UI/IA linkage

A lot of people have asked me for general UI/IA info, so here is my accumulation of links, books and resources.

User Experience Design (UED) breaks into many specialties such as user research, information architecture, conceptual design, interaction design, etc. Wikipedia does a great job of defining the field and the specialties:

DEFINTION:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interface_design

Here are some good introductory books on the subject. Design books tend to be expensive, so I would recommend looking for them at your library, or used.

BOOKS

Communicating Design: Developing Web Site Documentation for Design and Planning
by Dan Brown
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0321392353/

Designing Interfaces
by Jennifer Tidwell
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0596008031/

Universal Principles of Design
by William Lidwell
http://www.amazon.com/Universal-Principles-Design-Perception-Decisions/dp/1592530079/sr=1-1/qid=1162484716/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-67

The Visual Display of quantitative Information
by Edward Tufte (and his other books too)
http://www.amazon.com/Visual-Display-Quantitative-Information/dp/0961392142/sr=1-2/qid=1162571006/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/102-6724840-4472918?ie=UTF8&s=books

ORGs & CONFERENCES

http://iainstitute.org/
http://www.aiga.org/
http://www.chi2006.org/

PRACTITIONERS & COMPANIES

http://www.lukew.com/
http://www.adaptivepath.com/
http://www.catalystresources.com/index.jsp
http://www.adaptivepath.com/
http://semanticstudios.com/

BLOGS
http://www.boxesandarrows.com/
http://uxmatters.com/

And finally, here are some links to examples of actual design deliverables. These are the docs and diagrams a UED professional makes. They provide an idea of what an interface designer actually creates on a day to day basis:


PDF example deliverables:
http://iainstitute.org/tools/

How to: Deliverables & Documentation
http://www.boxesandarrows.com/story/index/date/4

How to: Methods & Approaches
http://www.boxesandarrows.com/story/index/date/7

Learning From Others
http://www.boxesandarrows.com/story/index/date/5

Professional Practices
http://www.boxesandarrows.com/story/index/date/9

HUMOR
http://www.ok-cancel.com/

Error Messaging Best Practices

- Have a marketing writer write error message copy - not an engineer.
- Make sure error messages are in clear plain English, that is reassuring and helpful, and does not insult the user.
- Is the error message has to do with a form, make sure it appears inline and not in a separate window.
- Make sure the field where the error was generated is clearly indicated.
- If an error message results in the user not being able to accomplish an action, refer them to the appropriate section in the Help files.
- Always include tips to resolve the error condition.
- If the error message has to do with Lyma Bean systems down, delays, upgrades, etc., let the user know when they should try again, and include an apology
- Include a link to support in error messages that can not be easily resolved by the user.
- Make sure that error message text is in a large font for legibility. Red text is customary.