[Sigia-l] So, how did you become a [Information Architect|Usability Engineer|Interface Designer|etc.]?

[Stew Dean]

At 05:01 26/06/2005, Ted Han wrote:

Ted Wrote:

>Have you simply stumbled in from some other line of work, surprised to
>discover that this is what interests you?  Did you set out and go
>"usability is my -thing-." and go out and get a degree in something or
>other?  How did you find out about IA?

Hi Ted,

I warn you now this will sound a little big headed but I didn't find out 
about IA, it found me. I drew my first site map in 1994 out of necessity 
and the majority of what is now called Information Architecture I was doing 
because that's what's needed to be done to get a project going. I drew up 
site maps, key user flows and templates as without them the site wouldn't 
make sense. To add some context my degree was in interactive system design 
and my final year project was a web site. We had been taught story boarding 
and I didn't feel it worked with hypertext based systems, that is 'space 
multiplexing', or static page based interactive systems as opposed to 'time 
multiplexing' or more dynamic systems. It was about five years into doing 
IA work that I first heard the term Information Architect - every appeared 
to be using it so I just went along, learnt a few techniques, tried to 
harmonise my terms (like using wireframe rather than template) and read up 
on the library science side. My experience grew as my projects grew and I 
worked with others doing the same or similar thing.  Nearly all others have 
come from a different area - I graduated into a interactive design job and 
have been doing it ever since.

In short I feel IA, (aka functional design for user experience) is a matter 
of necessity. I personally feel uncomfortable with the 'usability' word as 
it's possible to make something very usable but totally useless. In my view 
the end solution is the most appropriate, and usability comes out of 
finding the right solution, not something you actually 'do'.

Cheers
Stewart Dean