Understanding Information Architecture
In 1964, “Architecture an IBM System/360” (Amdahl et al 1964), an IBM research paper defined architecture as
“The conceptual structure and functional behavior, distinguishing the organization of data flows and controls, logical design, and physical implementation”.
Twelve years later at the American Institute of Architecture conference of 1976, Richard Saul Wurman was the first to coin the term “information architecture”.
In 1998, Louis Rosenfield and Peter Morville then published “Information Architecture and the World Wide Web”, a book that has exposed society to information architecture.
So what exactly is Information Architecture (IA)?
Information Architecture (IA) is not only digital, but also in the physical world. It is all around us.
It is the process of arranging parts of something to make it understandable … basically to organize stuff. IA focuses on the structural design of information or content. In the digital world, websites and mobile applications are structured for top-notch usability.
Morville and Rosenfeld describe the relationship between users, context, and content as “information ecology”, visualizing it in a venn diagram displayed below.
They also state that the main components of IA are organization schemes and structures (how users categorize information), labeling systems (how users represent information), navigation systems (how users browse through information), and search systems (how users look for information).
These main components can then be broken down into three principles of ontology, taxonomy, and choreography. Ontology is the specific meaning of the product’s elements. Taxonomy is the arrangement of its parts. Choreography is the interaction among is parts.
Ontology, taxonomy, and choreography are referred to as the gears of Information Architecture. Each gear needs corresponding movement from the other gears to function and the success of Information Architecture depends on the interplay between the three gears.
How effective is our Information Architecture?
IA Heuristics allows us to determine how good or useful our designs are.
- Findable: is information located easily?
- Accessible: is it consistent across all platforms?
- Clear: is it easy to understand?
- Communicative: is it informative and does it help a user complete tasks?
- Usable: is the user able to complete tasks with no frustration?
- Credible: is it worthy of confidence and reliable?
- Controllable: is the user able to tailor information within their context and easily fix errors?
- Valuable: is it desirable and improve customer satisfaction?
- Learnable: is it able to be easily understood and used?
- Delightful: how are user expectations exceeded?
