Edinburgh Napier University

  Recent developments in information and communication technologies have left interaction design and human-computer interaction (HCI) with something of a conceptual gap. The distinction between physical and digital spaces is increasingly blurred. Cloud-based services have enabled a separation of information content from device so that content can be accessed and manipulated across multiple devices and locations. The user experience (UX) frequently needs to deal with activities that transition across physical and digital spaces and ecosystems of devices and services. Designers can no longer prescribe the journey or curate experiences simply as isolated interactions. Instead, UX must be consistently spread across touchpoints, channels, and device ecosystems. Our contribution to the development of UX, interaction design, and information architecture is to appeal to the notions of cross channel user experiences and blended spaces. Information architecture is the pervasive layer that underlies interactions that cross services, devices and blended physical and digital spaces. Information architecture is the structure within which the UX unfolds. From this perspective, we highlight the importance of creating meaningful places for experience and navigation through blended spaces.