I was working with a lot of basics & generalities in my post and didn’t expand on them as much as I probably should have ;)

By the way, I’ve always been a big fan of your Apples to Oranges work! I noticed on your contact form you’re in San Francisco? I just moved there about two months ago. Loving it so far :)

However, for an Information Architect their deliverable is not necessarily, and often should not, be a wireframe. IA is more closely related to library sciences than anything else – simply the taxonomy and categorization of information. If an IA is working on a large website, the sitemap, or content inventory is more the primary deliverable for that. They may also perform card sorting exercises to work out the taxonomy ect. While an IA may make wireframes – since many of us engage in more than just one of these disciplines – it’s only pure IA if the function of wireframing is only to show how information should be grouped and to show the taxonomy of the information.

Interaction Designers are designing how a human interacts with the system, and how the system responds to the user over the course of their experience. They most definitely would deliver wireframes or prototypes to show how the interaction would take place. Deciding on placement and usage of controls, flows charts detailing how a user moves through the system to accomplish tasks, ect. I would not say it is a combination of IA though – they are very different. An IxD may ALSO do IA as part of their responsibility, but the pure act of IxD is more about behavior than organization. In other words, an IA can work on a completely static kiosk screen. An IxD only becomes involved when a user interacts with the software.

For UXD I wouldn’t attribute marketing, copy, or branding all under User Experience Design. Thats a very loose interpretation of it. UXD is just a generic term that encompasses the other disciplines (including others not mentioned like user research, or usability). So if you are an IxD, your are a part of designing the UX. However the first concern of someone involved in the UXD is the user. Marketing, copy, branding, and the other items are all disciplines that are not user focused at their core – they have other concerns that they operate from.

Sounds like your having a good time at UO though, and are able to do a lot of different types of design!

I’m curious (and afraid this question will expose me as a casual reader of the site), how long have you been working for UO? Did you have input into the way their current site looks/feels? Obviously you have some due to this post, but I’m wondering to what extent. It’s a kick-ass site that I’m really impressed with from a Uxidia (lol) perspective and wanted to give you some props.