[Sigia-l] 3-D workflows

[George Olsen]

Clifton Evans said:
>
> I think 3D mapping is a HUGE step into what we need to be doing.
>
> Because..
>
> 1) The web is not flat
>
> 2) Games, TV and Film use 3D and we should too
>
> I guess what I'm saying is that we don't yet understand our medium and
> 3D will definitely help us do that.

Actually, despite my orthographic layered site-map, I'd disagree that 3D
is specifically the answer. Humans have spent centuries developing 2D
representations of the world not because they lacked 3D-rendering, but 2D
helped simplify things. Something that the advocates of VRML and other 3D
worlds keep forgetting (who wants to "walk to the post office to pickup
email" when I can just click on the "get email button").

That said, if we think instead of "layered" information I think your point
holds true. This could be spatial layering -- like my site structure which
showed a site with related message boards as well as a wireless elements.
It could also be layered via motion graphics or time.

I'd actually toyed with the idea of using Flash as a way of structuring
documentation. For example, you'd start with a high-level flowchart
showing key goals your users are trying to accomplish. Clicking on the
users would bring up the persona info. Another click might bring you to a
persona relationship map, showing how one user role relates to others.
Clicking on flowchart would zoom into more detail, for example, a specific
task analysis model that walks that illustrates each step. An animation
then might show how the task would be restructured under the new system.
This in turn might then show the specific wireframes that support those
new tasks, which then be integrated with the actual screens when designed.

I'm not sure if any of this would actually work -- and obviously you'd
want over ways to access the documentation -- but it's got interesting
possibilities in letting the documentation itself tell the story.

_____________________________________________________________________
George Olsen                           george at interactionbydesign.com
User Experience Architect                                310-993-0467