[Sigia-l] IA and interface design

[Andrew Dillon]

> 
> Interface design is *not* part of IA, except perhaps the "labelling" part
> of it, and nobody can convince me otherwise. And if by "design", you mean
> "visual design", that's a negative too. IMNSHO, of course.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Madhu


Hi Madhu

Perhaps it is just the way you expressed this but saying that 'nobody can
convince you otherwise' indicates a rather closed mind which is not
conducive to discussion. In that case, you can ignore what follows, it is
aimed at those that are willing to consider other perspectives.

An interface is a boundary between entities, but it is also a communication
channel. The interface any user experiences is multi-leveled. There is the
physical interface (keyboards, screen, stylus, mouse etc.)  and (at least)
the conceptual interface (how the tool enables a task to be performed and
represents objects and events to the user).

How one organizes information (layout, structure, content grouping etc) has
real impact on how the user will experience this technology and in that
case, it is a vital component of interface design. To imagine one can do
interface design without paying attention to these issues is difficult, or
at least, it is difficult to imagine how one could really design in a
user-centered fashion if one did not consider the user response to these
structures and try to develop structures and layouts that are cognitively
compatible.  

I consider the IA concern with structure to also have many levels, one of
which is the consideration of how layout and organization will map to and
for the user. There are other concerns with the structure too, but this is
one of them.

Note, this is not to say that IA = interface design, but it is to say that
IA must include interface design, for it is unavoidable if you are
user-centered. Users respond to layouts, content and structures, as well as
to labels, colors, messages, prompts, menus, etc etc. Interface design, at
least as practiced by the designers I have worked with and studied, is
concerned with all these issues. Interface design that is left to the end,
where superficial aspects of screen design alone are considered, is usually
a recipe for failure.

I usually remark on these (in my view) forced distinctions about IA in my
regular IA column for the ASIST bulletin, so I'll not say any more here.

As always, best wishes to all and keep the dialog going.


Andrew