Service Design & Information Architecture

💡 When a big transition is underway, trust eases uncertainty.
“Move at the speed of trust” is something I hear again and again from folks who facilitate change; I’m grateful that this project went smoothly in part because of the trust that our team has developed over years of collaborating, and the trust that many of Smarthistory’s users have in our ability to meet their needs.

💡 Listen for what’s working, as well as opportunities for change.
It would have been a mistake to overlook what users said worked well and made changes that threw the baby out with the bathwater. What makes this project successful is its synthesis of the essential functions that make Smarthistory what it is and new enhancements that allow the very structure of the site to reflect changes in the field.

💡 Meet people where they are, even if different people are in different places.

This goes for both end users and for internal team members. Navigating change, whether it’s a new workflow, website, or way of teaching, means understanding where different people might be on a spectrum of readiness for change, meeting their present needs, and equipping them to evolve in time.

💡 Using metaphor and visuals can be crucial in helping bridge understanding.

This project crossed many different expertises: art history expertise, engineering expertise, taxonomic expertise, information architecture and design expertise. Using metaphors and visual representations created a common ground for understanding a vision of change that lived as an idea long before it became a reality.

💡 Design isn’t over after implementation begins.
Sometimes a designer’s role concludes after creating mockups or sharing proposals. Seeing this project through implementation reiterated that processes of implementation are another kind of experience to design with people in mind.