2009

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Experience Themes

Boxes and Arrows

There’s an old adage among screenwriters that when a writer can sum up a story in a sentence or less, he has discovered what’s important about the story. He’ll know what the story is about and therefore have a strong sense of theme. And in knowing the theme, he’ll have a compass to use in the process of “designing&# the damn thing (i.e. what to keep, what to lose, what actually happens at the end).

Design 98
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Some basic rules for napkin-sketching

Xplaner

An introduction to some basic principles for making better napkin-sketches. Did you like this? If so, please consider buying me a coffee! Tags: workliteracy wom ways of meaning waysofmeaning drawing sketching napkin-sketching napkin Ways of meaning video.

Video 98
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Make Saving Money Fun.spread your wings, my creative students!

Bennett Cherry

Last evening marked the launch of this year's Global Innovation Tournament, a student contest sponsored by the Kauffman Foundation in anticipation of their Global Entrepreneurship Week festivities. Global Entrepreneurship Week will likely be celebrated by more than three million people around the world from November 16-22. Here's how this unique student contest works:a challenge theme is.

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Integrating Prototyping Into Your Design Process

Boxes and Arrows

“ Just like with any other UX research or design tool, context plays a critical role in determining how effective prototyping will be for you. ” Prototyping is a big deal right now. We get wrapped up in mailing list threads, new tools are released at an astonishing pace, books are being published, and articles show up on Boxes & Arrows.

Design 97
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Going Beyond Chatbots: Connecting AI to Your Tools, Systems, & Data

Speaker: Alex Salazar, CEO & Co-Founder @ Arcade | Nate Barbettini, Founding Engineer @ Arcade | Tony Karrer, Founder & CTO @ Aggregage

If AI agents are going to deliver ROI, they need to move beyond chat and actually do things. But, turning a model into a reliable, secure workflow agent isn’t as simple as plugging in an API. In this new webinar, Alex Salazar and Nate Barbettini will break down the emerging AI architecture that makes action possible, and how it differs from traditional integration approaches.

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Sketchy Wireframes

Boxes and Arrows

Introduction When it comes to user interface documentation, wireframes have long been the tool of choice. However, using traditional diagramming tools like Visio, OmniGraffle, and InDesign, most wireframes today look the same as their ancestors did from a decade ago – assembled with rigid, computer-drawn boxes, lines and text. While these artifacts have served us well, they can also be slow to produce, burdened with unnecessary detail and give a false impression of “completion.&#.

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The Content Conundrum

Boxes and Arrows

As web designers and information architects, we often dismiss deep consideration of content when we design interactive experiences. By content I’m not only referring to the various forms of text (e.g., headers, body copy, error messages) but also imagery, graphics, and videos or audio that make up the full interactive experience. Sure, we have a sense of what content is available, and we’ve likely considered it to some extent when creating flows, wireframes, and prototypes.

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Bringing Holistic Awareness to Your Design

Boxes and Arrows

Gone, thankfully, are the days when the user experience and the user interface were an afterthought in the website design process, to be added on when programming was nearing completion. As our profession has increasingly gained importance, it also become increasingly specialized: information design, user experience design, interaction design, user research, persona development, ethnographic user research, usability testing—the list goes on and on.

Design 83
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What design researchers can learn from hostage negotiators

Boxes and Arrows

It’s 2 a.m., and a call comes across the radio that a young man with a gun has barricaded himself and his mother in his home. No shots have been fired, and little communication has been established between the man and police officers outside. The officers on the scene report that the young man has been struggling with the loss of his job and feels like there’s no reason to live.

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Tree Testing

Boxes and Arrows

A big part of information architecture is organisation – creating the structure of a site. For most sites – particularly large ones – this means creating a hierarchical “tree&# of topics. But to date, the IA community hasn’t found an effective, simple technique (or tool) to test site structures. The most common method used—closed card sorting—is neither widespread nor particularly suited to this task.

Data 81
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IDEA 2009 - Day 1

Boxes and Arrows

IDEA2009 had the world’s foremost thinkers and practitioners converge on Toronto’s MaRS Convention Center to share the big ideas that inspire, along with practical solutions for the ways people’s lives and systems are converging to affect society. Listen and learn from experts in a variety of fields as we all continue the exploration of Social Experience Design.

Design 78
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A Roadmap For Modernization: How To Break Free From Your Monolith Before July 31, 2026

Speaker: Jason Cottrell and Gireesh Sahukar

Retailers know the clock is ticking–legacy SAP Commerce support ends in 2026. Legacy platforms are becoming a liability burdened by complexity, rigidity, and mounting operational costs. But modernization isn’t just about swapping out systems, it’s about preparing for a future shaped by real-time interactions, AI powered buying assistants, and flexible commerce architecture.

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UI Pattern Documentation Review

Boxes and Arrows

Introduction User interface (UI) patterns have the potential to make software development more efficient. The prospect of such efficiency gains has led to interest in user interface (UI) patterns by individuals and organizations looking for ways to increase quality while at the same time reducing the costs associated with software development. The very nature of UI patterns requires that they be familiar to end-users.

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IA Summit 09 - Plenary

Boxes and Arrows

Download. iTunes Del.icio.us IA Summit theme music created and provided by BumperTunes™ IA Summit 2009 Podcasts The IA Summit was held in Memphis, TN from March 20-22. Boxes and Arrows captured many of the main conference sessions (“see schedule&# :[link] The Summit sessions will be published in the next two weeks. | “Preview&# :[link] | “Keynote&# :[link] | Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Closing Plenary | The IA Summit Closing Plenary Jesse James Garrett is a noted figure in the IA c

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UX Book Clubs

Boxes and Arrows

In early Nov 2008, I started to talk to a few people about the idea of a book club in Sydney to discuss User Experience (UX) books. Russ Unger and Donna Spencer encouraged me to let other people hear about it, and when I did – through the Information Architecture Institute (IAI) Members discussion list, and then through the Interaciton Design Associaton (IxDA) – many people thought it was a good idea.

Groups 76
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Using Wikis to Document UI Specifications

Boxes and Arrows

Introduction The role of the interaction designer is to specify the interface’s behaviors and elements, so that engineers know what to build and how the product should operate. This documentation is commonly known as a UI specification or UI spec. There are several applications for authoring a UI spec, with wikis being a relatively new tool. However, designers should be aware of a wiki’s benefits and drawbacks for documentation, since UI specs uniquely reflect a project and its conte

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The GTM Intelligence Era: ZoomInfo 2025 Customer Impact Report

ZoomInfo customers aren’t just selling — they’re winning. Revenue teams using our Go-To-Market Intelligence platform grew pipeline by 32%, increased deal sizes by 40%, and booked 55% more meetings. Download this report to see what 11,000+ customers say about our Go-To-Market Intelligence platform and how it impacts their bottom line. The data speaks for itself!

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IDEA 2009 - Day 2

Boxes and Arrows

IDEA2009 had the world’s foremost thinkers and practitioners converge on Toronto’s MaRS Convention Center to share the big ideas that inspire, along with practical solutions for the ways people’s lives and systems are converging to affect society. Listen and learn from experts in a variety of fields as we all continue the exploration of Social Experience Design.

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Photos for interaction

Boxes and Arrows

When developing user interfaces, designers increasingly use custom graphical elements. As the web browser becomes basic technology for software interfaces, more and more elements derived from graphic and web design replace the traditional desktop approaches to the concrete design of human-computer interfaces. In the near future, this development will become even more relevant.

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Toward a theory of information relativity

Xplaner

Visual thinking , originally uploaded by dgray_xplane. People often ask me how to visualize information. They ask things like “How can I visualize my industry ecosystem?” or “How can I visualize how my product works.” My first instinct is to try and back them up a bit. This is because they are already defining their project in terms of an answer or solution, and before you can deliver an answer you need to know the question.

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IA Summit 09 - Day 2

Boxes and Arrows

IA Summit 2009 Podcasts The IA Summit was held in Memphis, TN from March 20-22. Boxes and Arrows captured many of the main conference sessions (“see schedule&# :[link] The remaining Summit sessions will be published in the next two weeks. | “Preview&# :[link] | “Keynote&# :[link] | “Day 1&# :[link] | Day 2 | Day 3 | “Closing Plenary&# :[link] | iTunes Del.icio.us IA Summit theme music created and provided by BumperTunes™ Main Conference Sessions, Day 2 – Satur

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The Benefits of Innovation in Times of Crisis

Innovation is key to overcoming crises. This guide outlines how businesses can navigate uncertainty by adapting strategies, embracing open innovation, and strengthening resilience. Learn how to reassess business models, engage external expertise, and build a robust innovation ecosystem. Explore the three phases of crisis response—from immediate adaptation to long-term transformation—and discover how collaboration accelerates progress while reducing costs.

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Designing the Democratic

Boxes and Arrows

The role of the information architect (IA), interaction designer, or user experience (UX) designer is to help create architecture and interactions which will impact the user in constructive, meaningful ways. Sometimes the design choices are strategic and affect a broad interaction environment; other times they may be tactical and detailed, affecting few.

Design 70
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Engaging Interaction

Boxes and Arrows

iTunes Del.icio.us Podcast music generously provided by Bumper Tunes. Download This evening I had the pleasure of speaking with Principal of Interaction Design at Kicker Studio Jennifer Bove. Jennifer is co-chairing Interaction10 the third annual Interaction Design Association conference taking place February 4-7th at the Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia.

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Research Logistics

Boxes and Arrows

With more companies today putting a stronger emphasis on gaining a deeper understanding of their customer, it’s not unusual for us to be called in for a project to find that our clients don’t have a lot of experience with research and don’t know what to expect. This article is for every designer, architect, manager, engineer, and stakeholder who wants to know more about research and is intended to provide you with the most critical tools for interacting with researchers and und

Report 67
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Researching Video Games the UX Way

Boxes and Arrows

Video games are often overlooked in the scope of usability testing simply because, in a broad sense, their raison d’etre is so different than that of a typical functional interface: fun, engagement, and immersion, rather than usability and efficiency. Players are supposed to get a feeling of satisfaction and control from the interface itself, and in that sense, interaction is both a means and an end.

Video 67
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Zero Trust Mandate: The Realities, Requirements and Roadmap

The DHS compliance audit clock is ticking on Zero Trust. Government agencies can no longer ignore or delay their Zero Trust initiatives. During this virtual panel discussion—featuring Kelly Fuller Gordon, Founder and CEO of RisX, Chris Wild, Zero Trust subject matter expert at Zermount, Inc., and Principal of Cybersecurity Practice at Eliassen Group, Trey Gannon—you’ll gain a detailed understanding of the Federal Zero Trust mandate, its requirements, milestones, and deadlines.

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A Wiser Interaction

Boxes and Arrows

iTunes Download Del.icio.us Boxes and Arrows theme music generously provided by Bumper Tunes. Chris Baum speaks with Bill DeRouchey, co-chair for the 2010 Interaction Design Conference , about the upcoming conference and how the third annual conference will start to model the essence of Interaction Design. Looking Back Bill talks about the first two years of the conference, the lessons learned from those experiences, and why Interaction ‘10 returns to Savannah.

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IDEA 2009: An Interview with Leisa Reichelt

Boxes and Arrows

As IDEA 2009 draws closer, the IA Institute is conducting a series of interviews with the speakers for the conference. As Director of Events and Marketing for the IAI , I fill a variety of roles and lead the charge for the IDEA Conference this year, as well as get to Interview the IDEA Presenters (which I proudly share with Greg Corrin in this case).

Design 61
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Information Architecture for Audio: Doing It Right - Boxes and Arrows: The design behind the design

Boxes and Arrows

Boxes And Arrows : The Design Behind the Design Register or Log In Search Stories Ideas Forums People Events Jobs About December Issue, 2008 Jens Jacobsen 32 Reputation points Jens likes writing for multimedia and loves tracking down usability issues. He founded the company “ Content Crew ” in 2006, and is its CEO since this time. This company specializes on the production of podcast, with the focus on audio.

Design 61
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IDEA 2009: An Interview with Thomas Malaby

Boxes and Arrows

As IDEA 2009 draws closer, the IA Institute is conducting a series of interviews with the speakers for the conference. As Director of Events and Marketing for the IAI , I fill a variety of roles and lead the charge for the IDEA Conference this year, as well as get to Interview the IDEA Presenters (which I proudly share with Greg Corrin in this case).

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Maximizing Profit and Productivity: The New Era of AI-Powered Accounting

Speaker: Yohan Lobo and Dennis Street

In the accounting world, staying ahead means embracing the tools that allow you to work smarter, not harder. Outdated processes and disconnected systems can hold your organization back, but the right technologies can help you streamline operations, boost productivity, and improve client delivery. Dive into the strategies and innovations transforming accounting practices.

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Interaction 09 Follow-up

Boxes and Arrows

From February 5-8, 2009, IxDA hosted their second annual conference, Interaction 09 , in Vancouver, BC. Last year’s inaugural conference in Savannah had a powerful and lasting impact on the community, filled with encouraging messages and the realization that for many of us that we had “found our tribe.&# The challenge for 2009 was to see if that energy could be recaptured a year later—in a new place and during undeniably pressing times.

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IA Summit 09 - Day 3

Boxes and Arrows

IA Summit 2009 Podcasts The IA Summit was held in Memphis, TN from March 20-22. Boxes and Arrows captured many of the main conference sessions ( see schedule ). The remaining Summit sessions will be published in the next two weeks. | Preview | Keynote | Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Closing Plenary | iTunes Del.icio.us IA Summit theme music created and provided by BumperTunes™ Main Conference Sessions, Day 3 – Sunday, March 22 These sessions were recorded on the first day of the conference.

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All It's Cracked Up To Be

Boxes and Arrows

When the Web first emerged, there was a hole in the user experience world. Many people were practicing interaction design, but their community was shoe-horned into those of other disciplines like IA, HCI , and Usability. At the time, many people felt like that was sufficient. Then the Web started to change and the conversation with it. That hole seemed all the more gaping.

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The Assumption of "Trust" in Social Networks

Bennett Cherry

I received an email today about Second Porch, a new startup that allows Facebook users to "trade and rent vacation homes among their trusted group of friends and networks". The concept is certainly intriguing as it marries up social networking with an oft-intimidating process: renting a vacation home. For many vacation-goers, they don't even consider the option of renting a vacation home for.

Groups 40
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Campaigns that Click: Practical Personalization Strategies to Boost ROI

Speaker: Jennifer Hodroge, Omni-Channel Strategic Leader, Forrester CX Certified

Marketers know that personalization is the key to engagement—but with limited budgets and time, how do you prioritize what, where, and how to personalize? Aligning your content, campaigns, and buyer experiences requires a deep understanding of customer needs. In this new webinar with expert Jennifer Hodroge, we’ll explore how to leverage insights and customer journey mapping to build personalization strategies that deliver real impact.