[dos1]

Some time ago I was on a very large project where the hired design firm refused to create any art assets until the IA was completely finalized. I had never heard of an IA at the time, and in retrospect I have nothing but disdain for the concept. I agree with the article that the true value comes from actual design prototypes. Things people can look at, touch, play with and ultimately determine if they like or don't like.

The design firm ended up being fired. They put two "UX" experts on our project and they billed an amazing number of hours. After a few weeks of trying to get a real visual prototype from them, they said we still needed to answer more questions for their documentation. They would only let a designer work on the project an hour or two a week, and even once they were satisfied, the art assets were almost impossible to wriggle out of them.