We've changed the feed address for Indi Young's book on mental models. If you've been tracking Indi's progress, please change your feed subscription to this address:
http://feeds.rosenfeldmedia.com/mental-models/
We've begun production on Indi's manuscript, and it's looking great; a perfect choice for Rosenfeld Media's first book!
How would you test the design of a book?
Not the content, but the quality of a book as a functioning information system?
It's a strange question—the book, after all, has been around for centuries, and its design is fairly stable. Conventions exist to guide what goes on the covers, the spine, the pages, and so on. Readers expect tables of contents, an index, chapters, sections, and pagination.
But it doesn't hurt to look for ways of carrying out those conventions more effectively. And maybe there is room for innovation when it comes to book design?
As a fledgling publisher, one focused on user experience design, Rosenfeld Media is trying to answer these questions. Our first manuscript, Indi Young's book on mental models, is going into production, and we're hoping to publish it late this summer. We've already designed the interiors—both print and PDF versions—for our initial series, based on a fair bit of market research (detailed here, here, and here). Now it's time to test those designs, and we could really use your help.
We've started crafting our test questions (listed below), but have a long way to go. It's especially unclear how to test for such qualities as readability and credibility. We're also sure that we've left out some important questions. Your suggestions would go a long way toward helping us provide you with better books.
You may have noticed that our site looks a little different. That's because we've added a link to our new service, UX Zeitgeist, to our site-wide navigation system (you'll see it in the upper right-hand corner).
What on earth is UX Zeitgeist? (Go here for a definition of "zeitgeist".)
We're not entirely sure ourselves just yet. But we think it'll be good.