Designing search: connecting science to environmental policy law
NEPAccess.org is a web search portal for 50 years of lost scientific data created under NEPA, the National Environmental Policy Act. These documents are very useful for making decisions on public projects, yet can be difficult or impossible to find. To succeed the site has to be usable for five user groups or personas.
Reading behavior on an online literary magazine
How do people read on screens vs on printed paper? A analysis of on online literary magazine with a goal of increasing engaged long-form reading through design improvements.
Mobile app strategy and user flows
Tumamoc Hill is a puzzle: a tiny piece of highly-protected desert surrounded by a growing city. If you compare it to Central Park in New York, there would be only one path through it, the rest of it off limits, left as much as possible in its natural state–before Europeans colonized it.
Usability presentation: how deeply do people understand the science of weather?
Everyone talks about the weather–Weather Underground does something about it. Wunderground.com a beautiful weather site packed with climate information. The site can be a bit intimidating for someone who is not a science geek. This usability study looks at the experience of new users.
Information architecture for a small town library
Library sites are complex and small town libraries often don’t have the resources to hire professional designers. The Upper Sandusky Library site had become cluttered over time by the accumulation of new content without an organization scheme. It was difficult for patrons to find the most commonly sought after information.
Information architecture: what do all these electronic gizmos do?
Arduino open-source controller board kits can build almost any digital device. That’s one of the problems throughout the site: it takes a bit of work to find out what each thingamajig, gizmo, widget, or doohickey does.