I really think we're over complicating the whole thing. As far as "designers" go in the interactive world, I think they now fall into two distinct types: visual and interaction (or UI).
In my mind, Interaction/UI Designers define how a web app/system/gadget works. Or, how someone uses it. Visual designers define how something *looks *. They choose the colors, fonts, and images. Visual designers are a dime a dozen, but interaction/ui designers are rare. A combination of the two is even more rare. It's a simple view, and it could be worded much better, but that's my two cents. Hugh Griffith User Interface Designer On Tue, Mar 24, 2009 at 9:28 AM, Dan Saffer <d...@odannyboy.com> wrote: > > On Mar 24, 2009, at 7:39 AM, Todd Zaki Warfel wrote: > > And yes, I'll be bold enough to say that I don't really see that much of a >> difference between IA and IxD. And frankly, I'm not that interested in >> spending time creating a divide between the two. I've been doing them in >> tandem for over a decade. They have the same goal in mind—making products >> easier and more enjoyable to use. The only real important distinction I see >> is that IA provides the foundation, which IxD builds on top of. >> >> In theory, they're different. But in reality, if you're doing one, you're >> doing the other. Yeah, I said it. >> > > This really bothers me because it is so untrue and we've spent countless > hours as a group outlining the differences between the two. The > methodologies, history, and focus are all different. > > Just because you do both things doesn't make them the same. I'd posit yours > is a very web-centric POV. The farther away from the web you go, the less > information architecture work you are likely to do. It's easily less than 1 > percent of my work. There's a reason no one at frog or IDEO has the title > Information Architect. > > Dan > > > > ________________________________________________________________ > Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! > To post to this list ....... disc...@ixda.org > Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe > List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines > List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help > ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
