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Resources for Design

Design matters. Are librarians designers? Yes! They design instruction sessions and instruction materials. They design collections. They design services. They design websites. And since they design, why shouldn't they be staying current with the latest ideas and trends from the many different fields of design. More importantly, librarians should explore design thinking as a better way of creating new ideas and bringing them to fruition. This page contains resources, primarily blogs, that will help librarians to stay alert to new ideas and developments from the world of design and the study of user experience.

InfoDesign
Boxes and Arrows

UX Matters
Interactions Magazine
Putting People First
New Thinking


InfoDesign

This is a regularly updated blog that identifies itself as a news source for "Understanding by Design." It provides summaries of news items, with links, that related to many different aspects of design. There are links to blog posts, interviews with designers, podcasts and webcasts of talks and presentations by designers and about design. This is as good an all-purpose design newsletter as one is likely to find.
Suggested strategy: Unlike most blogs this one offers an email subscription option for those who wish to be alerted by email (the email version of the newsletter contains all the information found on the blog). Alerts come once a month. For samples of past newsletters view the archives (link on main page).

Boxes and Arrows

This publication is primarily about interface design, but the articles can cover many broader aspects of design techniques and insights into design practices. Boxes and Arrows is devoted to the practice, innovation, and discussion of design; including graphic design, interaction design, information architecture and the design of business. Since 2001 it’s been a peer-written journal promoting contributors who want to provoke thinking, push limits, and teach a few things along the way. There isn't a regular publication schedule. New articles are added on a regular, but ad-hoc basis.
Suggested strategy: For those who prefer RSS feeds you can subscribe to Boxes and Arrows that way. The main page of the site is also easily monitored with a web page change detection service. There is also an e-mail subscription option for those wishing to be notified with new articles are available (scroll down on the home page of Boxes and Arrows).

UX Matters

User experience (UX) encompasses all aspects of a digital product or service that users experience directly. Great UX blends many forms of design. UXmatters is a volunteer-driven, nonprofit Web magazine that delivers compelling content about developing effective UX strategies and creating digital-product user experiences that optimally serve people's needs and satisfy their desires. Articles will also discuss matters of creativity and innovation in design.
Suggested strategy: Point your browser to the UX Matters site at https://uxmatters.com/index.php and scroll down to the section on the right side of the page where you can sign up to be notified by e-mail whenever new articles are published.

Interactions Magazine

This magazine includes timely articles, stories, and content related to the interactions between experiences, people, and technology. While it is not free, the publication does make available its table of contents for each issue, and some items may be freely available on the internet.
Suggested strategy: You can find the RSS feed for this publication and subscribe to it using your feed reader. Past issues can be examined at the archives.

Putting People First

This blog provides daily insights on user experience, experience design and people-centered innovation.
Suggested strategy: As with most blogs the best way to regularly follow this one is to add the RSS feed to your feed readers.

New Thinking

New Thinking is a weekly email newsletter which focuses on web content management, information architecture and writing for the Web. Its author is Gerry McGovern, well-known web design and web content expert. While the focus is on web design, McGovern often has words of wisdom that can apply to almost any design application. He is particularly good at providing practical ideas for connecting with users.
Suggested strategy: You can subscribe to an e-mail version of the newsletter by going to https://www.gerrymcgovern.com/nt-sub.htm and providing your email address. There is also an RSS feed option.


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