Information Wayfinding
The Future of Search
B Y T Y L E R TAT E

We are drowning in
information.

“What information consumes is rather obvious:
it consumes the attention of its recipients.
Hence a wealth of information creates a
poverty of attention, and a need to allocate
that attention efficiently among the overabundance of information sources that might
consume it.”
— Herbert Simon, 1956

Big data is not a technology problem.

Big data is not a technology problem.
It’s a people problem.

How can we make ever-growing volumes
of information accessible and useful to
people without overwhelming them?

1. We need to think about search from a new mindset.
2. We need to understand how people seek information.
3. We need to unify interaction with information.

1 A Brief History of
Information

The Analog Era

The Analog Era
The tablet and the written word

The Analog Era
The tablet and the written word
The scroll and the table of contents

The Analog Era
The tablet and the written word
The scroll and the table of contents
The printing press and the index

The Digital Era

The Digital Era
The early Internet and the Web page (1990s)

The Digital Era
The early Internet and the Web page (1990s)
The CMS and the search engine (2000s)

The Digital Era
The early Internet and the Web page (1990s)
The CMS and the search engine (2000s)
Big data and ? (2010s)

2 The Information
Environment

"Mankind evolved in a world of space and
time. Our memories evolved to record events
that transpire in space and time. Modern
attempts to externalise and enlarge that
memory should not, and probably need not,
neglect its spatiotemporal dimensions.”
— George A. Miller

“We must consider not just the city as a thing
itself, but the city being perceived by its
inhabitants.”
— Kevin Lynch

Paths
Edges
Districts
Nodes
Landmarks

The Environment
A place someone goes to seek information in order
to satisfy an information need.

Districts
Layers
Nodes

Districts
The primary categories into which an environment
can be logically divided.

Layers
Secondary categories which describe a specific
facet of a given node.

Nodes
Precise points in the environment (that we might
otherwise refer to as a Web page, document, or record).

3 Information Wayfinding

Wayfinding is the collection of cognitive
processes people use to navigate physical
environments.

Information wayfinding is the collection of
cognitive processes people use to navigate
information environments.

Locate

Explore

Q3
Q6
Q5
Q4
Q2
Q7
Q1

Recognize
Need
Use
Interpretation
Find
Information
Validate and
Interpret
Information

Meander

4 Principles for a New
Architecture

Structured Districts

Flexible Layers

Positional Cues

Survey Knowledge

Clear Paths

Coherent Interaction

1. Structured Districts
2. Flexible Layers
3. Positional Cues
4. Survey Knowledge
5. Clear Paths
6. Coherent Interaction

How can we make ever-growing volumes
of information accessible and useful to
people without overwhelming them?

1. Consider information as a spatial environment rather
than a book.
2. Understand how users find their way through an
information environment, and support them along
that journey.
3. Unify navigation and search, districts and layers into a
single, coherent experience.

DesigningTheSearchExperience.com
twigkit.com
vimeo.com/78578346
@TylerTate, @Twigkit

Information Wayfinding
The Future of Search
B Y T Y L E R TAT E