CE UniversityInformation Architecture Concepts

Adam PolanskyPrincipal Information Architect

"I thought the explosion of data needed an architecture, needed a series of systems, needed systemic design, a series of performance criteria to measure it."

— Richard Saul Wurman Architect & Graphic Designer

Information Architecture – Beginnings

The term Information Architect was coined by Richard Saul Wurman in 1976 out of his reaction to a society that daily creates massive amounts of information, but with little care or order.

Photo from: www.understandingusa.com/wurman.html

Information Architecture – Beginnings

1998 “The Polar Bear Book”

By Lou Rosenfeld & Peter Morville – the definitive handbook

Suddenly bunches of people who’d been doing the same sort of work had a name for it.

Graphic Design

Information & Library Science

Computer Science

Marketing

Usability Engineering

Journalism

Anthropology

Ethnography

Information Architects –Come from?

Cognitive Psychology

Information Architects – Who are they?

They were the people who naturally occupied the middle spaces - between business needs, design & development.

They did whatever was necessary, they used whatever they could to capture, distill and communicate ideas between all the interested parties on a project.

Information Architects – What’s the need?

In the beginning…

Sites and budgets where smaller

Timelines and the spaces between milestones where shorter

Everybody chipped-in

IA needs were answered by the common sense efforts of everyone on the project.

Stakes were relatively low

Information Architects – What’s the need?

As time went on…

Sites and budgets became larger

Timelines and the spaces between milestones became longer

Everybody had to specialize more

Stakes became higher

The needs were always there. The question was who could address them.

IA needs had to be answered explicitly by someone.

DVD Cover Art: Ocean’s Eleven 2001 Warner Bros.

Information Architects – Where do they fit?

Painterliness vs. Draftsmanship

Detail from Water Lilies Claude Monet 1906

Information Architects – What do they do?

Detail from The Entombment Raphael 1507

Painterliness vs. Draftsmanship

Information Architects – What do they do?

Detail from The Entombment Raphael 1507

Painterliness vs. Draftsmanship

Information Architects – What do they do?

Detail from The Entombment Raphael 1507

Architecture Design

Painterliness vs. Draftsmanship

Information Architects – What do they do?

Information Architects – What do they do?Most recognizable deliverable: the wireframe

Information Architects – What do they do?Most recognizable deliverable: the wireframe

Information Architects – What do they do?What lead up to the wireframe? - 2 minute brainstorm

Who is the user?

What does the user need?

What does the user expect?

What does the user’s path look like?

How many pages or views are in that path?

How many alternative paths and what do they look like?

Will existing systems support this design?

Is there content to populate these pages?

Are there standards or common practices to consider?

Are there existing precedents?

What do our competitors do?

Every development process includes three basic areas of

activity.

The job of the IA is to find ways to close the gaps between them.

Information Architects – What do they do?

Idea

12°

9'

4'

45'

Plan Build

IA IA

The ApplicationNew DevelopmentSystem ConstraintsMature or Existing ProductNew Technology

The PeopleSkill SetsDomain ExpertiseInstitutional KnowledgeLocation of ResourcesSize of Team

The Big 3TimeCostQuality

Information Architects – What do they do?Forces at work

To name a few…

Idea

12°

9'

4'

45'

Plan Build

IA IA

• Conversation• White board• Thumbnail Sketch• Process Flow• Site Map• Lo-Fi Wireframe• Hi-Fi Wireframe• Interactive Wireframe

• Annotated Wireframe• Annotated Mock-ups• Narrative Document• Interaction-Level Spec

FORCES? FORCES?

Information Architects – What do they do?Forces at work

IF: • The team is small• They’ve all worked together on the product before• They’re all located in the same room• Time is short (but reasonable)• The features exist elsewhere in same site• Documentation exists from previous projects

THEN: • White-board session to see where high level changes occur• Tactical Wireframes to model the functionality• Annotated Screen shots from existing product to show where changes occur

Information Architects– What do they do?Forces at work

BUT… IF: • The team is small• Some of them worked together on the product before• Some of them are located in Bangalore and they are new to the team• Time is short (but reasonable)• The features are new to the site• No documentation exists from previous projects

THEN: • Process Flows to see where high level changes occur • Tactical Wireframes to model the functionality• Detailed functional spec to include screen shots and interaction details

Information Architects – What do they do?Forces at work

Information Architecture – Where’s it going?

Even though the role grew out of the development of web sites, it has begun to move off the screen and into the tangible world.

Any enterprise that values the way humans interact with their products or move through their spaces can benefit from the principles of Information Architecture.

Electronics

Defense Contracting

Transportation

Consumer Packaging

Industrial Design

Public Spaces

Disaster Planning

Cover Art from: Yesterday's Tomorrows: Past Visions of the American Future (Paperback) by Joseph J. Corn and Brian Horrigan

Information Architecture – What’s the payoff?

Simple models to ask and answer questions about an application earlier rather than later

Seeing the big picture and switching gears to the granular

Expert user advocacy at the ground level

Balancing business and user value with technical constraints

Saves cost & time and ensures quality down stream

Information Architecture Resources

Information Architecture for the Word-Wide WebPeter Morville & Louis Rosenfeld

Information Architecture, Blueprints for the WebChristina Wodtke

Don’t Make Me ThinkSteve Krug

The Elements of User ExperienceJesse James Garrett

Designing Web Usability Jakob Nielsen

Books

Information Architecture Resources

www.iainstitute.org

www.boxesandarrows.com

Jakob Nielsen’s Web Site – www.useit.com

Web Sites

Questions & Answers