currybetdotnet Information Architecture archive
Fixing the IA of an IA's blog: Part 4
In the final part of this series about my recent blog redesign, I look at how I set the criteria for success, and use the Venn diagram in the top right-hand corner of the banner area to set my content strategy.
Fixing the IA of an IA's blog: Part 3
In part three of this series looking at the currybetdotnet redesign, I talk about the new 'hub' and 'theme' pages, and what I hope they will achieve.
Fixing the IA of an IA's blog: Part 2
In the second part of this series looking at the how and why of the recent changes I've made to the site, I'm focusing on the homepage and the demotion of the linklog.
Fixing the IA of an IA's blog: Part 1
At the beginning of the year I changed the design and information architecture of this blog. This series of posts examines how and why I finally fixed the IA of an IA's blog.
'What is information architecture?' on Inside Guardian, and talking with Talis
I've recently started a blog post series on Inside Guardian about my role as information architect at guardian.co.uk, and also been interviewed for the Nodalities podcast about 'Linked Data' and news.
The UX of moving house: Part 8 - BT's customer service on Twitter
Over the last two weeks I've been writing about the user experience of moving house when trying to utilise online tools to do a lot of the work. On the whole, whether it has been poorly optimised estate agent search, registering for council tax, or appalling customer service from Sky, it wasn't a happy one. It is sometimes a lot easier to be critical of things rather than constructive - and I make no apology for that. In the recent...
The UX of moving house: Part 7 - Sky's dreadful customer service
When I moved house last year one of the worst examples of user experience, both online and offline, was provided by Sky when I tried to get their TV service installed.
The UX of moving house: Part 6 - Officialdom
In part 6 of this series, I turn my attention away from estate agents, and towards the user experience of dealing with Haringey and Waltham Forest councils.
The UX of moving house: Part 5 - A more native web experience
Globrix and Rightmove are two 'digital native' websites that illustrate that the user experience of searching for a new home online need not be as painful as most estate agent websites seem to make it.
The UX of moving house: Part 4 - Transport links
In the fourth part of this series, based on a presentation given at 'London IA in the pub' in October 2009, I look at different online interfaces to help you determine the transport links surrounding your potential new home.
The UX of moving house: Part 3 - Experimental interfaces and 'the curse of the tiny image'
Not all estate agent websites follow the same formula. In this part of the 'UX of moving house' series, I look at an experimental flash search results page, and ponder why so many estate agent sites make such poor use of images.
The UX of moving house: Part 2 - Estate agent search results
Looking for a new home is essentially one long search process over a set of structured data - location, price, number of bedrooms etc. You'd therefore expect most estate agent sites to be heavily optimised around the search experience. You would be wrong, as part 2 of this series illustrates.
The UX of moving house...with a pregnant spouse: Part 1
Last year my wife and I bought a house for the first time. She was heavily pregnant during the process, and so I did much more of the leg-work that I'd usually expect to. Naturally, I tried to do everything online, and document the good and the bad about the information architecture and user experience as I went along. This is the first of a series of posts based on a presentation of my findings, which I originally gave at 'London IA in the pub' in October 2009.
The curious case of the enterprise software design from the nineties that just would not die
Several presentations of enterprise software I've seen recently have made me wonder why we tolerate interfaces and interactions in this sphere which would never make it into production for web tools.
London IA Mini 4: Max Gadney - "The glass-bottomed boat"
Early in November we held the fourth London IA Mini conference evening. Zebra People sponsored the night, which was hosted by EMC Conchango. In the first part of my round-up of the evening, I had some notes and a video clip of Max Gadney's opening talk. BBC History archive - 'What is the way in?' Max was talking about how information design needs to be really useful for the audience, and not just about 'designing for ourselves'. As a commissioner...
London IA Mini 4: Max Gadney - "Information isn't beautiful"
On November 11th we held the latest in our series of London IA Mini conference evenings. The hosts were EMC Conchango and our kind sponsors were Zebra People. We had a top selection of speakers - Max Gadney, Richard Sedley, Jason Mesut and Oliver Reichenstein. Today I wanted to post some of my notes and a video clip of the talk from Max. Max Gadney His talk had been billed as a 'challenge' to "much of current practice in data...
London IA Mini IV on Wednesday night
After last month's "London IA in a pub + talks" experiment, on Wednesday we are back to having one of our regular London IA Mini events, this time hosted by EMC Conchango near London Bridge. We've got a great line-up of speakers. Richard Sedley, director of the cScape Customer Engagement Unit will be giving a debrief from the Design of Persuasion conference in Brussels, and talking about "some of the more common uses of social psychology in website design and...
Notes and quotes from Ecommerce Expo: Part 5 - Product information management and site search optimisation
Over the last week or so I've been posting a whole series of notes and quotes from the recent Ecommerce Expo, looking at multi-variant testing, optimising shopping carts, social commerce, semantic ecommerce and ticket-touting brand building and online marketing. In this last part I want to look at two presentations, one about information management, and one about internal site search. "Product information management: The next Ecommerce opportunity" - Steve Lovatt, Pinder You simply can't argue with a presentation that has...
Notes and quotes from Ecommerce Expo: Part 2 - "Persuading users to buy & eliminating checkout drop-offs"
Last week I started blogging about my visit to the Ecommerce Expo in Earls Court, where I attended some of the free seminar sessions that were on offer. If you can pick your way through the more obvious sales pitches, then there are usually a few worth visiting. I first posted about a case study from British Airways on multi-variant testing. Today I wanted to write about Trenton Moss from Webcredible, and his presentation on optimising the checkout process. "Persuading...
Notes and quotes from Ecommerce Expo: Part 1 - "How little changes made a big difference at BA.com"
Last week I made my annual trip to the Ecommerce Expo in London. Although in my current role at The Guardian I don't generally deal with Ecommerce day-to-day, I've done plenty in the past for people like Sony. The exhibition had a four-track two day programme of free seminars running alongside it, and if you can pick your way through the more blatant software and service sales pitches, you can find some really interesting case studies from some big (and...
New interactive Flash photo gallery on guardian.co.uk
London IA in the Pub on Wednesday...now with added slides
A (re)design for life - the new environmentguardian.co.uk front page
UX London redux video: Tom Coombs on Jared Spool - part 3
UX London redux video: Tom Coombs on Jared Spool - part 2
UX London redux video: Tom Coombs on Jared Spool - part 1
The Guardian's 'river of tones'
UX London redux video: Tom Coombs on Donna Spencer
UX London redux video: Chris Petzny on Dan Saffer
UX London redux video: Frances Eida on sketching
UX London redux video: Jane Austin & Chris Neale on sketching
UX London redux video: James Box on Wireframes 2.0 - part 5
UX London redux video: James Box on Wireframes 2.0 - part 4
UX London redux video: James Box on Wireframes 2.0 - part 3
UX London redux video: James Box on Wireframes 2.0 - part 2
UX London redux video: James Box on Wireframes 2.0 - part 1
UX London redux video: Andy Budd on UX London
'The future of journalism' and Linked Data panel
London IA Mini Conference III: UX London Redux
Interview with a UCL Library & Information studies student - Ben Veasey
Interview with Martin Belam: Part 7 - News branding and 'authoritative information' on the web
Interview with Martin Belam: Part 6 - Measuring news consumer behaviour online
Interview with Martin Belam: Part 5 - Changes in the delivery of news
Interview with Martin Belam: Part 4 - Information Architecture in a news context
Interview with Martin Belam: Part 3 - What makes good Information Architecture?
Interview with Martin Belam: Part 2 - Perceptions of Information Architecture as a discipline
Interview with Martin Belam: Part 1 - Internet and intranet navigation trends
"Graceful Hacks" - UX, IA and interaction design tips for hack days
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery
London IA Mini Conference II: Notes, facts and take-away quotes - part 2
London IA Mini Conference II: Notes, facts and take-away quotes - part 1
London IA Mini Alpha & Beta tonight in Soho
Thinking about future London IA Mini event formats
London IA Mini Conference review - Part 2
London IA Mini Conference review - Part 1
"Introducing Information Architecture at The Guardian"
London IA Mini Conference at The Guardian in April
Wireframing the front page: Part 5 - The Sun
Wireframing the front page: Part 4 - The Times
Wireframing the front page: Part 3 - The Daily Mail
Wireframing the front page: Part 2 - The "viewport"
Wireframing the front page: Part 1 - The "homepage"
Navigating newspapers: Part 5 - The 'quality press'
Navigating newspapers: Part 4 - The 'red tops' and the 'middle market'
Navigating newspapers: Part 3 - A question of sports
Navigating newspapers: Part 2 - Mapping primary navigation
Navigating newspapers: Part 1 - We are what we label
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Talks & presentations
"Journalism in the digital age"
I'll be appearing on a panel with Sarah Hartley and Iain Hepburn at the Edinburgh International Science Festival on Sunday April 11th. More details...
Posts of the moment
Day of the Triffids
If everyone suddenly went blind, how long would the Internet survive, and could you still publish news on it?
With professionals of this quality, who needs 'citizen journalist' enemies?
It is hard to argue that ethics and quality set the 'professional journalist' apart from the amateur blogger, if the 'professional' keeps publishing articles so wrong that they have to be deleted.
Read more about...
- The future of news
- IA and UX events
- Local and hyperlocal news
- Martin Belam talks and presentations
- Media policy and regulation
- New media best practice
- Newspaper website design
- Notes and quotes from media and web events
- 'Old' media relationship with 'new' media
- Site search management and design
- Working at the BBC (2000 - 2005)
- Working at The Guardian (2008 - now)
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Contact: martin dot belam at currybet dot net. © Martin Belam where appropriate.
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