Information Architecture
Fifteen years after earning a B.A. in Comparative Literature, I made a
discovery. I realized that I am an architect, an information architect.
And just what is this exactly?
I have found it to be someone who is part editor, part designer, and
part content manager. Most of all, an "IA" is someone with a terrific and
always-improving sense of structure. Consequently, for this article I plan
to discuss the process of designing or redesigning the navigation and
structure of a medium-to-large web site.
I always begin by scouting the competition and evaluating their web sites. I
also go to sites such as Sun, Macromedia, and Adobe to see how the big dogs
are structured. Then I start to think about the site I'm working on.
For a new site, it is always best to start with the company's concepts and
goals. I am currently redesigning a site for a real estate software company.
The site has excellent content but lacks structure and purpose. To start, I
wrote a creative brief. The creative brief turned out to be eight pages for
a 50 plus page site and encompasses all facets of the site.
These are the questions that a creative brief must address:
1. What are the primary and secondary goals for the
site?
2. What are the primary and secondary audiences?
(interests, needs, skills,
capabilities, assumptions)
3. What are the top three messages your site needs to
convey?
4. What is rationale behind the site structure?
5. What is the primary organization of the content?
6. What are the overall visual elements and styles?
Describe.
7. What concerns do the users of your site have?
8. How do your competitors compare?
9. Who are the primary members of the web team?
This is just a sampling of questions that need to be answered. The
fine book "Elements of Web Design" is a terrific resource
for addressing the full range of concerns that need to be considered.
After the creative brief questions have been answered and agreed on by
everyone on the web team (or the designated company team members), you
should create a branching diagram that shows the content, navigation, and a
general idea of how the text, images, and hyperlinks will be laid out on
each page.
Visio is a a diagram-drawing program which creates the branching diagram or
visual site map. This diagram acts as a blueprint for the designers,
writers, and programmers and the rest of the web team.
It is important to plan not only for today's web site but for tomorrow's as
well. Allow room for growth to accommodate your vision for the future.
As you create the diagram, you should keep a simple goal in mind: each
page should be within two links of every other page. For a large site with
many products or content areas, this rule can be demanding, but not
impossible. Even Microsoft with all of its products manages to keep its
products within two or three links of each other.
At the real estate software company, their primary goal for their web site
is to provide information about their products and client services. They
want products and services to be the most prominent items on the home page,
which is also going to include content and links to the "What's New" section
that would keep the home page filled with fresh content. This is the site
structure that will be displayed on each page of the real estate site.
Home - About Us - What's New - Contact us - Site Map
Products
Client Support
Downloads
Seminars & Trade Shows
Affiliates
News & Reviews
Industry Links
Although not set in stone, there are certain rules to follow when creating
the content and the diagram. I have purloined most of them from Roger Black's
"Web Sites that Work"
classic.
1. Customize content for the Web
2. Don't confuse the reader.
3. Navigation tools and graphics need to look the same
throughout.
4. Don't confuse the viewer. Be sure navigation is simple
and clear; e.g.,if
buttons represent departments don't
add non-department things to the button
bar.
5. Don't make oversized pages.
6. Don't design pages that require scrolling. Short pages
break up the
contents into easy, bite-size pieces,
which are much more appealing to the
viewer.
7. Speed, speed. No one wants to wait for the site to
load.
8. Don't use a lot of colors. Use black, white and one or
no more than two
other colors.
9. Don't use blurry drop shadows.
10. Don't have a lot of text. No one reads it anyway.
11. Don't use tiny type.
A creative brief, a branching diagram, and a sound set of web design rules
will eliminate most miscommunication or misunderstanding among the web team
and client. Excellent planning can prevent plenty of headaches, but more
importantly, it will help you create the site you had imagined.
