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Information Architecture

Information Architecture. Donna Maurer Usability Specialist. About me. Consultant for Step Two Designs Previously government departments Designing intranets & websites, business applications Usability testing, user research, information architecture Studying Master of Human Factors (UQ).

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Information Architecture

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  1. Information Architecture Donna Maurer Usability Specialist

  2. About me • Consultant for Step Two Designs • Previously government departments • Designing intranets & websites, business applications • Usability testing, user research, information architecture • Studying Master of Human Factors (UQ)

  3. Lecture overview • What is information architecture • Information can be arranged and accessed in many ways • Design process for information architectures • Information architecture for interactive systems • Information architecture for ubiquitous systems

  4. What information architecture is about • AIfIA definition • The structural design of shared information environments. • The art and science of organizing and labeling web sites, intranets, online communities and software to support usability and findability. • An emerging community of practice focused on bringing principles of design andarchitecture to the digital landscape.

  5. Information is arranged in many ways • Date • Alphabetical • Geography • Topic • Hierarchy • Faceted • Organic • Combination • Good IA allows access to information in many ways

  6. By date

  7. Alphabetical

  8. By geography

  9. By geography

  10. By audience

  11. By audience

  12. By task

  13. By topic

  14. By category

  15. By category

  16. Organic organisation system

  17. About hierarchies

  18. Getting around - navigation

  19. Navigation • Every page of a site should let you know: • Where am I • What’s here • Where can I go now • Where have I been • People don’t always work from the home page – they get to a page from a link or from a search

  20. Types of navigation • Global navigation • Persistent across a site • Allows access to major parts of the site • Local navigation • Lets you move around the current ‘section’ • Contextual navigation • Inline links, to anywhere • Supplemental navigation • Helpers – site map, A-Z index • See also • Related links

  21. Navigation

  22. Social navigation

  23. Labeling • Good labels • Are understandable by the reader • Are consistent within the site • Clearly describe where you are going next • Labeling is not easy – it is as complex as structure and navigation • Where to get labeling ideas: • User research • Search terms • Referrer terms • Call centre/people in contact with users

  24. Search • What to search • Query structure - how to search it • Relevance - which results are the most important • How to display the results

  25. Metadata • ‘Data about data’ • Title • Description • Authored date • Keywords • Historically used to improve searching – search can use the metadata fields • Also can be used to relate information together

  26. In an IA project • Research • Business needs • User requirements • Content • Gives me an understanding of the domain • Understand technical opportunities or limitations • Design site structure (site map) • Design navigation and page layouts (wireframes) • Design metadata, search and relationships • Usability test throughout the process • Creates a blueprint for the site – technical work after blueprint created and tested

  27. IA for interactive sites • Sites that are primarily about ‘doing things’ use IA differently • Fewer pages than a large informational site, so site map may show workflow not structure • Navigation and labeling still important • More emphasis on scenarios • Wireframes show a lot more detail and show all screens • Design process is very similar

  28. The elements of user experience

  29. IA for ubiquitous computing • Depends on the ubicomp device • For this assignment, interaction is more important • Navigation – getting around the interface • Labeling always important • Design process is similar • As information becomes embedded into our environment, accessing that information will become important…

  30. IA Resources • Books • Information Architecture for the World Wide Web – Louis Rosenfeld & Peter Morville • Elements of user experience – Jesse James Garrett • Information Architecture – Blueprints for the Web – Christina Wodtke • Don’t Make Me Think – Steve Krug • Online • Boxes and Arrows – http://www.boxesandarrows.org/ • IAslash - http://www.iaslash.org/ • IAwiki – http://www.iawiki.org/ • Some blatant self-promotion • My weblog – http://www.maadmob.net/donna/blog/ • My organisation – http://www.steptwo.com.au/

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