Business: UX Professions

“The practice of information architecture is the effort of organizing and relating information in a way that simplifies how people navigate and use information on the Web.”—DSIA Research Initiative

Over the past two decades, the volatile evolution of Web applications and services has resulted in organizational uncertainty that has kept our understanding and framing of the information architect in constant flux. In the meantime, the reality of getting things done has resulted in a professional environment where the information architect is less important than the practitioner of information architecture (IA). Read More

Unfortunately, in the field of user experience, people often confuse terms like information architecture, interaction design, visual design, usability engineering, and UX design. In some cases, people use these terms almost interchangeably. This article provides a lexicon of these terms and more clearly defines the role of the user experience designer.

Information Architecture

Information architecture (IA) focuses on the organization of data—that is, how data is structured from a user’s perspective, as opposed to the system, or technical, perspective.

At the level of an entire Web site, or application, information architecture determines what data is on each page and how pages relate to each other. For example, defining a site map is an IA activity. At the level of an individual page layout, information architecture ensures that data is logically grouped and interrelated. Read More

If there has ever been a time when UX designers have seen their role profoundly questioned, that time seems to be now. As artificial intelligence (AI) demands our collective attention, the profession of UX design is reeling from both this technology’s extraordinary possibilities and the huge unknowns that come with its adoption. What are the opportunities and threats that AI presents to the UX design profession?

The performance and creative potential of AI and, in some cases, the ability for anyone with little or no technical expertise to use its capabilities, have become fuel for thought on the future of the discipline of UX design. What will continue to make our profession distinctive and indispensable? Read More