you know more than you think you do

While not entirely a case study, it’s about the observations I made when I was thrust into the development of a high-profile RIA.

Everybody’s talking RIA. So what’s this about?

The structural design of an information space to facilitate task completion and intuitive access to content.

Information Architecture for the World-Wide Web Louis Rosenfeld & Peter Morville

Organizing info so people can find stuff

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First, what does an Information Architect do?

…I’m one

Two people speaking face-to-face

Narrative Archive Reproduction Speed Distance Quantity Immediacy

A History of Communication (Highly Abridged Version)

Archived graphic narrative

Narrative Archive Reproduction Speed Distance Quantity Immediacy

A History of Communication (Highly Abridged Version)

Archived written narrative

Narrative Archive Reproduction Speed Distance Quantity Immediacy

A History of Communication(Highly Abridged Version)

Archived graphic & written narrative

Narrative Archive Reproduction Speed Distance Quantity Immediacy

A History of Communication (Highly Abridged Version)

Narrative Archive Reproduction Speed Distance Quantity Immediacy

Reproduction of archived written & graphic narrative

A History of Communication(Highly Abridged Version)

Narrative Archive Reproduction Speed Distance Quantity Immediacy

Faster reproduction of archived written & graphic narrative

A History of Communication(Highly Abridged Version)

Narrative Archive Reproduction Speed Distance 1-way Quantity Immediacy

Reaching across distances

A History of Communication(Highly Abridged Version)

Narrative Archive Reproduction Speed Distance 1-way Quantity Immediacy

Increased sharing and access to larger amounts of information

A History of Communication(Highly Abridged Version)

Narrative Archive Reproduction Speed Distance 1-way Quantity Personal

Real time, mobile, human interaction both intimate and public

A History of Communication(Highly Abridged Version)

Make Communication Methods…

More Relevant: Timely or Informed

Available to More People: n-to-n

Cover Greater Distances: Space & Time

All this in order to replicate as closely as possible…

Narrative Archive Reproduction Speed Distance Quantity Immediacy

Narrative Archive Reproduction Speed Distance Quantity Immediacy

The experience of two people speaking face-to-face

Rich Internet Application: (RIA) are web applications that have the features and functionality of traditional desktop applications. RIAs typically transfer the processing necessary for the user interface to the web client but keep the bulk of the data (i.e. maintaining the state of the program, the data etc) back on the application server.

Some of the most recognizable attributes of RIAs are:…fluidity in their behavior…speed in their responses …engaging in their appearance - more than typical HTML web sites

Defined

• Customer Experience is in the driver’s seat

• Design-Centric vs. System –Driven

• Improved Performance

• The Design is the Code so no need for copious mounts of IA artifacts

What’s the buzz?

6 things I think I thought going in…

The Hammer problem: “When the only tool you have is a hammer every problem looks like a nail.”I didn’t want limitations on my part to drive the process into my personal safe-zone simply because it’s what I know

High-profile: The design team had done an excellent job of marketing the application internally creating intense pressure to deliver based largely on a static presentation

Design looks real and finished in the minds of stakeholders

Work from predecessor – Specialist in social web and its implications. Not an area that I’d focused on much

How is the effort different from HTML design?Lack of familiarity with the implementation needs

Urgency: Everybody wants it NOW! -CEO, CMO, Suppliers, Partner Marketing, Customers and the Press

Strategic ViewLimited Prototype: Developed around the particular needs of a single context –Las Vegas, and several issues around scalability had not been addressed – Islands Regions, Destination vs. Activity driven paths

Existing IA Effort: Very little in terms of IA work to consume. Predecessor was split between two engagements one of which would become a new business unit under his supervision

Maintenance: No CMS or digital asset management systems in place to enable areliable roll-out or maintenance plan

Navigation: Proposed list of initial destinations included different types of paths that had not been distinguished from each other

Tactical ViewScope: A detailed and long-term feature/user story list had not been qualified

Usability: The design that had been so aggressively marketed had not undergone any scrutiny from a usability standpoint

Content: Several content areas had not been fleshed out and the need forinteraction design prior to committing to code still existed

What to do first?: Review the Foundation

Observed how a new, richer interface did or did not influence entrenched expectations for the outcome of a task.

TransferenceEmphasis on Quantitative vs. Qualitative info

Saw (again) the impact of big pictures

Collected pragmatic ammunition to battle “giddiness”

Usability Testing of Existing Prototype

What to do first?: Review the Foundation

Qualified features and functions against three criteria

Mapped back-log sequencing to user need

Feature Analysis

Usability Testing of Existing Prototype

What to do first?: Review the Foundation

Ratings from 1 to 55 being highest

What to do first?: Review the Foundation

Least Flexibility

x3 x2 x1

MostFlex

ibility

What to do first?: Review the Foundation

x2x1 x3Multiply the values ineach column by their weight from the matrix

Sort on the weighted scores

What to do first?: Review the Foundation

Agreed with design team on Key-frames as reference points for wireframes (YES wireframes!)

Developed additional visual vocabulary to communicate rudimentary transitions without being too prescriptive

ID For Content Areas Yet To Be CharacterizedFeature Analysis

Usability Testing of Existing Prototype

Visual VocabularySimple notation to take in transitions within static artifacts

What to do first?: Review the Foundation

What to do first?: Review the Foundation

Identified Different Context For Navigation Used To See Inventory

ID For Content Areas Yet To Be CharacterizedFeature Analysis

Usability Testing of Existing Prototype

I want to go to...Las Vegas, New York, The CaribbeanI want to… Ski, Surf, Save Money

Hype: Higher “Giddiness” factor that comes from stakeholders’ seeing cool, shiny moving prototype

What’s Different?

Vocabulary: There is some language that comes with RIA development that is an outgrowth of its visual fluidity. This affects traditional artifacts

Rev Cycles: Lead-times between functional and visual design can be longer

ID Context: Interaction design often driven at a component vs. a page level

Business Logic in the UI: There is more going on in the UI than there used to be vs. the back-end. This informs the efficacy of certain interactions

Collaboration: Discipline in validating feasibility of features with technical development

What’s The Same?The process: Idea, Plan & Build

Planning: The need to do low-risk, functional prototypes devoid of design elements

Tactics: The need to assess your surroundings and choose tactics appropriately

Balance: IA bringing balance between the System and the UI. However, the desire to forge ahead without planning that used to come from technology is coming from design

Vision: Discipline in keeping the big picture in front of individual features

Pitfalls To Avoid

Interaction Design: Not getting caught up in the interaction at the expense of content or “The Rube Goldberg”* school of interaction for its own sake.

*Rube Goldberg (rōōb gōld’berg), n. a comically involved, complicated invention, laboriously contrived to perform a simple operation – Webster’s New World Dictionary

Revision Cycles: Don’t assume that visual edits are as easy in Flash as in HTML

Tone-Setting: Not killing the excitement with pragmatism

Q&A