Alan Cooper, Author of About Face and The Inmates Are Running the Asylum
"Garrett brings incisive clarity to the complex process of providing a high-quality experience to people who use your web site."


Steve Krug, Author of Don't Make Me Think!
"Garrett has finally expanded his famous diagram into a book that clarifies the entire jumbled field of user experience design."


Louis Rosenfeld, Co-author of Information Architecture for the World Wide Web
"Finally, a concise explanation of User Experience that synthesizes its many disparate parts. Clear-headed, readable, and necessary."


Alan Cooper, author of About Face and The Inmates are Running the Asylum
"Garrett brings incisive clarity to the process of providing a high-quality experience to the people who use your web site."


Louis Rosenfeld, co-author of Information Architecture for the World Wide Web
"Finally, a concise explanation of User Experience that synthesizes its many disparate parts."


Book Description
Smart organizations recognize that Web design is more than just creating clean code and sharp graphics. A site that really works fulfills your strategic objectives while meeting the needs of your users. Even the best content and the most sophisticated technology won't help you balance those goals without a cohesive, consistent user experience to support it.But creating the user experience can seem overwhelmingly complex. With so many issues involved-usability, brand identity, information architecture, interaction design-it can seem as if the only way to build a successful site is to spend a fortune on specialists who understand all the details.The Elements of User Experience cuts through the complexity of user-centered design for the Web with clear explanations and vivid illustrations that focus on ideas rather than tools or techniques. Jesse James Garrett gives readers the big picture of Web user experience development, from strategy and requirements to information architecture and visual design. This accessible introduction helps any Web development team, large or small, to create a successful user experience.


From the Author
I really love the web. I really hate bad web sites. One day I was sitting on the back patio of Carbon IQ with Jeff Veen, and mentioned both of these sentiments. I said, "Dang it, if people would just slow down and do a few blueprints before they made web sites, they'd all improve 200%. I mean, it doesn't take that much -- you just talk to some users, do a couple card sorts, and blooie! a better web site." And he said, "You should write a book." Well, it's a year later, and I have written a book. My brain is now sitting in your hands, between these covers. I still spend a lot of time online -- so far I found a career, a husband, a car, a publisher, and many tickets to exotic locales all online. I love the web -- it has the power to change people's lives. I still hate bad web sites though, and now I'd like to encourage you to read this book and go make some good ones. Please. I'll swing by when you're done.


About the Author

Jesse James Garrett is one of the founders of Adaptive Path, a user experience consultancy based in San Francisco. Since it was first released in March 2000, his "Elements of User Experience" model has been downloaded more than 20,000 times. Jesse's Web experience includes projects for companies such as AT&T, Intel, Boeing, Motorola, Hewlett-Packard, and National Public Radio. His other contributions to the field of user experience include the Visual Vocabulary, an open notation system for information architecture documentation that is now used by organizations around the world. His personal site at www.jjg.net is one of the Web's most popular destinations for information architecture resources.

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
Nobody￯﾿ﾽs better at helping web professionals think about the ￯﾿ﾽbig picture￯﾿ﾽ than Jesse James Garrett. In 2000, his one-page diagram, ￯﾿ﾽThe Elements of User Experience,￯﾿ﾽ became a touchstone for web designers and information architects worldwide. Now he￯﾿ﾽs expanded that diagram into a wonderfully sensible guide to all five ￯﾿ﾽplanes￯﾿ﾽ of user experience, from strategy to visual design.

Garrett begins by deconstructing the ￯﾿ﾽneat, tidy experience￯﾿ﾽ of buying a book online: an experience that ￯﾿ﾽresults from a whole set of decisions -- some small, some large -- about how the site looks, how it behaves, and what it allows you to do.￯﾿ﾽ Decisions made on one plane influence and constrain other key decisions -- often in surprising ways. When the decisions on each layer don￯﾿ﾽt align with each other, you￯﾿ﾽll miss your deadlines and budgets and wind up with a site users can￯﾿ﾽt stand.

Garrett shows how to create a clearly articulated strategy that informs all the decisions you make afterward, and how to translate user needs and site objectives into specific requirements for content and functionality. You￯﾿ﾽll learn how to build on your requirements to develop a conceptual site structure -- and how to make that structure tangible through interface, navigation, and information design. Finally, you￯﾿ﾽll learn how to build a visual design that supports all the goals and choices you￯﾿ﾽve already made.

Whether you￯﾿ﾽre leading, participating in, or hiring a ￯﾿ﾽuser experience￯﾿ﾽ team, spend an hour or two with this book. It￯﾿ﾽll show you how to bring web design, navigation, information architecture, features, and strategy together -- seamlessly. Bill Camarda

Bill Camarda is a consultant, writer, and web/multimedia content developer. His 15 books include Special Edition Using Word 2000 and Upgrading & Fixing Networks For Dummies®, Second Edition.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

User experience and site architecture are undeniably linked in the design world but have been neglected for too long, Elements of User Experience is the first book to explain the relationships in a digestible and visual way so that readers automatically "get it". Author, Garrett "Elements of User Experience" diagram has been downloaded more than 20,000 times by web developers worldwide.