A Project Guide to UX Design:
For User Experience Designers in the
Field or in the Making
Russ Unger
Carolyn Chandler
The Book
1 ) The Tao of UXD: Curiosity Meets Passion Meets Empathy
2 ) The Project Ecosystem: Planning for Project Needs,
Roles, and Culture
3 ) Proposals for Consultants and Freelancers: A Guide for
Those in the Business that also Manage Their Own Business
4 ) Project Objectives and Approach: Know Which Star to
Navigate By
5 ) Business Requirements: Know the Problem before You
Create the Solution
6 ) User Research: Get to Know the Guests You're Inviting to
the Party
7 ) Personas: Find the Best Way to Put Your Team - or Your
Client - in Your Users' Shoes
The Book, Continued
8 ) User Experience Design and Search Engine Optimization:
User Experience Design's Fundamental Role in SEO
9 ) Transition: From Defining to Designing: Time to Visualize,
Prioritize, and Plan
10 ) Site Maps and Task Flows: Structuring Your Project from
Here to There and Back Again
11 ) Wireframes and Annotations: Design and Direction - Before
the Visual Design Begins
12 ) Prototyping: Breathing (Some Sort of) Life into Your
Design
13 ) Design and Testing with Users: Break Away from What You
Think You Know - And Find Out How They Think
14 ) Transition: From Design to Development and Beyond:
Where Do We Go from Here?
IA v. UX
Information Architecture is...
...one of the three most important/common roles that a UX
Designer plays.
An Information Architect is responsible for creating models for
information structure and using them to design user-friendly
navigation and content categorization. During the design of
sites and applications, common responsibilities include creating
detailed site maps and ensuring that categories and
subcategories of information are distinct and user-friendly.
- A Project Guide to UX Design
IA v. UX
Information Architecture is...
...SMOLFing information.
It is the art and science of Structuring, Managing, Organizing,
Labeling, and Finding Information.
- From a presentation that Russ Unger for the organization he
was working for at the time.
IA v. UX
Information Architecture is...
1. The structural design of shared information environments.
2. The combination of organization, labeling, search, and
navigation systems within web sites and intranets.
3. The art and science of shaping information products and
experiences to support usability and findability.
- Information Architecture for the World Wide Web
UX v. IA
UX Design is...
...the creation and synchronization of the elements that affect
users' experience with a particular company, with the intent of
influencing their perceptions and behavior.
- A Project Guide to UX Design
UX v. IA
UX Design is...
...investigating how the user's needs align with the business
objectives to refine the foundation of the design.
...determining what we are making, why we are making it and
who it is for. Identifying the features, content, navigation and
components of the interface design.
...planning this approach to allow for expansion and growth
while ensuring the viability of the design for an extended period
of time.
- from a presentation that Russ Unger was working on for the
company he worked for at the time.
IA AND UX
Information Architecture is...
4. An emerging discipline and community of practice focused
on bringing principles of design and architecture to the digital
landscape.
- Information Architecture for the World Wide Web
Information Architecture is about how to
choose the right way to present information
and how to help people navigate through it.
It's a way of thinking in which the aim is not
to make something look good but to make it
be good.
Richard Saul Wurman