2. About me
• Freelance information architect/interaction designer
I design structures & interfaces for complex informational
& interactive systems
6+ years pro experience, as an innie, outie & freelancer
Designed business applications, websites, intranets
• Practice, teach and write about IA and IxD
• Chair for next year's IA Summit
• Board member for the Information Architecture
Institute
• Writing a book about card sorting - due Jan 2007
Web Directions South
Information architecture: A ‘how-to’
3. About this talk
• How to work through an IA
project
Where the core is about
organising content
So people can discover
what they need
• How to think like an IA
• References
http://del.icio.us/donnam/IAworkshopNZ
Speaker notes on the slides
Some images have been removed, so the recording may sound strange
in a couple of spots
Web Directions South
Information architecture: A ‘how-to’
6. User research – tips
• Go to people, don’t
have them come to you
• Watch them
• Talk to them
• Audio-record sessions
• Take good notes
• Transcribe sessions
• Use more than one
method
Web Directions South
Information architecture: A ‘how-to’
7. User research methods
• Methods for collecting rich information
Interviews
Card sorting
Contextual enquiry, observation, shadowing
Task analysis
Probes
• Methods for collecting a lot of information
Surveys
Diary studies
• ...and then there’s focus groups
Web Directions South
Information architecture: A ‘how-to’
11. Think about information behaviours
• Information modes
Known-item
Exploratory
Don’t know what you need to
know
Refinding
• Information behaviours
Web Directions South
Information architecture: A ‘how-to’
Reviewing summaries of items
Examining details
Comparing multiples
Understanding contexts and
situations
Learning about people in the
environment
Perceiving trends
Predicting implications
Monitoring status or activity
Identifying by criteria
Establishing similarity
12. Card sorting
• A simple technique to
learn about how people
perceive content groups
• Content items are
written on index cards
• People group the cards
in ways that make sense
for them
• Results are used as an
input into a new IA
Web Directions South
Information architecture: A ‘how-to’
13. Card sorting - planning
• Planning
Participants - end users, in small groups or individually
Method - manual or tool-based
Place - for groups, room with a large table
Content - select items for the cards
Cards - create cards, assemble post-its and pens
• Content selection (the important but tricky part)
Too granular and you may end up with too many cards
Too broad and you may lead the exercise too much
You do not have to do the whole site at once
Web Directions South
Information architecture: A ‘how-to’
14. Card sorting - analysis
Web Directions South
Information architecture: A ‘how-to’
18. Content analysis
• Content analysis is the process of
Understanding content by analysing it
Identifying patterns and content relationships
Focusing not on 'pages' but content elements
• Start with a content inventory or wishlist
Web Directions South
Information architecture: A ‘how-to’
19. Content analysis
• Think about
format
document type
(publications, reports,
how to, 'stuff’)
topic
audience
source
structure
accuracy
page elements
Web Directions South
Information architecture: A ‘how-to’
21. Choose classification schemes
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Date
Alphabetical
Geography
Task
Audience
Tag-based
Topic
formal, existing ones
- dewey, LOC,
commodity
informal, developed
for the purpose
Web Directions South
Information architecture: A ‘how-to’
Date is a natural organisation
scheme for anything that
happened, or will happen at a
point in time. It works best
when people are looking at
the site frequently. If this is
not the case, alternate
organisation schemes will be
necessary so people can easily
find relevant historical
content.
22. Choose classification schemes
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Date
Alphabetical
Geography
Task
Audience
Tag-based
Topic
formal, existing ones dewey, LOC,
commodity
informal, developed for
the purpose
Web Directions South
Information architecture: A ‘how-to’
• An alphabetical scheme suits content
arranged by name (such as author or
artist), where the name is clear and it
is likely people will look for the
content by the name.
• Few sites use alphabetical as the
primary organisation scheme. A-Z
indexes, as supplemental navigation,
provide a terrific alternate method
for finding content as long as the
index uses labels that are sensible for
site readers.
23. Choose classification schemes
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Date
Alphabetical
Geography
Task
Audience
Tag-based
Topic
formal, existing ones dewey, LOC, commodity
informal, developed for
the purpose
Web Directions South
Information architecture: A ‘how-to’
• A geographical organisation
scheme is perfect for
anything relating to physical
geography, particularly
travel sites. Some sites still
make you choose your
country before letting you
in, but this practice is less
common than it once was.
24. Choose classification schemes
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Date
Alphabetical
Geography
Task
Audience
Tag-based
Topic
formal, existing ones
- dewey, LOC,
commodity
informal, developed
for the purpose
Web Directions South
Information architecture: A ‘how-to’
• Task-based schemes are an
interesting challenge. In
order for them to work, the
tasks must be clear and
unambiguous. I often use
them on internal business
systems for data processing
tasks.
25. Choose classification schemes
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Date
Alphabetical
Geography
Task
Audience
Tag-based
Topic
formal, existing ones
- dewey, LOC,
commodity
informal, developed
for the purpose.
Web Directions South
Information architecture: A ‘how-to’
• Audience-based schemes are also an
interesting challenge. In order for
them to work, people must be able to
clearly associate with one of the
audiences. People are often tempted
to implement role-based systems for
intranets - these often fail as it is
difficult to determine what your role
actually is.
27. Choose classification schemes
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Date
Alphabetical
Geography
Task
Audience
Tag-based
Topic
formal, existing ones - dewey,
LOC, commodity
informal, developed for the
purpose
Web Directions South
Information architecture: A ‘how-to’
• The majority of sites have a topicbased organisation scheme, usually
determined by the design team.
• Most websites use topic-based
schemes
• Content analysis will tell you what
types could be used
• User research will give you ideas
about how people may like to
approach the content
28. Choose type of structure
•
•
•
•
Hierarchy
Database
Faceted
Organic
•
•
•
Web Directions South
Information architecture: A ‘how-to’
Strict hierarchies are an ideal - they rarely match the
real world or content we are trying to organise. It is very
common for an item to truly belong in more than one
place or for users to look in more than one place for the
item.
Unfortunately, file systems and many content
management systems enforce a strict hierarchy. When
this is the case, we have to use navigation aids like
related links to manage the fact that content can't be in
more than one place at a time.
A site can use more than one complete hierarchy. For
example, a site could have a complete topic-based
hierarchy, and a document type hierarchy. This allows
all content to be accessed by more than one method.
29. Choose type of structure
•
•
•
•
Hierarchy
Database
Faceted
Organic
Web Directions South
Information architecture: A ‘how-to’
•
One of the key advantages of using a database structure
is so the information can be made available in a number
of ways. Each Digital Web article is stored only once in
the database, but you can get to it by topic, date,
author, title and type. The index pages are generated
automatically, so they don't need to be updated
whenever an article is added
30. Choose type of structure
•
•
•
•
Hierarchy
Database
Faceted
Organic
Web Directions South
Information architecture: A ‘how-to’
31. Choose type of structure
•
•
•
•
Hierarchy
Database
Faceted
Organic
•
•
•
•
Web Directions South
Information architecture: A ‘how-to’
Faceted classification uses a database structure
Facets are metadata elements
Using facets in browse:
Start at whatever facet you like
No keyword necessary
Never get a null result
Suits - where users may wish to explore from any
starting point
Using facets in search:
Start with a keyword search
Refine based on characteristics present in the
results
Suits - where search returns many results and users
want to refine
32. Choose type of structure
•
•
•
•
Hierarchy
Database
Faceted
Organic
Web Directions South
Information architecture: A ‘how-to’
33. • At this point we know a lot about our users, have
figured out what classification schemes are
appropriate, have chosen the correct structure and
know what the business is trying to achieve.
• Now we have to take a creative leap and turn that
all into a solution
Web Directions South
Information architecture: A ‘how-to’
36. Design categories, groups or facets
• Input - user research,
business goals, content
analysis
• Create draft groupings
• See if it suits the content
Slot content into categories
Apply metadata
• Modify until content fits
• Create sub-groups
• Keep it user-focused
Web Directions South
Information architecture: A ‘how-to’
37. Design labels
• Labeling ideas:
User research
Card sorting
Search terms
Referrer terms
Tags
• Good labels
Match concepts & word usage of readers
Are used consistently
Accurately describe the destination or content
• Web Directions South be long - better trigger words
Link labels can
Information architecture: A ‘how-to’
38. Characteristics of a good IA
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Balances business & user goals
Balances breadth & depth
Allows people to easily find what they need
Provides more than one way to content
Represents the content
Has a coherent underlying concept
Exposes information as needed
Web Directions South
Information architecture: A ‘how-to’
42. Design browsing structures
• Start at a content page, not the home page
The content page is the hardest working page on the site
Figure out what navigation a representative content page
needs (and its readers need)
• Design browse structures for index pages
• Design the home page last
Web Directions South
Information architecture: A ‘how-to’
43. Good browsing structures
• Provides more than one method to get to content
Main, supplemental, contextual, search
• Exposes relevant other content as needed
• Each step a person takes is clear and result is as
anticipated
• Supports the site structure well
Web Directions South
Information architecture: A ‘how-to’
51. Questions & thanks
• http://maadmob.net/
• 0409-778-693
• donna@maadmob.net
Web Directions South
Information architecture: A ‘how-to’
Editor's Notes
Proposal: There are 2 aspects to making IA work in a project - an understanding of the key principles of information architecture and a knowledge of activities to put them into practice. This presentation will examine the "how to’s" of information architecture. We’ll look at how to take a content inventory, analyse content, conduct card sorting, analyse user research, choose the right structure, create an information architecture and test it. These activities drive an informed design process so you can be confident in your decisions and communicate them to other people.
This talk, being a ‘how to’ will examine how you would go about working through the design stage of an IA project (not the development stage).
An IA project is one in which the core of the project is about organising information so people can discover what they need, make decisions, learn etc. May have interaction design elements, but the core is about the content and organising it.
More importantly, I will discuss how to think like an IA – a much more useful skill than a set of processes. Will highlight elements of a project that are different between IA and interaction design projects.
Some of this will be dependent on the complexity and type of project so don’t expect it to all be completely relevant.
IA has traditionally been described as the intersection of context (or business), content and users.
My stock standard IA (website or intranet) project looks like this:
Context - identify business goals, technical issues, internal politics, team skills, previous work
User research - use more than one method to learn about users. For a big website, I usually analyse web stats, search logs, current feedback, email messages, run a survey, conduct face-to-face or telephone interviews. I usually run a card sort (into which content is a key input)
Identify content - conduct a thorough content inventory and wishlist
Analysis of research - concurrent analysis of user research, what we've learned about context issues and a detailed analysis of content
Designing IA - the structure of the content and relationships between content elements. This is where metadata starts to become important
Designing navigation and page layouts - I look at the conceptual information structure before I attempt to design the navigation. There is a connection between the navigation and the structure, but I keep these as separate steps to focus first on the content relationships, then on how to get people around the site.
Usability testing - structure and page layouts. Often tested separately, to make sure the structure is sound before trying to put it on the page
User research is a set of techniques to allow you to learn about the users of your product.
Conduct at the beginning of a project, and continue throughout the early stages of a project
Can be done formally or less formally
It forms the basis on which you will make most of your decisions about functionality and design
Why use more than one method – it reduces bias from each
Why conduct user research?
Users are not like you! They have different:
experience with computers
understanding of the domain
working patterns & arrangements
ways of describing concepts
contexts
goals
A fundamental underlying principle of user research is that we observe rather than ask
People are unable to fully articulate what they do or what they need
Observing ensures we collect better, richer information
If we ask directly ‘what do you need’, answers are limited to:
Things people have previously seen
Things people think are technically possible
Small changes, not large ones
This doesn't mean we should never ask, but user research supports and extends direct collection of requirements
For simple projects: identify most interesting issues
For complex projects, more detailed analysis
Explore the data
Affinity diagramming
Dimensional analysis
Analysis of text
Verify findings against data
10 Information Retrieval Patterns. Joe Lamantia: http://www.joelamantia.com/blog/archives/information_architecture/10_information_retrieval_patterns_1.html
Discovering User Goals / IR Goal Definitions. Joe Lamantia: http://www.joelamantia.com/blog/archives/user_experience_ux/discovering_user_goals.html
Four Modes of Seeking Information and How to Design for Them. Boxes and arrows: http://www.boxesandarrows.com/view/four_modes_of_seeking_information_and_how_to_design_for_them
Photo from http://flickr.com/photos/lloydy/151733945/
This step is most appropriate when redesigning an existing set of content. For new content, it may be harder to know the detailed structural chunks.
I design structure – categories, groups, relationships – before I put them on the page via navigation. This step involves thinking about relationships and underlying patterns first and get those sorted out, then figure out how to put them on a page
At this point we know a lot about our users, have figured out what classification schemes are appropriate, have chosen the correct structure and know what the business is trying to achieve.
Now we have to take a creative leap and turn that all into a solution
The first example is from a travel site I worked on last year and shows the conceptual relationships between content chunks. It does not show all the pages on the site, just the relationships. The second is an example from
Sometimes it is not necessary to design a conceptual structure, particularly for small sites and simple hierarchies
Or from the men’s room at the Grace Hotel
Example of balancing business & user goals – allows people to find what they need, while highlighting things the organisation wants to emphasise
Documentation represents your ideas to others
The key deliverable is the idea, not the paperwork
Design before drawing
Time to get the concepts represented on the page
Types of browsing structures:
Navigation bars
Related links
Indexes – often A-Z indexes for various uses
In-line linking
Tag clouds?
Support site structure – if you have a 4-level hierarchy, your navigation should support it – I’ve seen this happen on a lot of site and the navigation method turns to mush
Two primary diagram types for information architects: site maps and wireframes
A site map can show
High level of a hierarchy
Detail of a hierarchy
Conceptual structure of a site
Detail of a site
Relationship between content elements and functionality
No one way to do it - depends on your site
May be visual (diagram) or textual (spreadsheet)
A site map can show
High level of a hierarchy
Detail of a hierarchy
Conceptual structure of a site
Detail of a site
Relationship between content elements and functionality
No one way to do it - depends on your site
May be visual (diagram) or textual (spreadsheet)
Wireframes are page layouts with no visual treatment
Shows placement of items and relationship between them
A wireframe page will represent all pages of its type
May or may not include content
Wireframes are page layouts with no visual treatment
Shows placement of items and relationship between them
A wireframe page will represent all pages of its type
May or may not include content
