What is Information architecture?

Comments

In its truest form IA is ...

In its truest form, it is only concerned with the site structure and labelling ... " Well no, actually; it's not the truest or even the most original form. Information architecture as a discrete discipline existed long before the web, having its modern roots [mostly] in library management and cataloging systems and in information theory, and will probably still exist at a point in the future when the web as we know it is considered to be an anachronism. You make some good points about web architectures and current web deployment practices but by overlooking the wider and deeper context you're isolating the web 'designer' and cutting them off from key issues and elements in - for example - Intranet and Extranet design and deployment - in particular the underlying issues of data, information, and knowledge architectures and management when considering an organisation as a whole. Such issues become critical in an environment where the organisation a] has truly vast quantities of data and information [in the terra or peta byte range] and/or b] seeks to deploy a common "write once publish many times" or single-instance policy for ALL intranet, extranet and public-facing content. The type of information architectures and design/deployment strategies appropriate to a stand-alone public-facing web site are generally quite inappropriate for such a complex integrated system.

Robert Neuschul

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RE: In its truest form IA is ...

Thank you for your comments Robert and you are of course right. There is a lot more to IA than just structure and labelling.

The very brief explanation I have given here is merely to distinguish between, Information design, Interaction design and Visual design. Although each of these terms have many different meanings and uses, in the context of the Wiliam development methodology, they are the split between; Information Architecture, looking at site structure and flow, Interface Design, looking at page layouts and functionality and finally Graphic Design, looking at the physical look and feel of the site.

At Wiliam we adopt a collaborative approach to Web Development, creating a project team early on in the project with an IA, a Graphic Designer, a Developer, a Project Manager, an Account Manager and sometimes a member from Emerging Technologies (depending on the nature of the job).

The team meet and discuss the Project Initiation Document, previously filled in by the client, in terms of possible solutions and are involved at key stages throughout the initial phase of the project, which we have coined Pre-Production. The principle of involving the team throughout the project lifecycle is two-fold, firstly to ensure that everyone is involved in all decisions throughout Pre-Production (including Visual Designers). This helps to ensure that we provide the best solution. The second principle is to make sure that there is no drop off once Pre-Production is complete and the project moves into Design (Graphic Design) and then Development.

The purpose of the split is not to exclude Graphic Design, but to ensure that we focus on ease of use before visual appeal.

Mike Hall

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a different approach

I found this article to be very interesting as it shows that other people across different agencies have a different approach to a User Centric Design approach. At civic, we have a UX team (2 people) who are responsible for what you described as Information architecture but we take it a step further. This team or two individuals are called UX professionals and are responsible for the IA, the content strategy and the wireframes. They also identify KPIs so we can monitor the effectiveness of a site. The designer then takes this on and applies his UCD approach to make it not only look pretty but make sure it works for the user. The developers then make sure it functions, using best practice usability and accessibility guidelines. We all agree on the same principles but have similar but slightly different approaches. I found this article really interesting, thank you :-)

Kelly Jones
http://www.civicuk.com