Information Architecture (often abbreviated to ‘IA’) is the groundwork of a site’s design. All the site’s elements, be they navigation, interface design, forms, functionality, etc, are then built according to this founding basis. It is the principal part of the design phase and should never be considered optional or superfluous.
To further describe Information Architecture, I would define it as the practice of building intuitive, consistent and resilient designs of a site in order to create one comprehensive unit. It involves defining the building blocks of the site, i.e. content, and mapping out the blueprints to arrange them, i.e. making them easy to find and easy to use from a user’s point of view.
In this space, I will describe in brief the usual process that an Information Architect goes through in order to create good designs and a successful user experience.
Phase 1: Determine Goals
After deciphering the project brief, an IA’s first mission is to define the purpose of the site. This is 2-fold:
1. Business goals
2. Users needs
In order to create a successful website, both sides of the goals coin must be well taken into consideration during design. In addition to defining the site goals, technical requirements and limitations must be kept in mind. All the above requisites can only be satisfied when involving all stakeholders in an inclusive and constructive discussion. This is meant to help the IA formulate a better understanding of all sides of the problem and keep everyone informed and content of what is to be included in the site. It is not meant for stakeholders to make any design decisions (suggestions are ok).
Phase 2: Shape the User Experience and Define the Nature of the Site
Targeting your Users
It is vital to design a site for its expected users. This fact only makes sense; however, it is often neglected and many a site ends up designed to suit its own designer! Therefore, it is key to “know your audience”.From the brief and while discussing the expected nature of the site with stakeholders, the IA should be able to refine the user description and draw on that by creating personas that represent the target users.From here it is possible to create more realistic scenarios to help envisage how people will use the site.
Competitor Analysis
Conducting competitor analysis also helps an IA develop a better understanding of what the nature of the site could be like and what functionality it could include. It is a good opportunity to evaluate good and poor previous implementations and incorporate some useful existing concepts in their own design.
Phase 3: Structure Content
Based on the results of the abovementioned routines, it is now safe to create the hierarchical structure of the site’s content. This is materialised by creating a sitemap that defines relationships between categories and subcategories. This hierarchy would define the navigational structure of the site.
In addition to conducting competitor analysis and creating user scenarios and personas, it is recommended to conduct task analysis and card sorting techniques in order to inform the navigation method and the sitemap structure.
Phase 4: Mockup Page Layout
Having determined the navigation method in the site, we can now start creating its wireframes*. This entails creating a consistent, uniform look and feel of all pages while maintaining the same global site navigation present on all pages. It is important to inspire the design of the wireframes and the site’s navigation by the formerly established users needs expectations.
Notes
It is a good idea to test the design’s success by using the previously created scenarios.
It is also helpful to create user journeys or simple user flows to determine and evaluate the process in which users are to complete tasks using the site. If the flow feels awkward or tricky, then more work is needed in order to iron out the kinks and end up with the most appropriate user experience.
* A wireframe is a skeleton version of a website that depicts navigational concepts and page content. It does not take into account visual design or page layout. (source: Information Technology Systems and Services)
References
- Webmonkey
- Nick Finck
- Information Technology Systems and Services
Lego bricks image kindly supplied by Oskay.