In late December, I usually publish a list of books and articles I enjoyed during the year. (Here are the lists for 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2013.) This year, I decided to break it up into two lists: one for books, which I published earlier in the month, and another for articles. You’re reading the latter.
There are a lot of links here. To make them easier to read, I’ve sorted them into broad categories. They’re shown in no particular order.
Information overload
Stepping out of the firehose by Benedict Evans
How to Survive in a World of Information Overload by Nir Eyal
Information architecture
IA in Practice: Measuring Navigation Health with Analytics by Rachel Price
Your Information Architecture is an Accessibility Problem by Sarah Barrett
Websites are not living rooms and other lessons for information architecture by Sarah Barrett
Understanding Architectural Scale by Sarah Barrett
The Most Important Role You’re Not Hiring for Your Data Team: The Information Architect by Lilach Manheim
Taxonomies and Sitemaps by Heather Hedden
On Disambiguation by Bob Kasenchak
Taxonomy Theory and Practice by Bob Kasenchak
Chief Information Architect by Christian Crumlish
Taxonomy makes the world go round by Michael Andrews
Launching GOV.UK’s new menu bar by Sam Dub, Mia Allers, and Tara Stockford
Modeling
The data model behind Notion’s flexibility by Jake Teton-Landis
Bias in ontologies? by Maria Keet
Understanding mental and conceptual models in product design by Alana Brajdic
Introduction to Ontology Concepts and Modeling by Bob Kasenchak and Ahren E. Lehnert
Systems thinking
How to safely think in systems by Will Larson
Network intersubjectives by Gordon Brander
Class 1 / Class 2 Problems by Kevin Kelly
6 principles for being more systemic in your design process by Allison Bouganim
Design Systems are for user interfaces by Brad Frost
Process and mindset
Embrace the Grind by Jacob Kaplan-Moss
Problem Framing Unlocked by Dana Vetan
Design Leadership: On Being Robust and Resilient by Matthew Godfrey
Cognitive Bias and the Design Process by Jon Yablonski
Designing the Smallest Possible Thing by Laura Klein
Sketching as a strategy by David Hoang
The Most Fundamental Problem Framing Tool Ever by Daniel Stillman
What a UX Strategist Does by Dan Silveira
Why we need service literacy, now by Lou Downe
Unspeakable Certainties by Alejandro Aravena
Working with Brian Eno on design principles for streets by Dan Hill
Broadening our horizons
A World Ordered Only By Search by L. M. Sacasas
File Not Found by Monica Chin
Why We Crave Software With Style Over “Branding” by Molly Mielke
The tyranny of ideas by Nadia Eghbal
Effective Digital Transformation Depends on a Shared Language by David C. Hay, Thomas C. Redman, C. Lwanga Yonke, and John A. Zachman
The Metaverse Primer by Matthew Ball
Text Adventures: how Twine remade gaming by Adi Robertson
The Filing Cabinet by Craig Robertson
Why are hyperlinks blue? by Elise Blanchard
Extended mind
Notes are conversations across time by Gordon Brander
Obsidian, Roam, and the rise of Integrated Thinking Environments by Ryan Murphy
AirPods, and the cognitive ergonomics of tools for thought by Matt Webb
How to use a personal website to enhance your ability to think and create? by Michael Nielsen