Information Architecture

1. 1/30/2013
The Strategy
Part
SI 658
Information Architecture
Marti Gukeisen

2. The Strategy Part
Related Readings
Information Architecture for the World Wide Web 3
rd
Edition (The Polar Bear Book)
Peter Morville & Louis Rosenfeld
ISBN 978-0-596-52734-1
Ch 11 Strategy
Ch 18 Business Strategy
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3. 1/30/2013
IA strategy
a man, a plan, a canal, panama. Almost to the canal.
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4. The Strategy Part
The Project Process
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Research
Strategy
Design
Implementation
Administration
You
are
here
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5. The Strategy Part
Vocabulary Quiz
 Top-down vs. Bottom-up
They keep mentioning this. Does it make sense yet?
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6. The Strategy Part
PB says: strategy should include
 IA administration
 technology integration
 top-down or bottom-up emphasis
 organization and labeling systems
 document type identification
 metadata field definition
 navigation system design
asterisk: not an exhaustive list
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SI658 Information Architecture

7. The Strategy Part
my revisions to the PB strategy set
 IA administration content maintenance strategy
 technology integration
 organization and labeling systems
 navigation system design
 page types, content types & meta fields
 top-down or bottom-up emphasis
 document type identification
 metadata field definition
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8. The Strategy Part
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the asterisk
a (still incomplete) list of IA artifacts & deliverables
 Analytics Assessment
 Card Sorting
 CMS Content Model
 Competitive Review
 Consumer Trends
 Content Inventory
 Content Map
 Cross-Property Activity
Analysis
 Ethnographic Research
 Feature Cards
 Feature Set
 Focus Group Plan &
Report
 Functional Requirements
 Functional Specifications
 Heuristic Evaluation
 Identify Stakeholders
 Identify User & Business
Objectives
 Interview Scripts & Reports
 Messaging Framework
 Needs Analysis
 Online Surveys
 Prototypes (Paper, Static,
Interactive)
 Personas
 Reports
 Review Research
 Scenarios
 Search Term Analysis
 Site Diagram / High level
IA
 Story Cards /
Storyboarding
 Task Diagrams
 Use Cases
 User Flows
 User Segmentation
 User Task Analysis
 User Testing Scripts &
Reports
 Wireframes / Page level IA
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Strategies for Strategizing
that’s so meta. or just redundant.
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10. The Strategy Part
IA strategy aspects
 Determine Goals
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Business objectives, user motivation, other stakeholder goals.
 Understand the Environment
Brand context, competitive space, user expectations & habits.
 Plan the Interaction
What states & steps are needed?
 Validate & Assess
Ask, test, iterate.
 Document the Plan
Facilitates shared understanding for everyone involved.
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11. The Strategy Part
possible deliverables
Determine
Goals
Understand the
Environment
Plan the
Interaction
Validate /
Assess
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Document the
Plan
Identify Stakeholders Content Inventory Scenarios Heuristic Evaluation Site Diagram
User Segmentation Competitive Review User Flows Online Surveys Wireframes
Needs Analysis Analytics Assessment Task Diagrams User Testing Scripts Story Boards
Consumer Trends Review Research Use Cases
User Testing Analysis
and Reports
Content Map
Personas
Cross-channel
Analysis
Feature Set Interview Scripts
Functional
Requirements
Search Term Analysis User Task Analysis Feature Cards Interview Reports
Functional
Specifications
Identify User &
Business Objectives
Ethnographic
Research
Card Sorting
Prototypes (static,
paper, interactive)
CMS Content Model
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12. The Strategy Part
The TACT strategy
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13. The Strategy Part
TACT, abbreviated
Think: ideation, brainstorming
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Articulate: noting inspiration as it occurs to you
Communicate: share medium-polished ideas
Test: it’s all about the validation. P.S. assume you are
wrong
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14. The Strategy Part
Think
 Brainstorming
 consider including clients, users, designers, other
stakeholders
 no wrong answers
 (but they aren’t all right)
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15. The Strategy Part
large group meetings
“…teams of eight or more people from a variety of backgrounds lock
themselves in a room for day-long ‘collaborative design workshops.’ In
our experience, these have been highly inefficient, unproductive
exercises that lead to groupthink and exhaustion.”
Large group meetings:
 GOOD for brainstorming and sharing reactions
 BAD for designing systems
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16. 1/30/2013
some important notes
budget, user testing, user testing on a budget
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17. The Strategy Part
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that teeny tiny issue of budget
 Budget is often pre-determined
 Have to balance:
 integrity of “true”
recommendation
 realistic in-budget
approach
 Creative budgeting
 what can the client
handle?
 rounds of revision
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18. The Strategy Part
more about user testing
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minimal mid-level large-scale
• online testing services
• focus group
• flat prototypes (early
testing) or beta site
(later testing)
• focus on critical features
& pages
• directed phone/video
1-on-1 testing
• guerilla UX (coffee shop
1-on-1 testing)
• Flat or minimally
interactive prototypes
(early in design process)
• focus on critical features
& pages
• 1-on-1 in person testing
with interactive
prototypes
• multiple phases of
testing
• extensive testing of
features, critical pages,
& navigation
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19. The Strategy Part
user testing on a shoestring
 Focus on the 20% that’s different, not the 80%
that’s the same
the wheel works, trust me. I ride a bike.
 Quick and (relatively) cheap online testing
such as UserTesting.com
 Guerilla UX
invade and conquer in your local coffee shop
 Ask your mom
or someone who doesn’t work in web design
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20. 1/30/2013
Business Strategy
putting the BS in IA
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21. The Strategy Part
business strategy and information
architecture
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22. The Strategy Part
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Fig 18.1 aka my favorite feedback loop
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23. The Strategy Part
relevant questions
What is your company really good at?
What is your company really bad at?
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What makes your company different from your
competitors?
 How are you able to beat competitors?
 How can your web site or intranet contribute to
competitive advantage?
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24. The Strategy Part
Mind the Gap
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 IA assessment and planning can help identify the
GAP between the strategic VISION and the
experience ACTUALITY
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25. The Strategy Part
SWOT Analysis
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26. The Strategy Part
Geoffrey Moore’s Competitive
Advantage Hierarchy
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27. The Strategy Part
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the good and the bad of the iceberg
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Project Time
the part where you collaborate and teach each other
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29. The Strategy Part
Get in your groups
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30. The Strategy Part
the first group assignment
 Due today by End of Day (11:59:59 EST)
 Have ONE group member email me your what & how
brief
 ! include all group members names in the email
 the what & how brief
 anatomy of as-is IA
 elevator pitch
 business model canvas
♪
 back it up to “volume zero”
 template linked to from ctools
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31. 1/30/2013
Presentation Time
the part where you teach
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32. Wrap Up
More stuff for you to do.
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33. The Strategy Part
For next week
Due TUES Feb 5th at 11 pm.
50-300 words responding to the following:
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Polar Bear
Ch 5 Organization Systems
Everything is Miscellaneous Ch 4 Lumps & Splits
!!! Community Badge Opportunity
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34. 1/30/2013
Laters
Questions?
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