Information Architecture

From a web designer’s perspective information architecture relates to the conceptual blueprint or framework that describes how information is to be organised and structured when designing a website (Cylogy, 2009).

The principles of architecture and library science can be applied to web site design. Each web site resembles a public building, available for anyone to visit at their leisure (Morville, 1998). The job of the designer is to set up a framework which is easy to navigate, indentifying and leveraging patterns in data that make would-be-complex sets of information increasingly easier to understand (Cylogy, 2009), whilst making the web site comfortable and inviting for people to visit, relax in, and perhaps even return to someday. (Morville, 1998).

Information Architecture is an extensive subject with many academic journals, books and blogs discussing the topic. In practice, though, it usually comes down to common sense. There are many ways of arranging content and functional elements, and it’s generally a case of working out which method is most suitable. There are always lots of options, and picking the most suitable is a matter of weighing various factors including user goals, technical architecture, search engine compatibility, logic and environment variables (such as bandwidth, screen resolution, browser and flash capability) (Scratchmedia, 2009).

An information architect must align the goals of the website author with the goals of the users whilst working within constraints such as deadlines, resources, budget, development language, database characteristics and content quality (Myer, 2002). There is not one solution that fits all. However, by recognizing the importance of perspective and developing a greater understanding of the intended user groups, one can do a better job of organizing information for public consumption (Morville, 1998).

The key to understanding what the best information architecture is for a website is too put one’s self into the shoes of the intended user and asks as many questions as possible including: How does that user see the information? What types of labels would that user use if he/she was the one organising the information? Which page is that user most likely to land on first? And so on. This challenge can be further complicated by the fact that web sites are generally targeted at multiple users, who all have different perspectives or ways of understanding the information. Their level of familiarity with the topic and the web site itself will vary. This is why it is impossible to create a perfect organization system. (Morville, 1998).

Choosing an appropriate information architecture can be a daunting task especially when working on a project with a specific timeframe. To help with this, techniques such as prioritized wish lists, whiteboard/chalkboard sessions, competitive analysis, audience and task analyses, focus groups and one-on-one testing are used(Myer, 2002). A simple content structure is sometimes the most logical choice. For a simple brochure style restaurant web site, one might only have Home, About Us, Services, and a Contact Us page. One may decide to put the food and drinks menu on the Home page or a have separate food and drinks menu section (Scratchmedia, 2009).

This decision is made by the Information Architect or by whoever is assuming the role of the information architect i.e. the website designer. There are several considerations that the information architect must take into account when deciding, for example, whether to have the food and drinks menu on the homepage or a separate page. Should all visitors to the site to be made aware of all the food a drinks menu items? Is the food and drinks menu of interest to all visitors to the site? How many food and drinks menu items are there likely to be? Are there enough items to justify a food and drinks menu page without looking bad? Are food and drinks items standalone, or do they link to further descriptions? Are all the food and drinks items relevant to all users of the site, or is it more appropriate to divide the food and drinks menu by age group, region, or week day?

The more content there is, the more choices have to be made, and the way one chooses becomes more important. If it becomes impossible to describe everything on one page one has to start splitting a site up into sections, whilst maintain information integrity and providing useful navigation between those sections. (Scratchmedia, 2009).