Information Architecture (IA) Services

Information architecture involves the structuring and organisation of content, navigation, features and functionality within your website.

Intuitive navigation doesn't happen by chance! Most well designed websites and applications allow a user to navigate around with minimal effort and frustration.

People only notice information architecture when it is badly implemented and most sites mimic a company's organisational structure and do not consider the people using the system.

Benefits of this service

By planning and designing your navigation and content thoroughly at an early stage, prior to design and development, you are able to test, validate and improve before any major design decisions have taken place.

Advantages

• Structure site for the customer
• Quick to change
• Can save time and money later in the development process
• Focus on user tasks rather than technology

Disadvantages

• Sometimes difficult to get group consensus
• Capturing the right terminology may take several iterations
• Iterations for wireframes, sitemaps, and taxonomies can take time

The approach

The UCD process is an iterative process, where design and evaluation steps are built in from the first stage of projects, through implementation.

The process

Website information architecture can be broken down into several steps:

• Understand the business and user requirements and the proposed content for the system
• Conduct card sorting exercises with a number of representative users
• Evaluate the output of the card sorting exercises
• Evaluate the draft information architecture using the card-based classification evaluation technique
• Document the information architecture in a site map
• Define a number of common user tasks
• Paper prototype page layouts to define how the user will step through the site
• Walk other members of the project team through the storyboards and leave them in shared workspaces for comments
• Wireframes of top level sections of the site
• Develop interactive prototypes that can be used for early stage user testing

The deliverables

We can help you design and structure your information in a way that will increase conversions and maximise return for you.

We can be involved from the start of the process or mid way through depending on your budget and requirements. Typical deliverables include:

• Out put from stakeholder meetings
• Information from user interviews to help clarify needs
• Card sorting outputs
• Prioritised task list
• Draft navigation structure
• High level site map
• Interactive prototypes in Axure RP Pro

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