Increasing the effectiveness by ‘information architecture’

June 24, 2008

A reader is someone with an attention span of about 30 seconds - a person assailed by other forces competing for attention. At one time these forces weren't so numerous: newspapers, radio, spouse, home, children. Today they also include a "home entertainment center" (TV, VCR, Tapes, CDs), pets, a fitness program, a yard and all the gadgets that have been bought to keep it spruce, and that most potent of competitors, sleep. The person snoozing in a chair with a magazine or a book is a person who was being given too much unnecessary trouble by the writer.

William Zinsser, On Writing Well, 5th ed. (New York: HarperCollins, 1994)

Starting with Aldus Page Maker v3, back in early nineties (Adobe owns it now), I started experimenting with ‘Good Design’. Currently Corel Draw, Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, Page Maker & InDesign are my favorite tools. With these tools It is really fascinating to create brochures, logos, books, web sites, etc… I believe design is a skill that requires a fine eye and an understanding of human behavior (or more accurately psychology). Selecting the most suitable font size and face for the job to laying out the components is something that one need to pay attention to, in order to make the document effective.

In here you’ll find some documents re-designed by me in-order to increase the effectiveness, while others are original art-work designed for various instances.

John Argenti’s Trajectories of Corporate Collapse
A very interesting document I developed for the MBA program. Shows 3 scenarios and possible solutions. Available as a file.

Five value propositions that are reshaping the relationships between companies and their customers.
Five things you must satisfy in order to become successful; Give smarter choices, Faster is better, Do the right thing, Treat partners right, Know what customers want. These may seem as obvious but then, read the document for more information. Available as a file.

Strategies for New Zealand beef industry.
Winner of ‘Best Paper’ award; developed for ‘International Marketing’ subject during my MBA. The paper looks at the current beef markets around the world and suggests few strategies for New Zealand. Available as a file.

Sri Lanka Post Codes
Although this was introduced some time back, due to the difficulty in finding the relevant codes, the public don’t use them often. Well, now you have this from me Enjoy and please pass on. Available as a file.