IxDA

Dan Brown

Concept Models: A Tool for Planning Interaction

Maybe you've done personas. Maybe you've got a stack of requirements. Maybe you've got nothing. All you know is that you need to design a set of interactions around a complex information structure- lots of variables, lots of permutations. It can be difficult to know where to begin. Concept models- a means for representing elaborate relationships between information- are ideal starting points for the practicing interaction designer. A concept model can jump-start the design process by highlighting important relationships, identifying key access points for representing in the interface, and giving the design team a common vocabulary for talking about the product's underlying concepts.

In this session, participants will learn how to develop concept models and the different ways they can feed the design process.

Bio

Jared Spool

Dan Brown is founder and principal at EightShapes, LLC, a user experience consulting firm based in Washington, DC that has engaged with clients in telecommunications, media, education, health, high-tech, and other sectors. Dan has been practicing information architecture and user experience design since 1995.

He speaks widely on design methodology, information architecture, and challenges facing designers. In 2006, he published Communicating Design (New Riders), a book about creating and using documentation during the web design process. Amazon reviews call it "authoritative", "practical, personal, comprehensive" and "a cool nerdbook".

Video

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