The art of information architecture
When creating something, describing how to use it is important. With information or content architecture, how we group and label things directly affects how easily the information can be found and used. Information architecture becomes even more important as the information available keeps growing. When faced with a lot of information, it becomes harder to sift through and find what you need.
Good information architecture enables people to find their way through the information and ignore irrelevant information. It not only helps people find information, but it also empowers them by helping them learn about what they find and make better decisions.
Conversely, bad information architecture makes finding and using information more difficult. The content doesn't fit properly and is harder to find. For example, good information architecture for an online store would group all the candy bars and other snack foods together. Bad information architecture may group the items by manufacturer, making people look through every manufacturer to find candy bars. You don't want your users going on a scavenger hunt for the content they need.
There are three things to understand before designing an IA that works:
People/Users: What they need to do, how they think, and what they already know. To put it into perspective, think of this as "need to know" vs. "need to do." If you don't understand the user, you won't be able to group content in ways that make sense to them. Your audience is key to your IA decisions.
Content: What you have, what you should have, and what you need. Without a good understanding of your content, you won't be able to create an information architecture that works well for current and future content.
Context: The business or personal goals for the site: your stakeholders and constraints. If you don't know the context, you won't be able to create something that works for people and the business, and you'll have endless trouble with the project.
What's involved in the information architecture project
An IA project always starts with figuring out what is involved:
- Define the project
- Identify goals
- Identify technologies used
- Identify design constraints
- Identify stakeholders
After defining and identifying the project, you'll start gathering information and analyzing it to help you make a wide range of decisions during the project's life. In the research and gathering phase of the project, you're finding out what the users need, what they want, and what they know. You're also learning about the content, what exists, what doesn't, and what is possible.
Observing user behavior and their questions is essential to the IA design. Once you've researched and learned about the user, the Information Architect (Technical Writer in this case) designs the solutions with an IA structure to the defined problems and goals. At this point, testing ensures the navigation works for the specified goals. If new content needs to be prepared, this is the time to start.
Without research into people and content, you won't be able to make good information architecture design decisions.
Deliverables of the information architecture project
After all of the details and IA structure have been sorted out, and you know the details of how the site should work, you can start the technical work—build the site, add content, and test it before release.
The IA deliverables include:
The overall structure of the site.
Groups and subgroups that will be used in navigation. This describes what is included in each and the labeling.
Metadata that describes each page/topic, including keywords, author, reviewers, and date (last modified).
The person creating the IA is the one who understands all the ins and outs because they understand the strategy, people, and content. This means they'll explain how the information architecture should work and other details about the project. The person will also listen to feedback, answer questions, understand the underlying issues, and make necessary changes to reach the desired outcome.