what before how: making a home for information architecture
DESCRIPTION
The Understanding Group's cofounders spoke on the following at IA Summit 2013 Are you struggling to carve out a place for information architecture in the world of acronym soup? In this talk, longtime IA Dan Klyn and his business partner Bob Royce explore the pros and cons of bucking the trend of “all encompassing UX” to focus our practice on IA. Through stories and case studies we’ll explore: -How the lens of IA helps us solve problems beyond UX and collaborate readily with other non-UX disciplines. -Our experience delivering services both directly to clients and through agencies. -How we explain IA to people outside our industry and work to justify a larger investment in IA. -How we go beyond information retrieval and navigation to include the concepts of meaning and place-making in our work. Since all of the above was accomplished through much trial and error, there will also be plenty of discussion about the failures we’ve encountered along the way.TRANSCRIPT
![Page 1: What Before How: Making a Home for Information Architecture](https://reader038.vdocument.in/reader038/viewer/2022102804/54c7b4404a7959c66e8b45a8/html5/thumbnails/1.jpg)
By Dan Klyn + Bob Royce from
WHAT BEFORE HOWMAKING A HOME FOR INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE
![Page 2: What Before How: Making a Home for Information Architecture](https://reader038.vdocument.in/reader038/viewer/2022102804/54c7b4404a7959c66e8b45a8/html5/thumbnails/2.jpg)
![Page 5: What Before How: Making a Home for Information Architecture](https://reader038.vdocument.in/reader038/viewer/2022102804/54c7b4404a7959c66e8b45a8/html5/thumbnails/5.jpg)
WHAT COULD BE BETTER THAN DIGITAL JOYCE?
![Page 6: What Before How: Making a Home for Information Architecture](https://reader038.vdocument.in/reader038/viewer/2022102804/54c7b4404a7959c66e8b45a8/html5/thumbnails/6.jpg)
WHAT COULD BE BETTER THAN ALL MUSIC?
![Page 7: What Before How: Making a Home for Information Architecture](https://reader038.vdocument.in/reader038/viewer/2022102804/54c7b4404a7959c66e8b45a8/html5/thumbnails/7.jpg)
I’VE RUN OUT OF SUPERLATIVES
![Page 8: What Before How: Making a Home for Information Architecture](https://reader038.vdocument.in/reader038/viewer/2022102804/54c7b4404a7959c66e8b45a8/html5/thumbnails/8.jpg)
HUSBAND TO ADRIENNE SINCE 1990 FATHER TO ROBERT SINCE 2000
![Page 9: What Before How: Making a Home for Information Architecture](https://reader038.vdocument.in/reader038/viewer/2022102804/54c7b4404a7959c66e8b45a8/html5/thumbnails/9.jpg)
![Page 10: What Before How: Making a Home for Information Architecture](https://reader038.vdocument.in/reader038/viewer/2022102804/54c7b4404a7959c66e8b45a8/html5/thumbnails/10.jpg)
![Page 11: What Before How: Making a Home for Information Architecture](https://reader038.vdocument.in/reader038/viewer/2022102804/54c7b4404a7959c66e8b45a8/html5/thumbnails/11.jpg)
![Page 12: What Before How: Making a Home for Information Architecture](https://reader038.vdocument.in/reader038/viewer/2022102804/54c7b4404a7959c66e8b45a8/html5/thumbnails/12.jpg)
http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6057/6890280374_dc42046fe8_h.jpg
![Page 13: What Before How: Making a Home for Information Architecture](https://reader038.vdocument.in/reader038/viewer/2022102804/54c7b4404a7959c66e8b45a8/html5/thumbnails/13.jpg)
![Page 14: What Before How: Making a Home for Information Architecture](https://reader038.vdocument.in/reader038/viewer/2022102804/54c7b4404a7959c66e8b45a8/html5/thumbnails/14.jpg)
![Page 15: What Before How: Making a Home for Information Architecture](https://reader038.vdocument.in/reader038/viewer/2022102804/54c7b4404a7959c66e8b45a8/html5/thumbnails/15.jpg)
THE LIBRARIANS V. THE COMPUTER SCIENTISTS
![Page 16: What Before How: Making a Home for Information Architecture](https://reader038.vdocument.in/reader038/viewer/2022102804/54c7b4404a7959c66e8b45a8/html5/thumbnails/16.jpg)
Focused on ‣ Organizing‣ Labeling‣ Navigation‣ Structure
‣ Not Graphic Design‣ Not Software Programming‣ Not Usability
![Page 17: What Before How: Making a Home for Information Architecture](https://reader038.vdocument.in/reader038/viewer/2022102804/54c7b4404a7959c66e8b45a8/html5/thumbnails/17.jpg)
2006
![Page 18: What Before How: Making a Home for Information Architecture](https://reader038.vdocument.in/reader038/viewer/2022102804/54c7b4404a7959c66e8b45a8/html5/thumbnails/18.jpg)
2011
![Page 19: What Before How: Making a Home for Information Architecture](https://reader038.vdocument.in/reader038/viewer/2022102804/54c7b4404a7959c66e8b45a8/html5/thumbnails/19.jpg)
The Understanding Group is an Information Architecture practice dedicated to making things be good.
![Page 20: What Before How: Making a Home for Information Architecture](https://reader038.vdocument.in/reader038/viewer/2022102804/54c7b4404a7959c66e8b45a8/html5/thumbnails/20.jpg)
WHY
WHAT BEFORE HOW: MAKING A HOME FOR IA #WB4H
Why would anybody start an IA consulting practice when there is no such thing as an information architect?
![Page 22: What Before How: Making a Home for Information Architecture](https://reader038.vdocument.in/reader038/viewer/2022102804/54c7b4404a7959c66e8b45a8/html5/thumbnails/22.jpg)
“
— Jesse James Garrett
THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS AN INFORMATION ARCHITECT. IA DOES NOT EXIST AS A PROFESSION. AS AN AREA OF INTEREST AND INQUIRY? SURE. AS YOUR FAVORITE PART OF YOUR JOB? ABSOLUTELY. BUT IT'S NOT A PROFESSION.
“
![Page 23: What Before How: Making a Home for Information Architecture](https://reader038.vdocument.in/reader038/viewer/2022102804/54c7b4404a7959c66e8b45a8/html5/thumbnails/23.jpg)
“ I THINK YOU SHOULD REALLY HUDDLE TOGETHER AND REFORM YOURSELF INTO A KIND OF UNDERSTANDING BUSINESS. IF YOU TALK ABOUT UNDERSTANDING YOU’RE NOT GOING TO BE BUMPEDOFF THE SHELF.
“
— Richard Saul Wurman
![Page 24: What Before How: Making a Home for Information Architecture](https://reader038.vdocument.in/reader038/viewer/2022102804/54c7b4404a7959c66e8b45a8/html5/thumbnails/24.jpg)
SO WE DID
![Page 25: What Before How: Making a Home for Information Architecture](https://reader038.vdocument.in/reader038/viewer/2022102804/54c7b4404a7959c66e8b45a8/html5/thumbnails/25.jpg)
![Page 26: What Before How: Making a Home for Information Architecture](https://reader038.vdocument.in/reader038/viewer/2022102804/54c7b4404a7959c66e8b45a8/html5/thumbnails/26.jpg)
1989 Design Quarterly, No. 145
![Page 27: What Before How: Making a Home for Information Architecture](https://reader038.vdocument.in/reader038/viewer/2022102804/54c7b4404a7959c66e8b45a8/html5/thumbnails/27.jpg)
A way of thinking.A whole way of life in which the aim is not to make something look good but to make it be good.
![Page 28: What Before How: Making a Home for Information Architecture](https://reader038.vdocument.in/reader038/viewer/2022102804/54c7b4404a7959c66e8b45a8/html5/thumbnails/28.jpg)
WHAT
WHAT BEFORE HOW: MAKING A HOME FOR IA #WB4H
What is TUGand what do we mean when we say what we say?
![Page 29: What Before How: Making a Home for Information Architecture](https://reader038.vdocument.in/reader038/viewer/2022102804/54c7b4404a7959c66e8b45a8/html5/thumbnails/29.jpg)
Ontology
Arrangement of the parts.Taxonomy
Particular meaning.
Rules for interaction among the parts.
Choreography
![Page 30: What Before How: Making a Home for Information Architecture](https://reader038.vdocument.in/reader038/viewer/2022102804/54c7b4404a7959c66e8b45a8/html5/thumbnails/30.jpg)
ARCHITECTURE IS NOT DESIGN
![Page 31: What Before How: Making a Home for Information Architecture](https://reader038.vdocument.in/reader038/viewer/2022102804/54c7b4404a7959c66e8b45a8/html5/thumbnails/31.jpg)
![Page 32: What Before How: Making a Home for Information Architecture](https://reader038.vdocument.in/reader038/viewer/2022102804/54c7b4404a7959c66e8b45a8/html5/thumbnails/32.jpg)
Donald Norman
![Page 33: What Before How: Making a Home for Information Architecture](https://reader038.vdocument.in/reader038/viewer/2022102804/54c7b4404a7959c66e8b45a8/html5/thumbnails/33.jpg)
We should change the name to
the UX Summit
![Page 34: What Before How: Making a Home for Information Architecture](https://reader038.vdocument.in/reader038/viewer/2022102804/54c7b4404a7959c66e8b45a8/html5/thumbnails/34.jpg)
http://beep.peterboersma.com/2004/11/t-model-big-ia-is-now-ux.html
![Page 35: What Before How: Making a Home for Information Architecture](https://reader038.vdocument.in/reader038/viewer/2022102804/54c7b4404a7959c66e8b45a8/html5/thumbnails/35.jpg)
![Page 36: What Before How: Making a Home for Information Architecture](https://reader038.vdocument.in/reader038/viewer/2022102804/54c7b4404a7959c66e8b45a8/html5/thumbnails/36.jpg)
BUSINESS SYSTEMS
USER EXPERIENCE
CODING
VISUAL DESIGN
![Page 37: What Before How: Making a Home for Information Architecture](https://reader038.vdocument.in/reader038/viewer/2022102804/54c7b4404a7959c66e8b45a8/html5/thumbnails/37.jpg)
BUSINESS SYSTEMS
USER EXPERIENCE
CODING
VISUAL DESIGN
INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE
![Page 38: What Before How: Making a Home for Information Architecture](https://reader038.vdocument.in/reader038/viewer/2022102804/54c7b4404a7959c66e8b45a8/html5/thumbnails/38.jpg)
![Page 39: What Before How: Making a Home for Information Architecture](https://reader038.vdocument.in/reader038/viewer/2022102804/54c7b4404a7959c66e8b45a8/html5/thumbnails/39.jpg)
Dan Klyn points away from bounded sets
![Page 40: What Before How: Making a Home for Information Architecture](https://reader038.vdocument.in/reader038/viewer/2022102804/54c7b4404a7959c66e8b45a8/html5/thumbnails/40.jpg)
Proposes meaning as thecenter of the set.
![Page 41: What Before How: Making a Home for Information Architecture](https://reader038.vdocument.in/reader038/viewer/2022102804/54c7b4404a7959c66e8b45a8/html5/thumbnails/41.jpg)
Andrew Hinton talks about pace layers of information environments
![Page 42: What Before How: Making a Home for Information Architecture](https://reader038.vdocument.in/reader038/viewer/2022102804/54c7b4404a7959c66e8b45a8/html5/thumbnails/42.jpg)
And Three Modes of Information
![Page 43: What Before How: Making a Home for Information Architecture](https://reader038.vdocument.in/reader038/viewer/2022102804/54c7b4404a7959c66e8b45a8/html5/thumbnails/43.jpg)
![Page 44: What Before How: Making a Home for Information Architecture](https://reader038.vdocument.in/reader038/viewer/2022102804/54c7b4404a7959c66e8b45a8/html5/thumbnails/44.jpg)
BUSINESS SYSTEMS
USER EXPERIENCE
CODING
VISUAL DESIGN
INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE
![Page 45: What Before How: Making a Home for Information Architecture](https://reader038.vdocument.in/reader038/viewer/2022102804/54c7b4404a7959c66e8b45a8/html5/thumbnails/45.jpg)
BUSINESS SYSTEMS
USER EXPERIENCE
CODING
Object Models
Process Mapping
Information Model
Structural Design
Personas
Journeys
User Research
VISUAL DESIGN
INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE
![Page 46: What Before How: Making a Home for Information Architecture](https://reader038.vdocument.in/reader038/viewer/2022102804/54c7b4404a7959c66e8b45a8/html5/thumbnails/46.jpg)
![Page 47: What Before How: Making a Home for Information Architecture](https://reader038.vdocument.in/reader038/viewer/2022102804/54c7b4404a7959c66e8b45a8/html5/thumbnails/47.jpg)
WHO
WHAT BEFORE HOW: MAKING A HOME FOR IA #WB4H
Who are the people buying the stuff TUG sells andusing the stuff TUG makes?
![Page 48: What Before How: Making a Home for Information Architecture](https://reader038.vdocument.in/reader038/viewer/2022102804/54c7b4404a7959c66e8b45a8/html5/thumbnails/48.jpg)
![Page 49: What Before How: Making a Home for Information Architecture](https://reader038.vdocument.in/reader038/viewer/2022102804/54c7b4404a7959c66e8b45a8/html5/thumbnails/49.jpg)
Marketing
IT
User Experience
ProductInnovation
Agencies
![Page 50: What Before How: Making a Home for Information Architecture](https://reader038.vdocument.in/reader038/viewer/2022102804/54c7b4404a7959c66e8b45a8/html5/thumbnails/50.jpg)
Strategy Planning
Building Doing Iterate
![Page 51: What Before How: Making a Home for Information Architecture](https://reader038.vdocument.in/reader038/viewer/2022102804/54c7b4404a7959c66e8b45a8/html5/thumbnails/51.jpg)
![Page 52: What Before How: Making a Home for Information Architecture](https://reader038.vdocument.in/reader038/viewer/2022102804/54c7b4404a7959c66e8b45a8/html5/thumbnails/52.jpg)
![Page 53: What Before How: Making a Home for Information Architecture](https://reader038.vdocument.in/reader038/viewer/2022102804/54c7b4404a7959c66e8b45a8/html5/thumbnails/53.jpg)
![Page 54: What Before How: Making a Home for Information Architecture](https://reader038.vdocument.in/reader038/viewer/2022102804/54c7b4404a7959c66e8b45a8/html5/thumbnails/54.jpg)
Information
Interaction
SimpleGoals
Complex
Goals
![Page 55: What Before How: Making a Home for Information Architecture](https://reader038.vdocument.in/reader038/viewer/2022102804/54c7b4404a7959c66e8b45a8/html5/thumbnails/55.jpg)
Information
Interaction
SimpleGoals
Complex
Systems
Complex
Goals
SimpleSystems
![Page 56: What Before How: Making a Home for Information Architecture](https://reader038.vdocument.in/reader038/viewer/2022102804/54c7b4404a7959c66e8b45a8/html5/thumbnails/56.jpg)
![Page 57: What Before How: Making a Home for Information Architecture](https://reader038.vdocument.in/reader038/viewer/2022102804/54c7b4404a7959c66e8b45a8/html5/thumbnails/57.jpg)
![Page 58: What Before How: Making a Home for Information Architecture](https://reader038.vdocument.in/reader038/viewer/2022102804/54c7b4404a7959c66e8b45a8/html5/thumbnails/58.jpg)
MISSED OPPORTUNITY TO UNITE MEANING + STRUCTURE
![Page 59: What Before How: Making a Home for Information Architecture](https://reader038.vdocument.in/reader038/viewer/2022102804/54c7b4404a7959c66e8b45a8/html5/thumbnails/59.jpg)
DANCING WITH AGILE
![Page 60: What Before How: Making a Home for Information Architecture](https://reader038.vdocument.in/reader038/viewer/2022102804/54c7b4404a7959c66e8b45a8/html5/thumbnails/60.jpg)
BALANCE IS THE KEY
![Page 61: What Before How: Making a Home for Information Architecture](https://reader038.vdocument.in/reader038/viewer/2022102804/54c7b4404a7959c66e8b45a8/html5/thumbnails/61.jpg)
WHERE
WHAT BEFORE HOW: MAKING A HOME FOR IA #WB4H
Where is TUG headingand what’s next for TUG’s practiceand for information architecture?
![Page 62: What Before How: Making a Home for Information Architecture](https://reader038.vdocument.in/reader038/viewer/2022102804/54c7b4404a7959c66e8b45a8/html5/thumbnails/62.jpg)
![Page 63: What Before How: Making a Home for Information Architecture](https://reader038.vdocument.in/reader038/viewer/2022102804/54c7b4404a7959c66e8b45a8/html5/thumbnails/63.jpg)
PUBLICATIONS
![Page 64: What Before How: Making a Home for Information Architecture](https://reader038.vdocument.in/reader038/viewer/2022102804/54c7b4404a7959c66e8b45a8/html5/thumbnails/64.jpg)
PUBLICATIONS
![Page 65: What Before How: Making a Home for Information Architecture](https://reader038.vdocument.in/reader038/viewer/2022102804/54c7b4404a7959c66e8b45a8/html5/thumbnails/65.jpg)
TEACHING + PRESENTING
![Page 66: What Before How: Making a Home for Information Architecture](https://reader038.vdocument.in/reader038/viewer/2022102804/54c7b4404a7959c66e8b45a8/html5/thumbnails/66.jpg)
![Page 67: What Before How: Making a Home for Information Architecture](https://reader038.vdocument.in/reader038/viewer/2022102804/54c7b4404a7959c66e8b45a8/html5/thumbnails/67.jpg)
![Page 68: What Before How: Making a Home for Information Architecture](https://reader038.vdocument.in/reader038/viewer/2022102804/54c7b4404a7959c66e8b45a8/html5/thumbnails/68.jpg)
![Page 69: What Before How: Making a Home for Information Architecture](https://reader038.vdocument.in/reader038/viewer/2022102804/54c7b4404a7959c66e8b45a8/html5/thumbnails/69.jpg)
SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT ARE LIKE… A THING
![Page 70: What Before How: Making a Home for Information Architecture](https://reader038.vdocument.in/reader038/viewer/2022102804/54c7b4404a7959c66e8b45a8/html5/thumbnails/70.jpg)
“ YOU’RE NOT GOING TO TALK IN TERMS OF WIREFRAMES AND DESIGN OF A PAGE, OR HAVE THE METAPHOR OF A BOOK IN YOUR HEAD. IT’S GOING TO BE DIFFERENT.VERY SOON: I’M TALKING ABOUT A COUPLE OF YEARS.
“
— Richard Saul Wurman
![Page 71: What Before How: Making a Home for Information Architecture](https://reader038.vdocument.in/reader038/viewer/2022102804/54c7b4404a7959c66e8b45a8/html5/thumbnails/71.jpg)