Information Architecture & Why you care about it as a designer

Information Architecture & Why You Care About It As a Designer

The structural design of an information space to facilitate task completion and intuitive access to content. Definition Information Architecture for the World-Wide Web Louis Rosenfeld & Peter Morville Organizing info so people can find stuff >

Metaphor – Painterliness vs. Draftsmanship Detail from Water Lilies Claude Monet 1906

Metaphor – Painterliness vs. Draftsmanship Detail from The Entombment Raphael 1507

The Key is Balance A beautifully designed interface might satisfy the business vision but imply things about the function of a site that can’t be realized An elegantly coded back-end system might meet basic business requirements and still be wholly un-usable

The Role In Context

IA is about Applied Usability

Content Organization : structure & labeling

Interaction Design : page-level elements

The Role In Context

IA is about Applied Usability

Content Organization : structure & labeling

Interaction Design : page-level elements

The Context of Development It doesn’t matter what development processes your client or your company subscribe to. They all have the same thing in common Plan Build IA IA Idea

The Context of Development We’re going to focus on the first gap between an Idea and a Plan Idea Plan Build IA IA

Steps

Requirements come from multiple sources.

Some are formal

Some are random

Some are completely off the wall !

Gather | Qualify | Organize | Validate | Interaction

Steps: Feature List Gather | Qualify | Organize | Validate | Interaction Granular breakdown and description of all potential features and functions

Gather | Qualify | Organize | Validate | Interaction Steps

Scrutinize the requirements against three facets:

User Value

Business Value

Technical Risk

Use the outcome to determine your scope

Steps: Feature Analysis Gather | Qualify | Organize | Validate | Interaction

Evaluation of each element:

Removes Bias

Considers Constraints

Steps

Organize the features and functions into some kind of framework

Process Flows for Linear Applications

EX: E-Commerce Check-Out

Site Maps for Information Sites

EX: Corporate Information Site

Page Flows to translate processes into pages

EX: Catalog Index

Gather | Qualify | Organize | Validate | Interaction

Steps: Process & Page Flow Gather | Qualify | Organize | Validate | Interaction Page Agnostic Page Specific Better for Linear Applications

Steps: Site Map Gather | Qualify | Organize | Validate | Interaction Better for Broad Content Sites

Steps Review your framework with the technical team to validate the way the system will support it Are there any constraints that might influence the way the user will be able to encounter the information? Gather | Qualify | Organize | Validate | Interaction

Steps Create a low-risk model of a page to account for the features and functions that have been scoped. This is the first time that the team will be able to see and think of the site in terms of pages. Gather | Qualify | Organize | Validate | Interaction

Steps: Wireframe Gather | Qualify | Organize | Validate | Interaction Functional Model, Few if any Design Elements

Why Do You Care? IAs promote the expertise of design by couching its impact in terms of usability Form Follows Function – IAs establish the function of a page independent of design elements. This keeps the client from designing for you IAs provide the framework to inform a solid design scheme Your grade depends on it

Q & A