8 Information Architecture Better Practices

8 better practicesfrom information architectureLou Rosenfeld • Rosenfeld Media • rosenfeldmedia.com

Hello, my name is Lou www.louisrosenfeld.com | www.rosenfeldmedia.com

The state ofcontemporary ﬁndability

Why can’t we getﬁndability right?• Semantic illiteracy• Siloed organizations• Ill-equipped decision-makers prone to short-term thinking• We don’t know how to diagnose• We don’t know how to measure

Information architecture:8 better practices for ﬁndability 1. Diagnosing the important problems 2. Balancing our evidence 3. Designing for the long term 4. Measuring engagement 5. Supporting contextual navigation 6. Improving search across silos 7. Combining design approaches effectively 8. Tuning our designs over time

#1Diagnosing theimportant problems

A handful of queries/tasks/ways to navigate/features/ A little goes a long waydocuments meet the needs of your most important audiences

A handful of queries/tasks/ways to navigate/features/ A little goes a long waydocuments meet the needs of your most important audiences Not all queries are distributed equally

A handful of queries/tasks/ways to navigate/features/ A little goes a long waydocuments meet the needs of your most important audiences Nor do they diminish gradually

A handful of queries/tasks/ways to navigate/features/ A little goes a long waydocuments meet the needs of your most important audiences 80/20 rule isn’t quite accurate

(and the tail is quite long)

The Zipf Curve, textually

It’s Zipf’s World;we just live in it A little... • queries • tasks • ways to navigate • features • documents ...goes a long way

unveriﬁed rumor alert

unveriﬁed rumor alert90% of Microsoft.com content

unveriﬁed rumor alert90% of Microsoft.com content has never been accessed...

unveriﬁed rumor alert90% of Microsoft.com content has never been accessed... not even once

#2Balancing our evidence

from Christian Rohrer: http://is.gd/95HSQ2

Balanced research leads to true insight, new opportunitiesfrom Christian Rohrer: http://is.gd/95HSQ2

Lou’s TABLE OFOVERGENERALIZED Web Analytics User Experience DICHOTOMIES Users intentions and What they Users behaviors (whats motives (why those things analyze happening) happen) Qualitative methods for What methods Quantitative methods to explaining why things they employ determine whats happening happen Helps users achieve goals What theyre Helps the organization meet (expressed as tasks ortrying to achieve goals (expressed as KPI) topics of interest) Uncover patterns and How they use Measure performance (goal- surprises (emergent data driven analysis) analysis) Statistical data ("real" data Descriptive data (in smallWhat kind of data in large volumes, full of volumes, generated in lab they use errors) environment, full of errors)

#3Designing for the long-term

Stewart Brand’s Pace Layeringmodel Typical design focus Stuff that gets ignored: mission, vision, charter, goals, KPI, objectives

#4Measuring engagement

Measuringconversions?No problem...

..measuringanything else? Good luck!

The missing metricsof engagement• Orientation (“What can I do here?”)• Authority (“I trust this”)• Social (“Who else likes this?”)• Connection/cross-promotion (“What goes with this?”)• and many more...

Conversation architectureuncovers levels of engagementLevel 0: I visit site (unauthenticated)Level 1: I ask site a question (e.g., a search)Level 2: Site asks me a question (“can we save thosesettings?”)Level 3: Site suggests somethingto me (“you might also like this”)Level 4: Site acts on my behalf(“I’ve added this to your favorites list in case you’d like to reorder”) trust and value grow progressively

#5Supportingcontextual navigation

Contextual navigation:your site’s desire lines

1.Choose a contenttype (e.g., events)  2.Ask: “Whereshould users gofrom here?”3.Analyze the  frequent queriesfrom this contenttype from aiga.org  

           Analyze frequent queries generated from each content sample

Content models emerge (example: BBC) concert calendar album pages artist descriptions TV listingsalbum reviews discography artist bios

User studies are another greatway to get at content models

#6Improving search across silos

Reconsidering the search UI...

...convert “advanced” searchinto reﬁnement

...convert “advanced” searchinto reﬁnement search session patterns 1. solar energy 2. how solar energy works

...convert “advanced” searchinto reﬁnement search session patterns 1. solar energy 2. how solar energy works search session patterns 1. solar energy 2. energy

...convert “advanced” searchinto reﬁnement search session patterns search session patterns 1. solar energy 1. solar energy 2. solar energy charts 2. how solar energy works search session patterns 1. solar energy 2. energy

...convert “advanced” searchinto reﬁnement search session patterns search session patterns 1. solar energy 1. solar energy 2. solar energy charts 2. how solar energy works search session patterns search session patterns 1. solar energy 1. solar energy 2. explain solar energy 2. energy

...convert “advanced” searchinto reﬁnement search session patterns search session patterns 1. solar energy 1. solar energy 2. solar energy charts 2. how solar energy works search session patterns search session patterns 1. solar energy 1. solar energy 2. explain solar energy 2. energy search session patterns 1. solar energy 2. solar energy news

Design forspecialized queries(e.g., proper nouns,dates, unique ID#s)

...and design specialized search results

Content objects from productcontent model ...and design specialized search results

Poor search results returned by search engineContent objects from productcontent model ...and design specialized search results

#7Combining design approacheseffectively

Yes, manual effort is still asimportant as tools

Yes, manual effort is still asimportant as tools Narrow, deep content access

Vanguard’s Tax Center is asimple, low-tech, editorial

Vanguard’s Tax Center is asimple, low-tech, editorial ...to editorially rich content

Manuallyselected results

Manuallyselected results ...complement raw results

Treat your content Each layer is cumulative; most important like an onion content is at the core informationlayer usability content strategy architecture indexed by search 0 engine leave it alone leave it alone squeaky wheel issues 1 tagged by users addressed refresh annually tagged by experts (non- test with a service 2 topical tags) (e.g., UserTesting.com) refresh monthly tagged by experts “traditional” lab-based titled according to 3 (topical tags) user testing guidelines content models for structured according 4 contextual navigation A/B testing to schema

#8Tuning designs over time

Your site is a moving targetbuilt on moving targets

Impact of change on design(queries)

Impact of change on design(queries) Interest in the football team: going...

Impact of change on design(queries) Interest in the football team: going... ...going...

Impact of change on design(queries) Interest in the football team: going... ...going... gone

Impact of change on design(queries) Time to Interest in the study! football team: going... ...going... gone

IRS before Tax Day

Before Tax DayIRS before Tax Day

IRS after Tax Day

After Tax DayIRS after Tax Day

Summary:8 IA better practices1. Diagnosing the important problems2. Balancing our evidence3. Designing for the long term4. Measuring engagement5. Supporting contextual navigation6. Improving search across silos7. Combining design approaches effectively8. Tuning our designs over time

Say hello Lou Rosenfeld lou@louisrosenfeld.com Rosenfeld Media www.louisrosenfeld.com | @louisrosenfeld www.rosenfeldmedia.com | @rosenfeldmedia

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8 Information Architecture Better Practices

by Louis Rosenfeld on Jul 07, 2012

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