What is information architecture anyway?

And Why Should I Care?

Hmm.. How to Get in?

Ahh… Now it is clear.

Doors to What or Where?

Still not sure?

Now a little clearer.

Information Architecture

From Wikipedia:

Information architecture (IA) is the art and science

of organizing and labeling websites, intranets, online communities and

software to support usability.

Three circles of information architecture

An image that appears in 'the polar bear book' - "Information Architecture for the World Wide Web" by Louis Rosenfeld and Peter Morville. Their Venn diagram places IA at the intersection of content, users and context of use.

Things to think about for IA - Ease of Use and Findability

• Good, clear, consistent navigation

• Headings that make pages easy to scan

• Proper linking

• Structure that suits the purpose and flows

easily

Things to think about for IA - Continued

• Different ways to search the site

• Taxonomies that make it easy to find like items

• Call to Action

Good Sites

• Give Users what they want – That they can find without much thought

• Balance the needs of Users against the Goals of the business