Rosenfeld on Nielsen
Information architecture author Lou Rosenfeld was in London this week as part of the Nielsen Norman Group tour, but he also dropped in to the Design Council to speak at the monthly AIGA event organised by Nico Macdonald, and later adjourned to the pub too. I'll see if later this week I can put together a sensible piece about what he had to say on all matters IA, but the inevitable question for some attendees was Jakob (Nielsen, that is): Is he helping or hurting?

Lou's take is that Nielsen is both helping and hurting. By giving usability and user experience a high profile, he's generally raising awareness out there, which is good for everyone. "But on the other hand he's also trading on the expectation that there are rules that can be delivered by gurus," he said, while Rosenfeld's own view is of a landscape without rules: "It all depends!" should be the user experience motto, reckons Rosenfeld. "Eventually, he [Nielsen] will become one voice of many, and that will be good for everyone".

Check out Lou's own site.