Closing the Findability Gap 8
better practices from information architecture Lou Rosenfeld • Rosenfeld Media • rosenfeldmedia.com

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

The state of
contemporary
findability

Some questions that you probably
can’t answer • Who are your content’s primary audiences? • What are the five major tasks and needs each has? • Are you satisfying those tasks and needs? • What data support your thinking? • How do you measure success?

Why can’t we get findability
right?

Why can’t we get findability
right?

Why can’t we get findability
right? • We don’t know how to diagnose

Why can’t we get findability
right? • We don’t know how to diagnose • We don’t know how to measure

Why can’t we get findability
right? • We don’t know how to diagnose • We don’t know how to measure • Siloed organizations

Why can’t we get findability
right? • We don’t know how to diagnose • We don’t know how to measure • Siloed organizations • Ill-equipped decision-makers

Why can’t we get findability
right? • We don’t know how to diagnose • We don’t know how to measure • Siloed organizations • Ill-equipped decision-makers • Short-term thinking

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

Data is binary
Information isn’t

Data is binary
Information isn’t

Information architecture: 8 better practices
for findability 1. Diagnosing the important problems 2. Balancing our evidence 3. Advocating 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

#1
Diagnosing the
important problems

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

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

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

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

(and the tail is quite
long)

(and the tail is quite
long)

(and the tail is quite
long)

(and the tail is quite
long)

(and the tail is quite
long)

The Long Tail is (and
the tail is quite long) much longer than you’d suspect

Zipf Distribution in text

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:

UNVERIFIED RUMOR:
90% of

UNVERIFIED RUMOR: 90% of Microsoft.com
content

UNVERIFIED RUMOR: 90% of Microsoft.com
content has never been accessed...

UNVERIFIED RUMOR: 90% of Microsoft.com
content has never been accessed... not even once

UNVERIFIED RUMOR: 90% of Microsoft.com
content has never been accessed... not even once TAKEAWAY:

UNVERIFIED RUMOR: 90% of Microsoft.com
content has never been accessed... not even once TAKEAWAY: FOCUS ON

UNVERIFIED RUMOR: 90% of Microsoft.com
content has never been accessed... not even once TAKEAWAY: FOCUS ON THE STUFF

UNVERIFIED RUMOR: 90% of Microsoft.com
content has never been accessed... not even once TAKEAWAY: FOCUS ON THE STUFF THAT MATTERS!

#2
Balancing our evidence

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

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

Lou’s TABLE OF OVERGENERALIZED Web
Analytics User Experience DICHOTOMIES Users' intentions and What they Users' behaviors (what's motives (why those things analyze happening) happen) Qualitative methods for What methods Quantitative methods to explaining why things they employ determine what's happening happen Helps users achieve goals What they're Helps the organization meet (expressed as tasks or trying 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 small What kind of data in large volumes, full of volumes, generated in lab they use errors) environment, full of errors)

#3
Advocating for the long-term

Steward Brand’s Pace Layering model
Typical design focus Stuff that gets ignored: mission, vision, charter, goals, KPI, objectives

#4
Measuring engagement

Measuring
conversions?
No problem...

..measuring
anything else?
Good luck!

The missing metrics of in-betweenness
• Orientation (“What can I do here?”) • Engagement (“I like this; do you?”) • Connection/cross-promotion (“What goes with this?”) • Authority (“I trust this”) • and many more...

#5
Supporting
contextual navigation

Contextual navigation: your site’s desire
lines

Contextual navigation: your site’s desire
lines Determine through content modeling, site search analytics

Contextual navigation: your site’s desire
lines Determine through content modeling, site search analytics Deep navigation requires content modeling: a better approach to deep IA and content structuring

Important content objects emerge concert
calendar from content modeling (example: BBC) album pages artist descriptions TV listings album reviews discography artist bios

Important content objects emerge concert
calendar from content modeling (example: BBC) album pages artist descriptions TV listings Content that matters most album reviews discography artist bios

Important metadata attributes emerge from
content modeling

Important metadata attributes emerge from
content modeling Metadata that matters most

#6
Improving search across silos

Reconsidering the search UI...

...by contextualizing “advanced” features, focusing
on revision

...by contextualizing “advanced” features, focusing
on revision search session patterns 1. solar energy 2. how solar energy works

...by contextualizing “advanced” features, focusing
on revision search session patterns 1. solar energy 2. how solar energy works search session patterns 1. solar energy 2. energy

...by contextualizing “advanced” features, focusing
on revisionsearch 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

...by contextualizing “advanced” features, focusing
on revision 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

...by contextualizing “advanced” features, focusing
on revision 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

Recognizing specialized queries (e.g., proper
nouns, dates, unique ID#s)

...and designing specialized search results

...and designing specialized search results

...and designing specialized search results

Content objects from product content
model ...and designing specialized search results

Poor search results returned by
search engine Content objects from product content model ...and designing specialized search results

#7
Combining design approaches
effectively

Yes, manual effort is still
as important as tools

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

Vanguard’s Tax Center is a
simple, low-tech, editorial

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

Manually
selected results

Manually selected results ...complement raw
results

Treat your content Each layer
is cumulative; most important like an onion content is at the core information layer 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

#8
Tuning designs over time

Your site is a moving
target built 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 Day IRS before
Tax Day

IRS after Tax Day

After Tax Day IRS after
Tax Day

Summary: 8 IA better practices
1. Diagnosing the important problems 2. Balancing our evidence 3. Advocating 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

Summary: 8 IA better practices
1. Diagnosing the important problems 2. Balancing our evidence 3. Advocating 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 Let’s stop boiling the ocean

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