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Information Architecture for Products
The document discusses the importance of information architecture (IA) in product design, highlighting challenges such as information overload and the need for clarity in meanings and organization. It emphasizes the role of ontology, taxonomy, and choreography in effectively structuring information to meet user expectations and enhance understanding. Additionally, the document suggests that effective communication and careful use of language are critical to reducing complexity within IA.
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Information Architecture for Products
- 1. Information Architecture for Products Presentedby: Abby Covert | @Abby_the_IA
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- 4. 4 “Perhaps the mostimportant change from the previous menu, though, was a grouping system that categorized food items into neat culinary taxonomies: pancakes on this page, omelettes on this one, etc.”
- 7. Understanding Information as a materialis complex
- 8. 11 Information can comein the form of lack of information or materiality
- 9. 12 There is notrue information, only spin.
- 10. Defining Good isComplex 13
- 11. We spend muchof our lives trying to Architect Information that Makes sense
- 12. Typical Problems • Toomuch information: Overwhelming use of messages and notifications • Not the right information: Confusions of meaning, intent and/ or action • No information at all: Limited signals for people to understand what is happening, has happened or is about to happen next 15
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- 14. Objects Allow usto have deeper conversations
- 15. Tools of IA •Ontological Clarifiers • Taxonomic Structures • Diagrammatic Techniques • User Research • Market Research • Organizational Research • Heuristic Evaluations 19 Today’s Focus
- 16. Information Architecture is important to understandwhen working on products 20
- 17. 21 Users expect Installed Applicationsto connect to the internet, and provide easy connections to commerce....
- 18. 22 While also syncingwith one or more other devices...
- 19. 23 One of whichhas to fit in their pocket...
- 20. 24 Our bosses makeit clear, we have to also tell users about new things...
- 21. 25 That compete withother things they already use...
- 22. 26 Users expect productsto get to know their likes and dislikes...
- 23. 27 And still givethe opportunity to change what it “knows”...
- 24. 28 Connection to andcollection of information is not just “in” our pockets and on our desks anymore...
- 25. 29From Quinn Norton’s“Everything is Broken” https://medium.com/message/81e5f33a24e1
- 26. making Products iscomplex • People face more choices and avenues • Product teams are under more pressure to be not only easy and clear but also unique and delightful • Technology is constantly changing as are user expectations for patterns and functionality • We are all personally experiencing information overload 30
- 27. Complexity can getin the way of true understanding 31 Rabbit Hole of Complexity
- 28. Some Enemies thatlurk in Complexity • Familiarity: Being too close to the problem can make you forget to remember what it is like to NOT understand • Looking good vs. being good: Tricking yourself into thinking something is good because it is good looking • “Uh, Huh”: Not admitting ignorance when faced with it • Unnecessary Exactitude: Including more detail than is helpful • Rainbow Worship: Believing that more color or colorful flowery language is always better • Edifitis: Belief that a better, shinier “such and such” could and will fix the problem • Not asking Why: Simple as that. Always ask why. • How before What: Thinking to specifically about solutions before the problem is defined 32List adapted from Richard Saul Wurman’s Information Anxiety 2
- 29. Information architecture is about makingSense of complexity 33
- 30. 34 “To make anapple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe” - Carl Sagan
- 31. 35 Users Stakeholders Strategic Goals Information Architecture Design Makers Markting & TheirBosses • Comfort with context • Access/Interest/Trust • Reading & Grade level • Aesthetics & Taste • Tone • Brand • Pixels • Style Sheets • Production Budget • direction • Flow • Clarity • Models • Structure • Tasks • Truth • Goals • Research • Competition • REturn on Investment • Growth towards goals • Reputation • The bottom Line • Budget • Reach • Competition • Distraction • Loyalty • Channel Limits • Scope • Talent • Platforms • Integration • Scalability • Quality Assurance • maintainability Complexity in a simple App design project
- 32. 2004 Now IA workis getting more complex
- 33. Ontology: Do you knowwhat you mean when you say what you say? Taxonomy: Have you provided logical structures that bring meaning to what you present? Choreography: How is meaning affected across various channels, over time and through usage? Ontology Taxonomy Choreography Critical Components Of IA* *HT @DanKlyn
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- 35. Ontology = Meaning 39 Dowe know what we mean when we say what we say? - @DanKlyn
- 36. Meaning is subjective Meaningis demographic Meaning is socio political Meaning gets lost in translation Meaning is complex 40
- 37. Lexicography vs Ontology •Lexicography is the practice of compiling dictionaries. Lexicographers collect different meanings for words • Ontology represents the knowledge of terms and concepts within a domain 41
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- 39. There are only5 ways to organize anything 44 1. Location: Rome is a city in Italy 2. Alphabetical: Rome starts with “R” 3. Time: Rome started in 753 BC 4. Category: Rome is a Romantic city 5. Hierarchy: Rome is within Italy, which is within Europe, which is within the Eastern and Northern Hemisphere *HT Richard Saul Wurman -‐ Informa:on Anxiety 2
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- 41. Organizing information is not thehard part 46 building true consensus on the meaning and intent of information is the hard(er) part
- 42. Taxonomy is Rhetoric 47 Theway you choose to organize your vegetables says something about what kind of store you are
- 43. 48 “It takes knowledgeto know that a tomato is a fruit, and wisdom not to put it in a fruit salad.” – Miles Kington
- 44. Mental Models Matter A mental modelis an explanation for the way someone makes sense of something. These models of perception shape our behavior and how we relate to information that we encounter. 49
- 45. What facets doyou have? • A facet is a particular aspect or feature of something. The number of facets something has the more ways it can be organized against other things. 50
- 46. 51 20 ways toorganize a box of vegetables 1.! By cost at the grocery in the USA (Location) 2.! By cost at the grocery in the UK (Location) 3.! By countries it is eaten in (Location) 4.! By first letter scientific names (Alphabetical) 5.! By first letter popular names (Alphabetical) 6.! By first letter cultural names (Alphabetical) 7.! By seasonality of harvest (Time) 8.! By length of season (Time) 9.! By cooking time (Time) 10.! By popularity today (Time) 11.! By popularity 100 years ago (Time) 12.! By color (Category) 13.! By taste (Category) 14.! By texture (Category) 15.! By size (Category) 16.! By growing style (Hierarchy) 17.! By climate (Hierarchy) 18.! By type (Hierarchy) 19.! By soil type (Hierarchy) 20.! By best storing technique (Hierarchy)
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- 50. 55 “Watch Instantly” providesless ambiguous categories up front Introducing more ambiguity as the user narrows focus into a broad category
- 51. The more Ambiguityintroduced, the less effective the taxonomy 56 Level of Ambiguity in Classification ClarityofTaxonomy
- 52. 57 homogenous information or heterogenousinformation
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- 60. 65 One is noless complex than the other. http://www.umsystem.edu/newscentral/mindfuleating/2010/01/29/too-many-choices/
- 61. Most projects require aunique mix of these four building blocks 66
- 62. Choreography = Intent •Context: the circumstances that form the setting for an interaction • Channel: A medium for communication or the passage of information 67
- 63. 68 How you choreographYour product says something about who you are
- 64. 69 Home HomeHomeHomePosts Explore Create Post Direction (Default/Front Facing) Grid (On/Off) Flash (No, Auto, On) Choose from Library Home Home HomePhotos on Phone Video (On/Off) Take Photo HomeHomeHomeUser Profile Activity (Following/ News) Comment Direct Like Delete Likers Copy Share URL Email Photo Tag People Post to Followers Share Copy Share URL Email Photo Tag People Your Profile Edit Profile Photos of User Followers Following Post (Direct) Edit Tilt Frame Filter Blur (Off, Circle, Line) Brightness (Default, On) Caption Tag People Add to Photo Map (On/Off) Name this Location Foursquare Results Facebook (On/Off) Twitter (On/Off) Tumblr (On/Off) Email (On/Off) Add Email Address from Contacts Add Email Address Manually IPhone Contacts Add Email Twitter Login Tumblr Login Facebook Login HomeHomeHomeYour Posts Comments Comment Caption Send To Next Post Comments Report Inappropriate Tweet Copy Share URL Comment Like Choreographing simplicity can be really complex
- 65. Lesson 1: When unraveling complexity,Start with language not interfaces 70
- 66. 71 “If we’re thinkingof lunchbox, we’d be really careful about not having the word ‘box’ already give you bunch of ideas that could be quite narrow. You think of a box being a square, and like a cube. And so we’re quite careful with the words we use, because those can determine the path that you go down.” - Jony Ive, Apple http://www.macrumors.com/2013/02/20/jony-ive-on-how-product-naming-influences-design-philosophy/ Words are the material of our intent
- 67. Remember Language is notjust words 72
- 68. 73 I am sorryyou have having issues using our mobile site. I am sure I will be able to help you...Can you see the hamburger menu? Careful: We LOVE to use words anyways even if we have to make them up
- 69. 74 Collecting the Materials •What “information” is important to your target user? • In what medium and context is “information” found today? • What “information” is important to your own objectives? • What “nouns” are you providing to users? • What “verbs” are users anticipating as relates to those “nouns”? • Decide the words, images, icons and gestures will you use to provide those things to users
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- 71. Controlled Vocabularies • Acontrolled vocabulary is a list of approved terms and definitions for a particular context and/or setting • This exercise can help teams to decide on things like: – Variant Spellings (i.e. American vs. British) – Scientific vs. Popular Term Use (i.e. Cockroaches vs. Periplaneta Americana) – Acceptable Synonyms (i.e. Automobile vs. Car) – Acceptable Acronyms (i.e. GE vs. General Electric) – Business vs. User Terms (i.e. What we say in meetings vs. what we say to customers) – Identification of homographs (i.e. the word “pool” can relate to “swimming pool” or “shooting”) 76
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- 74. 79 Slice of Pizza Piece of Pizza fettadi Pizza tranche de Pizza Piede di Pizza Pied de Pizza Pizza Pie Pizza Synonym Rings
- 75. Lesson 2: Diagram the damnthing 80
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- 77. diagrams and maps Canbe “invented” for a certain context ... but here are a bunch that I keep going back to 82
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- 80. Gantt 86 Starving Commute Home Call For Pizza ORder Pizza Delivery Info Payment Info Wait 7:00PM 7:05 PM 7:10 PM 7:15 PM 7:20 PM 7:25 PM 7:30 PM Full Hungry Eat Pizza At Home
- 81. Flow Diagram 89 Call Pizza place WatchMovie Order Pizza Delivery & Payment Hungry? Yes! No! Arrive Home After Work Wait Eat Doorbell? Pizza Guy? Yes! No :( Yes! No!
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- 83. Tree 91 Pizza Chicago Style PlainToppings NYC Style PlainToppings VeggieMeat VeggieMeat
- 84. Swim lane 92 Customer ServiceCook DriverPizza Eater Hungry Call Pizza place Answer Take Order Give Order Enter into POS Make Pizza Bake Pizza Box Pizza Take Pizza Drive to house Ring door Bell Answer Door Pay for Pizza Eat Pizza Read Order
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- 89. Journey Map 97 Get out ofWork Drive Walk to Door Order Pizza Get Pizza Eat Pizza Outside Car Home Unlock Door Park In Drive Hear Doorbell Get Home
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- 91. Association Map 99 Abby's Pizza Store Website Print Ads Coupon Menu Flyer Signs Delivery Take Out DineIn Radio Paper Board Menu About Order
- 92. 100 PLAN THE BUSINESSASSORT THE PLAN SELL-IN THE PLAN EXECUTE THE ASSORTMENT BRING ASSTMTTO LIFE Scorecar ds (Annual, Seasonal, Monthly) Top Account Plan Market Share Data Point of Sale Competitor Account Financials Account Trends Wholesale Sales Key City Consumer Trends Analyze the Business Develop Marketplace Insights Develop Accountvv Insights BUSINESS PLANNING Tailor Seasonal Offering Create Account Assortment Plans VisualFinancial Retail Space Buy SIM Strategies GTM KAPM Season Fundamentals (Nike U) CSI/ Showroom Account Assortment PlansCraft Sell-in Package Create Seasonal Experience Learn to Sell & Service SELL-IN PREPARATION Samples Commercial content Catalog Shop Invoices Claims Order Tracking Manage the buy RETAILER BUYING SKU Online Training EKIN In-store Training PP Guidelines & Directives Self-serve Digital In-store associate Present Products Train Retail Associates Educate Consumers (SKU) PRODUCT EDUCATION& PRESENTTAION Sales Programs Account DC Nike DC 3rd Party Logistics Consolidators CarriersStore Account Driven Changes Entry Errors Nike Driven Changes Demand/ Supply match Launch Manage Delivery Manage Load-in ORDER MANAGEMENT Analyze the Assortment Directed Assortments Account Seasonal Recaps Category Hindsighting & Foresighting Quick- strike Always Available/ Replenishment Review the Business Physical Assets Gross to Net Profitabilty Modeling Sales Targeting Seasonal Recap In Season Sell-thru Suggested ReplacementsAllocated Products Edited Offering Call-offs UPCs Order Analysis At-once availability Allocated Product Manage Fill-in Campaigns Digital Assets (wholesale.com) Futures Order ASSORTMENT PLANNING Build & Manage the Plan At-Once Order Product Modules Stock & Sales & Open to Buy Manage Gaps & Opportun- ities Asstmt sell-in Financial Plans Sales Programs Account Credit Product Allocations Business Plans Rep Content
- 93. Diagrammatic Relationships 101 Hierarchy Flow If This That ChildB Child A Loop Parent Logic Child Parent Child Grand Child Parent Child 2 Child1 Parent Resulting Children Database Best For: Naviga:on Best For: Guidance Best For: Explora:on Best For: Transac:on
- 94. Lesson 3: Information architecture isnot just for Information Architects 102
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- 96. Take Aways • Don’tstart on the interface: IA is not just about interfaces, it is about understanding • Diagram the damn thing: Making objects of discourse aid us in collaboration, and with the building of consensus • IA is not just for IAs: Think through the appropriate ontology, taxonomy and choreography while working on any design project 120
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