Design Nine/Cohill: Teaching

Arch 4304: Topics in Design Methods

Information Architecture (Web intensive)

Description of the class
Schedule
Reading list
Assignments (pending)
Grading

Description

This Topics in Design Methods class (Spring, 2001) will provide an introduction to information architecture. Information architecture is an emerging new discipline that combines skills and theory from five areas:

Graphic design issues and ideas
Software engineering
Organizational behavior
Ergonomics
Environmental design

The notion of built space, and it's attendant design issues, has been well understood for a long time (thousands of years). For the last forty years, we have been building digital information spaces (cyberspace), without any real grounding in design principles. Cyberspace has been "designed" by engineers and computer scientists, who have little understanding of how design does and should differ from engineering systems. It is as if we had hired plumbers to design skyscrapers instead of architects.

Information architecture is particularly relevant to architects and industrial designers because we are now expected to use digital information tools to design built space and physical products.

The course will provide an introduction of the emerging profession of information architecture with an intense focus on Web design. Students will be expected to design, develop, and maintain at least one significant Web site over the course of the semester. All assignments and projects will be based on Web development projects.

This course will also help you understand how our information tools work, why they work the way they do (sometimes badly), and help you understand how to use information spaces better.

Schedule

Week of 8/24: Introduction, discussion of cyberspace. Question: is all design digital?
Week of 8/31: Introduction to HTML
Week of 9/7: Overview of the Internet and networking principles.
Week of 9/14: Interface design
Week of 9/21: Ease of use on the Web
Week of 9/28: Content vs. Presentation
Week of 10/5: Advanced HTML
Week of 10/12: Project presenations
Week of 10/19: Information as structure
Week of 10/26: Information as structure (continued)
Week of 11/2: Introduction to XML
Week of 11/9: Information is not communication
Week of 11/16: Future information
Week of 11/23: No school (break week)
Week of 11/30: Project presentations
Week of 12/7: Final project presentations (last class is Tuesday)

Reading list

Required text for the course

This book will be available in paperback at the university bookstore.

HTML: The Definitive Guide
Musciano and Kennedy

Optional but highly encouraged

Designing Visual Interfaces
Mullet and Sano

Other recommended texts

Information Architects
Richard Saul Wurman

Synergetics
Buckminister Fuller

The Green Imperative
Victor Papanek

Learning Organizations
Sarita Chawla and John Renesch

Design for Society
Nigel Whiteley

Grading

This is a design class, so there will be a strong emphasis on hands-on projects and work assignments. There will be four to six assignments spaced evenly throughout the class, and each assignment will lead to the next one, culminating in a complete set of work for the class.

Students will be expected to invest significant effort in their Web work. Most of the grade will be based on your Web design and development effort.

Grades will be assigned as follows:

In class presentations -- 20%
Web projects -- 70%
Class participation -- 10%

Copyright 1999-2002 Andrew Michael Cohill
All rights reserved. This material is provided for the students of my class. Any other use, including storing it permanently on your hard drive, re-distributing it via email or other electronic means, or distributing paper copies, is illegal without my express written permission.