Information architecture-a-how-to-19917

Information architecture: A “how-to”

Donna Maurer – Maadmob Interaction Design

Web Directions SouthInformation architecture: A ‘how-to’

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


About this talk

• How to work through an IAproject 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


A project overview


User research


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


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


Analyse user research


Affinity diagramming example


Dimensional analysis example


Think about information behaviours

• Information modes Known-item Exploratory Don’t know what you need

to know Refinding

• Information behaviours 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


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


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


Card sorting - analysis


Analysis spreadsheet


Dendrogram


Content analysis


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


Content analysis

• Think about format document type

(publications, reports, how to, 'stuff’)

topic audience source structure accuracy page elements


Designing information structure


Choose classification schemes

• Date • Alphabetical • Geography • Task • Audience• Tag-based• Topic

formal, existing ones - dewey, LOC, commodity

informal, developed for the purpose

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.






• 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.






• 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.






• 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.





informal, developed for the purpose.

• 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.











• The majority of sites have a topic-based 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


Choose type of structure

• Hierarchy• Database• Faceted• Organic

• 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.




• 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



• Hierarchy

• Database

• Faceted• Organic




• 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



• Hierarchy

• Database

• Faceted• Organic


• 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


Design conceptual structure


Design conceptual structure


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


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

• Link labels can be long - better trigger words


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


Design browsing structures & page layouts


Don't design in front of the computer!!!


Many browse methods


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


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


Link-rich pages


Link-rich pages


Document it


Site maps


Site maps


Wireframes


Wireframes


Questions & thanks

• http://maadmob.net/• 0409-778-693• [email protected]

Documents

Information architecture-a-how-to-19917