INFORMATION ARCHITECTUREGetting Your Blueprints In Order

Defining User Experience

Defining Information Architecture (IA)

Breaking Down the Concepts of Information Architecture

How Does IA Fit into the Project Lifecycle

Strategy and Tactics

Wireframe to Design Examples

Why IA Matters

Agenda

The term used to describe the overall experience and satisfaction a user has when using a product or system.

It most commonly refers to a combination of software and business topics, such as selling over the web, but it applies to any result of interaction design.*

*Wikipedia – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_experience

What is User Experience?

*Jesse James Garrett http://www.jjg.net/elements/pdf/elements.pdf

Elements of User Experience

Information Architecture (IA) is the art of expressing a model or concept of information used in activities that require explicit details of complex systems.

What is Information Architecture?

*Wikipedia – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_architecture

Context

UsersContentIA

Culture, Business Goals, Technology, Resources

Tasks, Behaviors, Audience, Looking to accomplish goals

Information being read, data, documents, knowledge

User Experience

Graphic Designer

Interaction Designer

Usability Engineer

Information Architect

Richard Saul Wurman coined the term in

“information architecture” in 1997

Let’s take a Deeper Dive

Breaking Down the Concepts of

Information Architecture

1

2

3

4

Information

Structuring, Organizing, and Labeling

Finding and Managing

Art and Science

Informationis Data andKnowledge

Howwould you

Structure,

Organize and

Label all of these

products from scratch?

Your Users Are….

browse.

search.

askquestions.

Can they find your data?

Managing these solutions entails finding a balance between the user and the businessneeds

Experience

Intuition

Creativity

Little Bit of Art Little Bit of Science User Needs

Patterns of Behavior

Scientific Analysis

Succinctly…

Information Architects could almost be called

“Digital Librarians”

Where Does IA Fit into

the Project Lifecycle?

Discovery Design Build Test Launch

Typical Project Process

Optimized Project Lifecycle

Optimized Project Lifecycle

Strategy and Tactics

Audience Research

Audience Personas

Content Audit / Analysis

Classification Schemes

Labeling

Card sorting

Affinity Diagrams

Data Flow Diagrams

Beta Sitemap

Content Maps

Low-Fi Wireframes Hi-Fi Wireframes

Navigation Optimization

Wireframe Testing

Users

Business

Technical

Requirements

Str

ate

gy

Tacti

cs

Audience Research and Personas

Conduct interviews

with your users

Online user testing

Audience surveys

Record each session

with audio and or

video.

Watch, list, and

interact

Formulate personas

based off of your

research

Content Audit and Analysis

Is there an existing website? Is there a current sitemap

that illustrates the number of pages per domain?

Need to understand the existing content and data

types in order to optimize the hierarchy

Target the content types instead of generalities

Content Audit and Analysis

Create spreadsheet detailing the breakout of existing

pages

Document Page Name, URL, Document Type, Topic of

Discussion and any additional Notes

Classification Schemes

How Will the Content Be

Organized?

Alphabetical

Audience

Color

Date

Geographic

Popularity

Tag-Based

Task

Topic

Labeling

Need clear and concise

words that differentiate

grouping from grouping

Where to look for input on

justified labeling conventions

Ask individuals during user

research

Information gathered from

card sorting exercises

Review internal search

words

Review referring keywords

Card sorting

Task users with

grouping

information in a

fashion that makes

the most sense to

them

2 different types of

card sorts: Open and

Closed

Results are analyzed

and used as a guide

when creating the

website’s hierarchy

Affinity Diagrams

Describes the system

from the users point of

view

Captures the behavioral

requirements by detailing

the scenario driven

requests by each persona

Useful for illustrating the

interaction between the

audience and the system

and/or website

Data Flow Diagrams

Graphical representation of

the “flow of data” through an

information system.

Data Flow diagrams can also

be used for the visualization

of data processing.*

*Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_flow_diagram

Beta Sitemap

Content Map

Low-Fi Wireframes

High-Fi Wireframes

Navigation Optimization

Are your targeted keywords

present within the

architecture?

Are there any words that

can be changed which will

not change the context of

the label?

Must strike the balance

between optimizing for

search engines and

changing the meaning for

the user

Example: Instead of just “Articles”

what type of articles are they? Could

they be labeled “Cooking Articles.”

Wireframe Testing

Moderated and

Unmoderated testing

Users are assigned

tasks to complete

“Blocks of content” are

clickable to other

wireframes

Testing is recorded to

capture the subtleties

All qualitative data

Wireframe to Design Examples

Why Does Information Architecture Matter?

Why Does Information Architecture Matter?

consider this…

Do you know how many potential customers

leave your site due to frustration?

How much extra

time and money is

spent on customer

support because

your customers

can’t find the

information they

seek?

If customers can’t find what they’re

looking for, what does that say about

your brand?

Jakob Nielson states:

The cost of poor navigation and lack of

design standards is….at least ten million

dollars per year in lost employee

productivity for a company with 10,000

employees.

“

”

Continuing IA Education

Websites / Blogs

http://www.iainstitute.org

http://www.boxesandarrows.com

http://www.userglue.com/blog

http://maadmob.net/donna/blog/

http://blog.jjg.net/

http://semanticstudios.com/

http://louisrosenfeld.com/home/

http://businessol.com/usability-blog

Thank you.

Questions.

Wrap Up.