I resign. I am no longer an information architecture consultant. After 30 years of service, I hereby put myself out to pasture. But I’m not retiring. My daughter and I are founding a 501c3 think tank and animal sanctuary. I hope you’ll join the adventure. I doubt this news is a surprise. I’ve been fading […]

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It’s been 32 years since I listened to Sinéad O’Connor on compact disc in college. But after watching her documentary Nothing Compares I’ve been listening with different ears via Spotify, and I’ve been reflecting upon the serenity prayer. God grant me the serenity to accept the things I can not changeCourage to change the things […]

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I’ve been framing information architecture since 1994 via articles, books, games, talks, prezis, and consulting. So you might expect this article to be about the taxonomy of farm animals or the structural design of farm websites. But it’s not. Our strengths are our weaknesses, and my early success in framing information architecture blinded me to […]

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This is a daughter-father collaboration. Peter Morville is a pioneer of information architecture and user experience. Claire Morville is a senior at the University of Maryland iSchool and works at the Crisis Technologies Innovation Lab. We exist in a liminal era of crisis. In the whole of climate change, ecological collapse, mass extinction, cultural stress, […]

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I hope to free information architecture from the shackles I helped to forge. Since 1994, I’ve been speaking and writing on this topic, most famously as co-author of the polar bear book, and mostly I’ve framed IA as a professional practice in service to business. I make no apologies. This focus on corporate IA has […]

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This is an edited transcript of a talk I had the privilege of giving at World IA Day (video) and at the IA Conference (vimeo, ppt, otter). Questions and suggestions (@morville) are welcome. Hello! I’m Peter Morville, and I’m so happy to be able to speak with you about gentle change. This is a personal talk, and […]

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I had the honor and privilege of giving the STC Summit opening keynote in Denver, Colorado, and receiving the award of STC Honorary Fellow. Slides are here. This is an edited transcript. Hello! I’m so happy to be here with you to talk about information architecture and the organization of time, but first I want to tell […]

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An excerpt from the last chapter of my new book, Planning for Everything. I dream of a world guided by stories rooted in the revelations of science and framed with an indigenous worldview. – Robin Wall Kimmerer Niccolò Machiavelli never wrote “the ends justify the means,” but that’s one way to interpret The Prince. Some see it as satire […]

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My new book is about planning for everything from websites to weddings. My workshop and this article focus specifically on how to plan for design and how to explain why it matters. I realized that why and how are inseparable. We thought we’d closed the deal on a six figure, nine week project, when our client asked “what […]

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An excerpt from the first chapter of my new book, Planning for Everything. One child, one teacher, one book, one pen can change the world. – Malala Yousafzai We are several hundred feet into the cave when Claudia whispers in the dark “I’m so mad at you for bringing us here.” I’m not surprised. It’s my […]

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