[Sigia-l] The fuzzy line btwn IA and Design

[Andrew McNaughton]

On Fri, 26 Apr 2002, Anne Hjortshoj wrote:

> I agree absolutely with Mike. The approach where IA develops designs
> independent of the visual designers - for example, when IA develops
> wireframes and then "throws them over the wall" to the visual design team
> - leads to conflict. A side-by-side approach is collaborative,
> respectful, and can lead to great results.

The same applies in all directions between other roles in web development
- IA, design, technical, editorial, even account managers and the like.

Web work is fundamentally interdisciplinary stuff.  It seems an obvious
approach to divide a development outfit into interdisciplinary teams
rather than dividing by role.  That said it sounds like it's not usually
the way things are done?

Working with people doing the same kind of work does offer a lot in terms
of learning from ones colleagues, and I suspect people gravitate to this
arrangement because it's comfortable to work with people who are likely to
carry a lot of the same attitudes.

Is anyone in a good position to contrast the two approaches from
experience?

Andrew McNaughton