Pictures In Motion

Information architecture (often abbreviated "I.A.") is the practice of structuring information (knowledge or data) for a purpose. These are often structured according to their context in user interactions or larger databases.

As defined by Wikipedia

As someone who has worked as an Information Architect for over six years, I derive pleasure from helping clients restructure the content within their websites and develop a user interface that welcomes rather than exasperates the website visitor. Although the job has only recently become valued, the need to organize information and develop navigation and a user-friendly path has been mounting for years along side the growth of the World Wide Web.

What an IA Does

So what you may ask does an Information Architect do and why would I need such a person? The mission of an IA is to first understand the purpose of the site, the goals of the stakeholders, and most importantly recognize who the users are and how or why they would use the site. This first phase is ideally accomplished by interviewing both stakeholders and users. However, if for budgetary reasons or logistics this is not possible, it is then the job of the IA to answer those questions alone from the point of view of those interests.

The Sitemap

The next step is to then take this research and develop a sitemap. A sitemap is a diagram of the proposed site that shows the navigation and hierarchal structure of the proposed site using a flowchart. The software most used for this task is Visio, which is part of Microsoft Office.

The beauty of developing a site map is that prior to any actual development or programming changes to the structure of the site can be easily done. Just as an architect of a building uses a blueprint to design a building, a website development team uses the architecture developed by an IA to set the navigation for the website. It becomes especially crucial when redesigning large sites, with hundreds of pages to have a system that can structure the first, second, third and even fourth levels of a site.

After an initial site map is made, there is much back and forth with the client and development team to hone things in to the final structure. Often the graphic artist who is actually designing the site and/or the developer, who is programming the back-end database of the site, will use the sitemap as a guide. Sometimes sitemaps are only concerned with the user interface and the dynamic information that will be revealed based upon the tasks of a user. In this case the sitemap is very much a blueprint for the development team.

Usability

The sitemap can also be used by the IA in order to test the user interface and architecture with actual users. It is especially important with large sites to confirm, prior to development that the proposed information architecture will work. Many times, the work of testing the site is done by an IA alongside other members of the team that specialize in usability issues.

The area of usability is one that has also grown exponentially with the web. One of the more famous advocates for designing based upon user needs is Jakob Nielsen. There is now a whole area of web development that is exclusively concerned with usability issues and the importance of having a user-friendly interface. Certainly the IA must have an understanding of usability issues and how to attain the right information from the right people, in order to insure that the site succeeds.

The main benchmark for success comes down to the numbers of visitors that a site is not only able to attract, but ultimately able to retain. The more users that return, the more likelihood they will take action resulting in an ROI to the stakeholders.