Thought of the Day: Connections Among Communities

“…we must explore many disciplines, since the most promising knowledge frontiers typically exist at the boundaries between fields rather than at the fields’ respective centers.”

— “How Customers Think: Essential Insights Into The Mind of the Market” by Gerald Zaltman.

At first, this quote made me think about how I have been reading books more rooted in psychology, marketing and business lately.

But then it also made me think about where all the web disciplines like design, information architecture and usability intersect. I think that anyone that is a web designer should have a good understanding of IA and usability. Sometimes I feel that we are still back in the dark ages of web design and designers are still solely focused on the visual aspects of design and just making stuff look “COOL!” instead of thinking about the entire user experience. Just what is a good web designer anyway? How should we define that criteria?

In my opinion, designers should be hanging out with IA’s and usability people and asking them tons of questions. Be curious about everything they do! Sometimes seeing things from another role’s perspective can change the way you solve a design problem. It could give you fresh ideas or even a whole new way of approaching things. I believe it will also make you a BETTER designer. So there, I’ve said it: you can NEVER learn too much about IA and usability. Just get out there and talk to IA’s and usability people. They don’t bite (usually).

Don’t let knowledge get lost in the boundries between disciplines. Everyone has something they can learn from everyone else and there is almost always some knowledge that you can take back and apply to your own job.

P.S. - I’ve done it again. I went to the bookstore yesterday and blew $60 on books! I got the one I quoted above, a book by Tom Peters on leadership and “Flow” (which was recommended by Kathy Sierra at SXSW.)