 12 tweets • 3 min read
Lisa asks about coaching people in marginalized communities when you, the coach, are not from that marginalized community. (As always, Lisa's prompts are so good...)
A short thread of a few things I do, acknowledging that I'm mediocre at this at best.
Mentoring marginalized people:
Step 1: Admit you can only be mediocre at this (my tongue-in-cheek way of saying "be humble"). I go into every mentoring relationship assuming I'm going to learn as much from them as they will from me. It changes the tone of the conversation.
Jun 1, 2022 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
Designing UI to reflect, support, and convey a product's information architecture is an exercise in tradeoffs.
A product's information architecture is a complex system, a set of interconnected nodes, concepts, and categories that is difficult to visualize, much less explain.
A product's UI is, from an information architect's perspective, a means for conveying the product's underlying structure. Mostly, however, it how we tell the user, "Here's what you need to know about the structure in this moment."
Oct 4, 2019 • 13 tweets • 4 min read
Over the last few days I’ve seen assertions and evidence that information architecture literacy is diminished. Not the least of which: Sitting in a design review where the designers couldn’t explain the structure of their design.
Interest in IA was stronger 20 years ago, says @karenmcgrane, and I tend to agree. What’s pulled the rug out from under the field? I posed this question to the @eightshapes team this morning.
Often, collaboration gets confused with "consensus-building" or some other flavor of "everyone always in the same room."
Good collaboration doesn't preclude solo time. Instead, it is adopting behaviors to work together effectively. In our field, that always includes quiet time.
Grounded in a “car mechanic” mentality, our health system rests on the assumption that everything is fine until it’s not. When your car makes a funny noise, you bring it in to the mechanic. They diagnose and fix and send you on your way.
Mar 21, 2019 • 14 tweets • 5 min read
Let's try something new. Here's a Twitter mini case study thread about a sticky information architecture problem. Serious IA nerdery ahead.
You been warned.
In the space of an hour, my client and I unpacked a challenging problem and determined a better approach to the navigation. It was a fascinating process that involved a few key insights.
Jul 16, 2018 • 11 tweets • 3 min read
Designers get a lot of pressure to expand their skill set. Just like the products you design, you don't have to be all things to all people. But, you do have to work well with them. This is my ongoing series on what you might call "human skills."
Talking to users about prototypes:
