In The Beginning
In the early days of Web 1.0, create web sites was for pure vanity. Both designers and developers wanted to build “cool” stuff to push innovation and creativity. Companies financing these builds because to be cool on the Internet was a differentiator. In doing so, great technologies and applications were developed that laid the foundation for so much of what is used today. But building cool stuff wasn’t and still isn’t financially viable. Because at the end of the day someone had to use this cool stuff. What good is it to them if what was built wasn’t useful?
Agencies realized they needed to learn more about the user. But who in the agency world would speak on their behalf? Here comes in the information architect or IA. An innovation in web design to accurately speak to the needs and behaviours of users.
I’ve been practicing Information Architecture (IA) since the inception of the practice in the late 90′s. Like most IA’s of the time could appreciate, the role came from a need to improve the design process for the large, complex applications and web sites that were being created. This innovation was essential to checkout the egos of designers, developers and business persons to put the focus squarely on the user. To do so, IAs borrowed methodologies from other practices such as librarian sciences, human factors and computer sciences. As well, developed newer design methodologies that put the end user front and centre of the design process.
The Benefits of IA
There are many benefits to incorporating information architecture into your design process.
- IAs design with the end user in mind. A happy user is a buying user.
- IAs employ best practices in usability to ensure the design is easy to use.
- IAs can help prevent costly development problems by evaluating design solutions early in the process.
- IAs can help quickly develop prototypes to validate design decisions.
- IAs are often used to test the usability of applications along the project life cycle.
- IAs can set design and usability standards within organizations.
How much of it is done is dependent on the complexity on the application, the needs of the organization and the end user. Here is a short list of what I’ve done as an IA on various projects.
Usability
- User research & persona development
- Heuristic assessments
- Usability testing
- Usability standards development
Information Architecture
- Competitive audits
- Requirements gathering and analysis
- Content categorization & taxonomies
- Site architecture
- Use cases & scenarios
- Navigation systems
- Wireframe development
- Prototyping
