Descriptions

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Information design

Information design is the process of conveying salient information to the end-user in as effective a way as possible, given the task at hand and the limitations of the medium being used.

This activity is used to design structured information such as tables or large lists. Reference information originally portrayed by text can be accompanied or replaced by icons. Colour, position and size can be used to convey groupings, meaning and to aid readability.

Example 1: OED Online recent searches

This example is from the 2005 project to redesign OED Online for the Oxford University Press.

Up to ten recent searches are summarised at the bottom of the OED Online 'Advanced search' form. The summary contains links which allow a visitor to:

• repopulate the relevant form with the search inputs, or
• rerun the search.

In the original design, the two links were presented within a sentence.

In the redesign, we converted the information to a table with column headings. The first two 'searches' columns include the search name and the link to repopulate the search form. The last two 'results' columns include the number of results and a link to repeat the search.

Read the case study for this project.

Example 2: OED Online date chart

This is an example from 1999 during the original design of OED Online.

Entries in the OED include quotations which illustrate word usage over time; the earliest written quotation and the spread of quotations are of interest to scholars.

An early prototype of OED 2 included a tabular summary of quotation dates and we were asked to explore an alternative presentation of the information. The column labels were in the form "To 1599". For each quotation, just the years were listed below.

We simplified the column headings by changing them from the form of "To 1699" to "1700", and we swapped the column headings with the quotation years. The quotation years were then stacked as in a histogram. Visual clutter was further reduced by removing the background colours. The resulting date chart design is still used by OED Online.

					1580	1611	1781 1751	1857

After: the date chart from "alphabet, n" used in OED Online

Read more about our consultancy work for Oxford University Press.

Relevant Internet projects

Below is a list of Internet projects we've worked on where we've provided information design.

Relevant non-Internet projects

These are other computing projects where we provided information design.

Interaction design

Interaction design is the process of designing a product or service such that its target community of users can actually make effective use of it.

While substantially different systems would need to be built for casual use by consumers versus daily use by trained experts, many of the basic principles of analysis, designing for usability, and testing are the same, requiring both the ability to see things from the user's perspective, and the willingness to change approach in the face of testing and feedback.

Relevant Internet projects

Below is a list of Internet projects we've worked on where we've provided interaction design.

Relevant non-Internet projects

These are other computing projects where we provided interaction design.

Information architecture

Information architecture describes how web site content and functionality is organised. It has particular impact on the web site structure and navigation. It also includes the labelling of pages, sections and links and addresses hierarchies of sections which will be conveyed through visual design.

Information architecture is often part of the requirements definition phase and results in a graphical representation of the web site structure.

We also use information architecture to refer to the design of structured information which drives computer-based systems.

Relevant Internet projects

Below is a list of Internet projects we've worked on where we've provided information architecture.

Technical strategy

Technical strategy is the approach an organisation takes to using technology to meet its objectives. It includes short-, medium- and long-term planning, and choosing technologies, processes and suppliers that best fit the organisation's goals, skill set, culture and financial make-up.

Relevant Internet projects

Below is a list of Internet projects we've worked on where we've provided technical strategy.

Relevant non-Internet projects

These are other computing projects where we provided technical strategy.

Prototyping

Prototyping is building a working model quickly that allows the demonstration or study of the salient features of a system, so that sensible decisions about how to build the real system can be taken.

Prototyping can also be used for proof-of-concept development, where a bare-bones system is built to see if a particular technical approach to a hitherto unsolved problem is practical.

It is absolutely not the process of getting a working system cheaply, since a prototype generally has a flimsy underlying architecture, may only have the artifice of processing data without actually being able to do any of the real processing, and may well be rigged so as to work correctly with exactly one set of inputs.

Despite these limitations, prototypes are often useful in studying things like technical feasibility, site structure, navigation and labelling, user-interface design or branding placement.

Relevant Internet projects

Below is a list of Internet projects we've worked on where we've provided prototyping.

Relevant non-Internet projects

These are other computing projects where we provided prototyping.

Technical consultancy

Technical consultancy is the general catch-all term for providing advice on technically-related matters, based on experience and knowledge.

We tend to use the term in case studies when we've provided advice covering multiple areas, or for longer-running projects where the area of the advice given has changed over time.

Relevant Internet projects

Below is a list of Internet projects we've worked on where we've provided technical consultancy.

Relevant non-Internet projects

These are other computing projects where we provided technical consultancy.

Tool development

Tool development is the specialised activity of designing and writing pieces of software that are used in the design and construction of other software, or that are used to perform tasks related to a particular project or web site.

Tools are generally built to automate repetitive or error-prone tasks, or to solve complicated or recurring problems in a way that can be well-tested, so that the results can be used with confidence.

Problems for which we've written tools include data and document conversion, debugging, profiling and performance analysis, and web-to-database calls. We've also written tools for clients to help them perform web site updates or maintenance more easily.

Relevant Internet projects

Below is a list of Internet projects we've worked on where we've provided tool development.

Relevant non-Internet projects

These are other computing projects where we provided tool development.

Web site construction

Web site construction is the process of building a web site according to whatever design and specification has been agreed upon.

It includes acquiring or writing all the software needed to run the site, creating mark-up for the web pages, organising all the data used or generated by the site, and integrating all the visual design elements, such as images or animations.

In some cases, it will also include specifying and commissioning the computer and networking equipment to host the site.

Relevant Internet projects

Below is a list of Internet projects we've worked on where we've provided web site construction.

Database design

Database design is developing other worktailed structure and behaviour of a database system in order to achieve specific goals, taking into account performance and maintenance constraints.

It might include modelling real-world objects in database terms, and might include specifying the interrelationships between this system and others.

Relevant Internet projects

Below is a list of Internet projects we've worked on where we've provided database design.

Relevant non-Internet projects

These are other computing projects where we provided database design.

Software development

Software development comprises the analysis, design, implementation and deployment of computer software.

It encompasses designing the architecture, interfaces and data models used within a system, choosing the technologies and processes that the system will be built with, and specifying the models and methods used, as well as the actual programming and testing of the software.

Relevant Internet projects

Below is a list of Internet projects we've worked on where we've provided software development.

Relevant non-Internet projects

These are other computing projects where we provided software development.