Information architecture: Five things information managers need to know

Information Management Journal, Sep/Oct 2002 by Farnum, Chris

* summary of the site's mission, goals, and evaluation metrics for success

* bottom-up recommendations about an approach to organizing content including document templates, metadata, and controlled vocabularies that will be needed

* high-level blueprints that present a top-down approach to how the site will be organized

The next phase, conceptual design, focuses on fleshing out the details of the direction established in the first phase. This often means producing wireframes, also known as page architectures or mockups. These are black-and-white drawings of the key pages of the site, and they are useful in several ways. The process of producing them requires taking abstract requirements and making them concrete. They communicate the design of the navigation, content, and task sequences to the rest of the team and to stakeholders. As a low-fidelity prototype, they make a great instrument for user testing before time and money are spent in development. Other deliverables produced during this phase include controlled vocabularies, document templates, content management guidelines, and metadata requirements.

Again, user testing during this phase is critical. This need not be time consuming or expensive. Steve Krug's Don't Make Me Think! contains many ideas for low-cost, high-value usability testing. However, it is important to plan for time to iterate the design based on the issues that user testing reveals.

During implementation, when the site is actually being built, IA may still have an important role to play. The information architect may need to work closely with the technical, graphic design, and editorial team members. During implementation, there are many questions to answer, and information architects are often asked to handle quality assurance. The information architect may apply controlled vocabularies and metadata schemes to the content, or she also may provide training for other people who will be performing these activities. Implementation is also a great interval in which to perform further user testing to see if the site is meeting the metrics for usability established in the beginning. Throughout the process, it is crucial to leave enough time for testing, iterations, and review.

How can I learn more about IA?

Every day, the number of resources for learning about IA grows, Several excellent books have been written on it already, and more are on the way. Professional organizations are creating special interest groups devoted to it. There are seminars and college courses as well as masters degree concentrations. A good way to start taking advantage of what IA has to offer is to explore IA resources such as those listed here.

References

Kahn, Paul and Krzysztof Lenk. Mapping Web Sites. East Sussex, England: Rotovision, 2001.

Krug, Steve and Roger Black. Don't Make Me Think! A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability. Indianapolis: Que, 2000. Nielsen, Jakob. Designing Web Usability: The Practice of Simplicity. Indianapolis: New Riders Publishing, 1999.