The document provides 8 better practices for information architecture (IA) to improve findability: 1. Diagnose the important problems by analyzing usage patterns and prioritizing what matters most. 2. Balance evidence from both quantitative and qualitative research methods. 3. Advocate for the long term by developing project visions and measurable goals. 4. Measure engagement beyond conversions by tracking tasks, trust, and connections between content. 5. Support contextual navigation through content modeling and understanding user desire lines. 6. Improve search across silos by recognizing query patterns and specialized search needs. 7. Combine manual and algorithmic design approaches effectively like an onion with layered information. 8

1. 8 better practices from information architecture
Lou Rosenfeld

2. Hello, my name is Lou
www.louisrosenfeld.com | www.rosenfeldmedia.com
2

3. 3

4. The state of
contemporary
findability
3

5. 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?
4

6. Why can’t we get
findability right?

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

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

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

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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

13. Data is binary
Information isn’t

14. Information architecture:
8 better practices for findability
1. Diagnose the important problems
2. Balance your evidence
3. Advocate for the long term
4. Measure engagement
5. Support contextual navigation
6. Improve search across silos
7. Combine design approaches effectively
8. Tune your design over time
7

15. #1
Diagnose the
important problems
8

16. A
9

17. A Not all queries
are distributed
equally
9

18. A Nor do they
diminish gradually
9

19. A
80/20 rule isn’t
quite accurate
9

20. (
10

21. (
10

22. (
10

23. (
10

24. The Long Tail is
( much longer than
you’d suspect
10

25. Zipf Distribution in text
11

26. It’s Zipf’s World;
we just live in it
A little...
• queries
• tasks
• ways to navigate
• features
• documents
...goes a long way
12

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

28. Continually prioritize
to do
what’s important...
14

29. ...and continually fix (within
to do
an IA report card)
15

30. #2
Balance your evidence
16

31. from Christian Rohrer: http://is.gd/95HSQ2
17

32. Balanced research
leads to true insight,
new opportunities
from Christian Rohrer: http://is.gd/95HSQ2
17

33. 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)
18

34. Balance over time:
From projects to processes
Example: the rolling content inventory
19

35. Develop a research regimen
to do
balanced by time, quadrant
Each week, for example...
• Analyze analytics for trends (Behavioral + Quantitative)
• Task analysis of common needs (Behavioral + Qualitative)
Each month...
• User survey (Attitudinal + Quantitative)
• Exploratory analysis of analytics data (Behavioral + Qualitative)
Each quarter...
• Field study (Behavioral/Attitudinal + Qualitative)
• Card sorting (Attitudinal + Qualitative/Quantitative)
20

36. #3
Advocate for the long-term
21

37. S
Typical design
focus
Stuff that gets ignored:
mission, vision, charter,
goals, KPI, objectives
22

38. For starters, develop your
to do
project’s elevator pitch
Read Gamestorming (Gray, Brown,
Macanufo); O’Reilly, 2010).
http://amzn.to/nnpERG
23

39. #4
Measure engagement
24

40. Measuring
conversions?
No problem...
25

41. ..measuring
anything else?
Good luck!

42. 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...
26

43. Use gradual engagement
to do
model to isolate, measure tasks
Example: adoption of features; can you
measure movement between layers?
Layer 0: User visits the site (unauthenticated; no
cookies, no nothing)
Layer 1: User asks the site a question (for
example, a search query)
Layer 2: Site asks the user a question (would
you like save this product to a wish list?)
Layer 3: Site suggests something to the user
(you might enjoy these products ordered by
people like you)
Layer 4: Site acts on the user's behalf (we've
gone ahead and saved these products to your
More on gradual engagement: account's list of frequently-ordered items)
http://bit.ly/9hPqyx
27

44. #5
Support contextual navigation
28

45. 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

46. 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
30

47. Important metadata attributes emerge
from content modeling
Metadata that
matters most
31

48. Make content modeling a
to do
participatory design exercise

49. Make content modeling a
to do
participatory design exercise
•Provide subjects with “de-oriented” samples of
content types... and common tasks
•Have them draw “desire lines” and starting
points, and identify gaps in content types
•Learn from “think out loud” and by identifying
common patterns
•More info: Atherton et al.’s “domain modeling”
presentation: http://slidesha.re/fzChQB

50. #6
Improve search across silos
33

51. Reconsidering the search UI...
34

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

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

54. ...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

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

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

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

58. Recognizing
specialized queries
(e.g., proper nouns,
dates, unique ID#s)
36

59. Recognizing
specialized queries
(e.g., proper nouns,
dates, unique ID#s)
search pattern:
TA292761
36

60. Recognizing
specialized queries
(e.g., proper nouns,
dates, unique ID#s)
search pattern:
regulations
March 2011
search pattern:
TA292761
36

61. Recognizing
specialized queries
(e.g., proper nouns,
dates, unique ID#s)
search pattern:
regulations
March 2011
search pattern:
regulations Owens
search pattern:
TA292761
36

62. Recognizing
specialized queries
(e.g., proper nouns,
dates, unique ID#s)
search pattern:
regulations
March 2011
search pattern:
regulations Owens
search pattern:
search pattern: regulations
TA292761 Caterpillar
36

63. ...and designing specialized search result
37

64. ...and designing specialized search result
37

65. ...and designing specialized search result
37

66. Poor search
results returned
by search
engine
Content objects
from product
content model
...and designing specialized search result
37

67. Read a book chapter on
to do
session analysis
You’ll find one in my book
Search Analytics for Your Site
http://bit.ly/quFxdz
38

68. #7
Combine design approaches
effectively
39

69. Y
40

70. Y
Narrow, deep
content access
40

71. V
41

72. V
...to editorially
rich content
41

73. 42

74. Manually
selected
results
42

75. Manually
selected results
...complement
raw results
42

76. Treat your content
to do
like an onion
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)
refresh monthly
(e.g., UserTesting.com)
tagged by experts “traditional” lab-based titled according to
3 (topical tags) user testing guidelines
content models for A/B testing structured according
4 contextual navigation to schema
43

77. Treat your content
to do
like an onion Each layer is
cumulative; most
important content is
information
layer usat thecore 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)
refresh monthly
(e.g., UserTesting.com)
tagged by experts “traditional” lab-based titled according to
3 (topical tags) user testing guidelines
content models for A/B testing structured according
4 contextual navigation to schema
43

78. #8
Tune your design over time
44

79. Your site is a moving target
built on moving targets
45

80. I
46

81. I
Time to
Interest in the study!
football team:
going
...going
gone
46

82. I
47

83. Before
Tax Day
I
47

84. I
48

85. After
Tax Day
I
48

86. Move from time-boxed
to do
projects to ongoing processes
Example: the rolling content inventory
49

87. Summary:
8 IA better practices
1. Diagnose the important problems
2. Balance your evidence
3. Advocate for the long term
4. Measure engagement
5. Support contextual navigation
6. Improve search across silos
7. Combine design approaches effectively
8. Tune your design over time
50

88. S
Let’s stop boiling the ocean
50

89. Say hello
Lou Rosenfeld
lou@louisrosenfeld.com
Rosenfeld Media
www.louisrosenfeld.com | @louisrosenfeld
www.rosenfeldmedia.com | @rosenfeldmedia
51