Demystifying Information Architecture

Demystifying Information Architecture Patrick Kennedy

“ The usability guy says you can’t do that”
Does this sound familiar?

“ You know what you can do with your heuristics?!”
Or maybe it’s more like this?

Overview
There is much confusion and ignorance regarding information architecture (IA) and it's place in web design.
Many developers, like their design counterparts, are operating under misconceptions , hearsay and indeed disinformation .
Because of this, many feel threatened by the 'usability guy' telling them what to do.
This presentation will introduce IA for websites--with the theory and techniques being equally applicable to intranets and RIAs--and explain the fundamental principles and some simple techniques.
The aim is to give the audience a heads-up and point them in the right direction so they can integrate IA into their own work or just better collaborate with those IA and usability folks.

A bit about me
Two-minute resume
Electrical and Computer Systems Engineer
Front and back-end web developer
Team leader and ‘solutions architect’
Information Architect
User Experience consultant
Industry exposure
IT and corporate
Marketing, advertising and media

So you think you can IA? do “ I drew a site map, I’m doing IA!”

So you think you can IA? “ We wireframe everything!” do

So you think you can IA? “ Usability testing? Yep, we all think it works great.” do

So you think you can IA? “ We surveyed what our users want!” do

So you think you can IA? “ I installed Visio… I am an Information Architect!” do

What IA isn’t
Information Architecture is not…
Simply drawing up a sitemap
Simply pumping out masses of ‘wireframes’
Designing for yourselves
Just about navigation
A frivolous expense for ‘Rolls Royce’ projects only
A ‘nice to have’ item on a checklist
Database design (at least not for this session!)

So what is IA?
Information Architecture is…
The practice of designing, for a website or intranet, the:
Site structure
Navigation
Labelling
Often a synonym for ‘usability’ or ‘User Centred Design’, which involves:
Understanding users and their needs
Designing with those needs in mind (balanced by business context and content)
Validating design decisions with user involvement

The basics of IA

Structure

Navigation

Labelling

The basics of IA
The three interrelated pillars of IA
Site structure – categorisation, classification, hierarchy
Navigation – accessing the site structure, ‘findability’
Labelling – naming sections, links, navigation etc
Image credits
Travel destinations page for major news website
Source: www.news.com.au/travel/australia/0,26063,,00.html

More broadly…
IA is User Centered Design (UCD)
Which generally speaking, involves:
Understanding users and their needs (balanced by business context and available/necessary content)
Designing with those needs in mind
Validating design decisions with user involvement
Other synonyms include ‘usability’ or ‘user experience’

A general IA process
Research
Understand the audience and context Solve the problem at hand Design Test design against requirements Validate

Research
User research
Business objectives
Conventions and best practice (defacto standards)
Design
Use knowledge of users
Involve them in the process
Balance user needs, business objectives and possible content
Validate
Usability testing and iterative design

Research

Research
Get out there and understand your users
What do they need?
What do they want?
How do they use technology?
How might they use your product?
What information do they need?

User research techniques

User research techniques
Many different research activities
Interviews, expert review, heuristic review
Surveys, focus groups and other market research techniques
Competitor analysis, best practice review
Ethnographic activities such as contextual inquiry and diary studies
Web analytics, search engine logs, CRM, sales data analysis
Image credits
Workplace observation (left)
Source: Step Two Designs
Contextual inquiry, also known as a “site visit” (top right)
Source: www.hillaryelmore.com/images/contextualinquiry.jpg
Focus group (bottom right)
Source: www.mosman.nsw.gov.au/planningreview/images/24.jpg

There’s something about Mary “ I want to go on holiday, somewhere in Australia” “ But I’m not sure where to go…” “… or what each city has to offer”

There’s something about Mary
End-to-end example of IA process
To illustrate how we go about ‘doing IA’ we shall follow a fictional story
First we start with user research, in which we meet Mary
Mary is in the target audience group for a travel website
She is looking to go travelling within Australia and uses the web a fair bit
Image credits
Design storyboard comic by Martin Hardee of Sun Microsystems
Source: blogs.sun.com/MartinHardee/entry/design_comics_templates_1_0

Other research “ We need to drive traffic to the destination guides!” “ What content do we already have?”

Other research
Continuing our story…
There is more than just user research we need to do
Must also include business stakeholders (such as Pravin on the left)
What are the business objectives? What should the website achieve?
And the context we have to design in (might include content inventory)
Image credits
Design storyboard comic by Martin Hardee of Sun Microsystems
Source: blogs.sun.com/MartinHardee/entry/design_comics_templates_1_0
Site map of screenshots (right)

Research
A general IA process Understand the audience and context Solve the problem at hand Design Test design against requirements Validate

Design
Devising a solution that meets the defined needs
As with visual design, or any other kind of design, the aim is to solve the problem
Inputs to design include existing knowledge, such as:
Categorisation schemes (eg alphabetical, chronological, geographical, by subject/topic)
Conventions (eg search top right)
And of course what we have learnt from our research, for instance:
Needs and behaviour of audience
Practical limitations on content and technology
Business drivers and requirements
Commonly, IA design exists on two interrelated levels:
High level IA is the structure of the site (or more generically the information)
Low level IA is the design of the interface; navigation and page layout

High level design

High level IA design activities
Many approaches to design
A site map is the most common output of high level design
Card sorting is the most common activity for IA
Crosses the border between research and design
Gets user input on categorisation of information, and labelling too
Other activities include brainstorms and parallel design
Image credits
Example of typical site map (top left)
Source: www.treith.com/ia_presentation/16sitemap.html
Mind map used as site map (bottom left)
Source: www.neuralmatters.com/SiteMap.aspx
Results of a card sorting session (right)

Designing the travel site Existing knowledge: Travel content lends itself to a geographic categorisation scheme Want to “holiday” in Australia Not sure where What is there to do? Need to drive traffic to destination guides Home International vacations Domestic vacations Guides Packages Book now!

Designing the travel site
Existing knowledge
Categorisation schemes (eg alphabetical, chronological, geographical, by subject/topic)
Travel content lends itself to geographic organisation
Input from research
Needs and behaviour of target audience
Results of card sorting activities
Business objectives and political drivers
Draft information architecture
Combine all the available information to come up with a design solution
Have we got it “right”? We’ll get our chance to find out, later

Low level design

Low level IA design activities
Many approaches to design
Wireframes are the most common
Conventions also influence strongly
Design patterns may also be useful
Image credits
Example of an intranet wireframe (left)
Hand drawn wireframe (right)
Source: www.gdoss.com/images/lmf_paper_prototype.gif

Designing the travel site Logo Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. International vacations Guide 1 Guide 2 Guide 3 Guide 4 Domestic vacations Guide 5 Guide 6 Guide 7 Guide 8 Guides Packages Book now! Conventions: Users are used to search in the top right hand corner Want to “holiday” in Australia Not sure where What is there to do? Search Contact us Need to drive traffic to destination guides

Designing the travel site, part 2
Existing knowledge
Web conventions (eg search box top left)
Strengths and weaknesses of technology platform
Input from research
Needs and behaviour of target audience
Results of design brainstorming
Business objectives and political drivers
Draft page layouts
Combine all the available information to come up with a design solution
Have we got it “right”? We’ll get our chance to find out, later

Research
A general IA process Understand the audience and context Solve the problem at hand Design Test design against requirements Validate

Validate
Get feedback from users
Put the design in some sort of form the user can see or interact with
Use realistic tasks or scenarios to get them to ‘use’ the design
This is where we find out if our design decisions are ‘right’
Revise and iterate
Take on board the feedback you get and revise the design appropriately
Go back and test again

Validation techniques

Validation techniques
Usability testing comes in many forms
It doesn’t have to be big, expensive testing in a lab
The key is that users are involved in the validation
And that realistic tasks are used for testing
Image credits
Typical lab-based usability testing (left)
Source: www.xperienceconsulting.com/eng/img/interior/labs-3.jpg
Card based classification evaluation (top right)
Heat map produced by eye tracking (bottom right)
Source: www.intranetjournal.com/articles/200503/Heatmap.jpg

Logo Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. International vacations Guide 1 Guide 2 Guide 3 Guide 4 Domestic vacations Guide 5 Guide 6 Guide 7 Guide 8 Guides Packages Book now! Search Contact us Feedback from Mary “ Huh? I don’t see a list of places I can go on holiday. Where do I click?”

Feedback from Mary
Paper prototyping early in the process
Easily obtain feedback from users early in process
Check the design decisions you are making
Iterate and revise design if necessary
Much easier than waiting until the end to find issues
Image credits
Paper prototyping for testing (left)
Source: www.nngroup.com/reports/prototyping/prototype_tabs.jpg

Usability testing “ This is more like it! It gives me a list of places I can go to and I can get more information”

Usability testing
High-fidelity testing
Test a working mock-up or live beta site
Get user feedback on the whole design, including high and low level IA and graphic design
Make use of realistic tasks or scenarios
Image credits
Completed travel website
Source: www.news.com.au/travel/australia/0,26063,,00.html

Research

IA in the broader process Strategy and scoping Visual design Build Launch

Often IA appears here… Strategy and scoping Visual design Build Launch

… or here Strategy and scoping Visual design Build Launch

Research
But this is where it belongs Strategy and scoping Visual design Build Launch Design Validate

IA in the broader process
Scheduling IA activities
Often IA is a fixed component at the start (or end) of a project
IA should not be relegated to “usability testing” at the very end of the project; it’s too late then
Nor should it be something theoretical done at the start (before the ‘real work’) and never heard of again
Holistic IA
IA activities are useful throughout the development cycle
As user advocates, IA/UX expertise can assist with strategy and planning before thinking of a specific product
Similarly, they can ensure design and build stick to the plan

IA and agile
Agile development methodologies
Design is shifted earlier in the project
More iterative
Taken the technical development world by storm
Problems
IA seen as rigid and pedantic
And also costly and slow
To fit into an agile environment IA needs to be:
Flexible (both in terms of time and method)
Quicker and less costly
Better integrated into the process (and team)
More guerrilla in approach; ad-hoc expertise when needed
Leverage the iterative nature of agile development for more user contact/input

IA and the new web
Web 2.0 and Rich Internet Applications (RIA)
You will no doubt be familiar with these!
Higher levels of interactivity
Breaking away from the “page model” web
Asynchronous communication with server
Built using Flash, Flex, AJAX, Air, Silverlight, Java etc
Difficulties for IA
As with designers and developers, RIAs mean a big shift for IA
Web IA finds this difficult
More akin to software design than web design

Compare the IA for this…

IA for the page model
Click a link go to a page
This is the basic model of the web
Typical of most websites, even in the age of Web 2.0
IA for this kind of interface is well understood
Image credits
Wikipedia page
Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rich_Internet_application

… with the IA for this…

IA for the interactive app
More like a software application
This is a new model of interaction
Clickable, dragable, contextually aware UI controls
IA for this kind of interface is not yet well understood
And this is a relatively tame example
Image credits
Moo cards
Source: www.moo.com/products/minicards.php

… or this

IA for the interactive app
More like a software application
Many different types of interaction: drag, drop, expand, layers, transitions…
Not found in the page model web
How would you wireframe this interface?
And these are just simple examples
Designers and developers—such as those at WebDU—are building cooler, more complex apps and sites all the time
Image credits
Etsy showcase
Source: www.etsy.com/showcase.php

IA for RIAs
“ Traditional” techniques may not work
Particularly in terms of documentation (eg site map and wireframes)
New ways of documenting and communicating IA are needed
Methodologies may need to change also (eg fit in with agile)
Less about strict IA and more about interaction design
New techniques to consider
User task flows, storyboards, early working prototypes
Rapid iterative prototyping; see it working then refine it
‘ Wireflows’ and other hybrid forms of documentation

IA practice is catching up

IA practice is catching up
The RIA issue has consumed the IA community
New documentation and methodology have surfaced and are entering the ‘mainstream’
There is a shift towards, or merger with, interaction design
There are some great examples of usable, well thought out web 2.0 sites and web apps
But there will be a lag
IA (and its synonyms) are relatively young disciplines
Many practitioners come from information science, or more ‘linear’ schools of thought
Some are finding that the rules have changed whilst they’re still learning the game
Still a lot of work out there that is web 1.0
The new breed of IA will need to be more ‘parallel’, more interactive
Image credits
Example of a wireflow from UX methods trading cards (top left)
Source: http://nform.ca/tradingcards/2008_19.jpg
Wireframe storyboard (bottom left)
Source: http://thinkingandmaking.com/entries/art/36/wireframe-storyboard.gif
Task flow for an Ajax login component (right)
Source: www.uxmatters.com/MT/archives/images/rias-figure%205.png

Different, yet still the same
We’re still talking about UCD
Whilst IA needs to ensure it keeps up with advances in technology and industry trends, the same basic principles apply
Research, design, validate
It’s just a new way of applying the principles
Web 2.0 is not an excuse for a free-for-all
We don’t want a repeat of lavish and unusable interfaces from early 90s
Be careful of the “if we build it they will come” mentality; websites and applications still need to have purpose and meet a well defined audience need

What does this mean for you?
Web developers and designers…
Need to allow time for IA (and UCD in general)
Can use IA to help improve what you create
Should get involved in IA (or even start to specialise in it)
Provide valuable input into IA; leverage your experience across many projects and scenarios
Can be key drivers for IA in the development team
Are well placed to set the standards and influence colleagues (as with web-standards)
Should play well with others (IA and UX professionals :)

Tips
For success in IA, remember…
There are no simple answers, but there are simple techniques
Solve each problem at the right stage of the project
Designs should be useful, not just usable
Iteratively sense-check your work with users
Teamwork works best (little “d” design with a multidisciplinary team)
Always use a ‘blended’ approach (aka triangulation)

Further reading
For a good intro to all things IA related, try:
Don’t Make Me Think by Steve Krug ISBN: 0789723107
The Elements of User Experience by Jesse James Garrett ISBN: 0735712026
The User Is Always Right by Steve Mulder & Ziv Yaar ISBN: 0321434536
Information Architecture for the World Wide Web by Louis Rosenfeld & Peter Morville ISBN: 0596000359
Boxes and Arrows www.boxesandarrows.com
User Interface Engineering (UIE) www.uie.com

Further reading
For wise thoughts on design documentation, try:
Sketching User Experiences by Bill Buxton ISBN: 0123740371
Communicating Design by Dan Brown ISBN: 0321392353
For the latest in IA for RIAs, try:
Documenting the Design of Rich Internet Applications: A Visual Language for State by Richard F. Cecil www.uxmatters.com/MT/archives/000251.php
The Guided Wireframe Narrative for Rich Internet Applications by Andres Zapata www.boxesandarrows.com/view/the_guided_wire

In summary
IA is not something to be scared of!
Designers and developers can use IA to deliver better results
In its most basic form IA is all about structure, navigation and labelling
But more broadly it is UCD, consisting of Research, Design, Validation
Ultimately IA will mean different things in different situations
It’s not something frivolous or stuck at the end of a project
IA is just as important for RIAs and Web 2.0 (perhaps more so)

Questions?
Contact details
Patrick Kennedy
[email_address]
www.gurtle.com/ppov/
All slides will be on SlideShare: www.slideshare.net/PatrickKennedy

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Demystifying Information Architecture

by Patrick Kennedy

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