Information Architecture (IA)
Information architecture is the science of management and organization of information. In a web setting this includes designing websites for usability and findability. I found some cool information about how the process of developing a web architecture work. Donna Spencer's blog post, How I Draft an Information Architecture was particularly interesting.
Spencer uses surprisingly simple methods for organizing information. She has written entire books on information architecture and the process of creating categories, but in this blog post she explains a very simple, intuitive process, which basically involves the following:
Information Gathering involves determining all the content that needs to be organized. In Spencer's example she literally "jotted the main content chunks onto sticky notes."
Finding and Labeling Relationships is just that. After all the information is gathered Spencer sorts it into related groups. Information "learned from user research [was jotted] onto a different colour note." She chooses groups and labels that make sense with the content. Labels were written with another color sticky note.
Explaining Relationships to the Client is a critical, but intuitive part of designing a usable and effective information architecture. Spencer "talk[s] [the client team] through it as [she] draws it on a whiteboard." This, I thought, was particularly creative because it allows the client to discover, understand, and appreciate the relationships for themselves as opposed to looking at a diagram which lays everything out completely. It allows for dialogue and discussion about the relationships, which ensures that they make sense.
Revising is a natural part of any creative process --and I consider designing an information architecture a creative process. After discussing with the client, new insights may arise which affect the architecture, but Spencer says if she's "done [her] job well it won’t change dramatically" which is comforting.
There are many visual methods for organizing information: bubble charts, tables, lists, etc. I like sticky notes because they are easy to manipulate and for most people very accessible. As a high school teacher I do a lot of brainstorming using webs/ bubble charts that may list all the things my students should know by the end of a unit. Then I organize the information by finding relationships in order to determine how best to teach the concepts. I can also definitely see myself using this method with my team in the initial planning stages of software development projects. I imagine that a team of people gathering information would be valuable for bringing out different perspectives on the same project. I look forward to this component of the MIT project.
Spencer uses surprisingly simple methods for organizing information. She has written entire books on information architecture and the process of creating categories, but in this blog post she explains a very simple, intuitive process, which basically involves the following:
- Information Gathering
- Finding & Labeling Relationships
- Explaining Relationships to Client
- Revising
Information Gathering involves determining all the content that needs to be organized. In Spencer's example she literally "jotted the main content chunks onto sticky notes."
Finding and Labeling Relationships is just that. After all the information is gathered Spencer sorts it into related groups. Information "learned from user research [was jotted] onto a different colour note." She chooses groups and labels that make sense with the content. Labels were written with another color sticky note.
Explaining Relationships to the Client is a critical, but intuitive part of designing a usable and effective information architecture. Spencer "talk[s] [the client team] through it as [she] draws it on a whiteboard." This, I thought, was particularly creative because it allows the client to discover, understand, and appreciate the relationships for themselves as opposed to looking at a diagram which lays everything out completely. It allows for dialogue and discussion about the relationships, which ensures that they make sense.
Revising is a natural part of any creative process --and I consider designing an information architecture a creative process. After discussing with the client, new insights may arise which affect the architecture, but Spencer says if she's "done [her] job well it won’t change dramatically" which is comforting.
There are many visual methods for organizing information: bubble charts, tables, lists, etc. I like sticky notes because they are easy to manipulate and for most people very accessible. As a high school teacher I do a lot of brainstorming using webs/ bubble charts that may list all the things my students should know by the end of a unit. Then I organize the information by finding relationships in order to determine how best to teach the concepts. I can also definitely see myself using this method with my team in the initial planning stages of software development projects. I imagine that a team of people gathering information would be valuable for bringing out different perspectives on the same project. I look forward to this component of the MIT project.
Comments
Post a Comment