Information Architecturefor Diverse Audiences

Karyn Young

Information Architect

ibm.com/software

Today's Presentation

• Define today's challenges for information architects• The ibm.com approach to diverse audience design

– IA framework and background– Process– Guidelines– Recent success

Three Information Architect’s Challenges • Designing for diverse audiences is designing for e-

business1. We inherit unplanned or brochureware architectures

2. E-business sites are a new level of complexity

3. E-business sites augment or replace human delivery systems

ibm.com 1994

ibm.com 1995

ibm.com 1998

Increasing Complexity

• E-business sites support multiple audiences in accomplishing diverse tasks

Common Web examples:

• Learning, evaluating, comparing, trying products• Placing orders, reviewing order status• Making changes to an account• Maintaining, using, servicing, troubleshooting

products

Augmenting and Replacing Humans

• E-business sites may take the place of a:– Salesperson – Technical salesperson– Service representative– Order taker– Technical support representative– And others

IBM - A Complex Design Environment

From Argus Associates

IBM IA - Organization

ibm.com/softwareMultiple brand teams operating independentlyMultitude of e-business initiatives10-20 product areas - 200 productsDifferent competitors

ibm.comCentralized ibm.com team - "top" of siteMultiple independent business units - 14Balance different competitors and Web objectives

IBM IA - Users

ibm.comSeveral million visitors a week - main entryAudiences - home/home office, small business, large business, government, etcResearch team - survey, focus groups, usabilityWho? What? Task accomplishment?

ibm.com/softwareRoles - IT strategists, IT implementers, purchasers, consumersGrowing focus on linking audiences, tasks, information needsResearch - focus groups, interviews, usability

IBM IA - Content

ibm.com/software120,000+ pagesCountry support - local challengesUnderstanding user content needsStructure content via templatesRe-use of content via XML

ibm.com2.5 million pages70 countries, 16 languagesConsistent design achievedConsistent content required nextDifferent content requirements across products & consulting

Information Architecture Design Guidelines1. Support the people your business cares about -

"Users"

2. In the way they need to be supported - "Context"

3. In accomplishing what they need and want to do - "Tasks"

• Getting it right requires a process

IBM User-Centered Design (UCD)

Build Prototype

Usability Testing

Concurrent with* Technology Track* Business Track

User Research

Need/Task Analysis

Cross-functionalTeam Discussions

12

5

4

3

Create Final Design

Evaluate &Measure

6

IBM Success with UCD - Before

ibm.com1998

IBM Success with UCD - After

ibm.com1999

Focusing on the User Research in UCD

• Who are your users• How do they define themselves?

– Audiences– Job role– Language/Culture (International)

• Today vs. tomorrow

Focusing on the User Research in UCD

• What is the context or situation for your users?• Example questions to ask

– What is their comfort level with technology? – Are they pressured for time?– How do they use the Web? When?– Browser? Cell Phone? Pager?– Do they already know about your company? Your products?– What challenges might they face? (Accessibility)

Focusing on the Needs/Tasks in UCD

Learn about users' tasks

IdentifyNeed

Use &Maintain Receive

Purchase

LearnOptions Evaluate

Options

IBM purchase cycle example

User Research and Need/Task Analysis Techniques

• Common Web user research - away from user site– Traditional market research techniques– Usability evaluations

• Less common Web user research - at user site– Observe, listen to, and talk with users– Interview users

Adapted from User and Task Analysis for Interface Design,JoAnn Hackos and Janice Redish

IBM's latest iteration

ibm.com 2000

Referenced Books/Links

• IBM User-Centered Design– User Centered Design: Technologies and Techniques, by

Karel Vredenburg and Scott Isensee, published spring 2001– www.ibm.com/easy

• User Understanding– User and Task Analysis for Interface Design, by JoAnn

Hackos & Janice C. Redish– The Inmates are Running the Asylum, by Alan Cooper

• Accessibility information– www.w3c.org

IA Links• http://webbusiness.cio.com/archive/closer.html - Web critiques with an IA slant• www.nathan.com (Nathan Shedroff) - excellent pointer to many Web-related

design resources, check out Nathan's "Unified Field Theory of Design" paper• www.useit.com (Jakob Nielsen) - Executive summaries on usability-related

topics in the Alertbox newsletter• www.usableweb.com - The site says it all: "Usable Web is a collection of links

about human factors, user interface issues, and usable design specific to the World Wide Web".

• www.creativegood.com - There's usually some interesting research here and a newsletter

• www.webreview.com - As the site says: "cross-training for Web teams". There are sections on authoring, design, development, e-commerce, multimedia and backend.

• www.webmonkey.com - Another source of information for Web teams.• http://www.tomalak.org (Tomalak's Realm) - Excellent Web news source -- links

to IA articles

Questions?

Comments?

keyoung@us.ibm.com