The main goal here is to check if users can easily get what they need from your app or website. You can make it on paper or using different tools like https://www.globalcloudteam.com/ WriteMaps or MindNode. As soon as you have decided on a design pattern, you can apply it along with the results of card sorting in site mapping.

To figure out the context, consider where, when, why, and how the user is seeking out and engaging with your content. Whiteboard is a visual collaboration plugin for Adobe XD that allows to work within the same environment as design files and other workflows. Let’s start with the example of poor Information Architecture. We don’t know about you, but we’re confused about where to go and overwhelmed by the number of offers here. Plus, the not-so-good User Experience makes us question the authority of the website.

Focused navigation principle

During this stage, information architects decide how users will navigate through a site and how pages on the site connect. Instead of putting all that on the homepage, an information architect might use the label “About” in the top navigation. Because they see “About” labels on other websites, visitors can guess what it means on that website too. It keeps you from getting lost on the subway, helps you reach your new dentist’s office on time, and keeps you from walking into the kitchen at your favorite restaurant.

Some, for example, may prefer to browse your site by category using sub-navigation menus. Others still may scroll down to your footer to find the navigation options, and so on. According to the principle of multiple classification, users should have many ways to browse the content on your site. This is important because people prefer different methods for finding information. Besides a navigation header with drop-down menus and a search box, there’s a big footer at the bottom of each page. This footer contains important navigation links as well as a short description of the company.

The Information Architecture for Website Design

An effective information architecture whose structure is based on your understanding of users helps you keep satisfied customers, lower bounce rates, and improve a Web site’s popularity. Information architecture results in the creation of site maps, hierarchies, categorizations, navigation, and metadata. When a content strategist begins separating content and dividing it into categories, she is practicing information architecture. When a designer sketches a top level menu to help users understand where they are on a site, he is also practicing information architecture.

Information architects often use tools such as card sorting, usability tests, and user interviews. Of course the best website IA is based on your users experience. And there is no better information architecture web design way to get a full understanding of your users than by conducting research. At any point in your website’s life cycle it can be beneficial to undertake research such as card sorting.

Information Architecture – principles

Certainly avoid going above eight elements and when adding more sections, try chunking the groups into separate navigation. Information architecture and SEO; you can’t and shouldn’t have one without the other. We’ve discussed IA and its many facets, but let’s add in how SEO plays into that. Currently the Head of Design Platforms at athenahealth, Jen leads teams focused on Experience Measurement & Insights, Design Systems, and DesignOps.

For example, if your marketing website has 15 blogs on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, you could simplify that grouping to “Social Media.” One of the reasons that categorizing is difficult is that there are many ways to approach it. Another challenge is that many people categorize based on personal habits or existing systems. This is a problem if those approaches don’t work well for the user. For example, online shopping carts often use the word “item” or “product.” If you’re in the United States, you probably use the word product more often.

The 10 Best AI Tools for UX Designers

The final result should be a combination of the client’s preferences and the architect’s experience and knowledge. It reveals how users find information, which ways do they use and which do they ignore or just plainly refuse to use and why. Partial inventory A partial inventory is still better than nothing. According to Peter Morville and Louis Rosenfeld (Information Architecture for the World Wide Web, 3rd edition) the IA of a website needs to address different user needs.

• Information architecture lets you get involved in the decision-making process on your site.
• You just need to understand the differences between them and bear in mind that the purpose of each one is different.
• And, because so many sales still rely on word of mouth, especially in the service sector, this can have a knock-on effect and impact their whole network of potential customers.
• This article will mainly focus on information structures within websites and intranets for content-heavy websites.
• This is helpful because it can really help improve the quality of your designs.
• Good information architecture greatly impacts the user experience.

Design, development, and engineering teams often work together on the process. But even a small solo project can improve with an understanding of the basics. Since a website’s content structure depends on the specific needs of the user, no structure will look exactly the same. The IA of an ecommerce store can look completely different from a blog and still meet users’ needs. You might have a category for women’s apparel that only contains shirts and pants right now.

Other Articles on Information Architecture

The goal is to provide a seamless user experience that makes it possible for users to swiftly and effectively find what they need. If the role of IA design is still not clear, you should learn more about the user-centered approach that designers choose when they work on a project. A website is not focused on design only because there is a multitude of other details that ultimately affect the user experience. Efficient IA design is a condition of obtaining usable websites and applications. Without IA, a website would have many navigation problems that will simply make users leave it as soon as they access it.

This step embraces navigation design, labeling, and site mapping. Information Architecture (IA) is the process of planning and designing how information is organized in websites and applications. It focuses on meeting user needs and business goals by creating a logical and user-friendly information structure.

Definitions of key concepts related to information architecture

Because a closed card sort only requires people to put cards into predefined groups, we can ask users to sort considerably more cards than in an open card sort. Because of that, we can use closed card sorting as a way of discovering whether our first draft will accommodate all of our content, not just our top tasks, questions, and objections. Information architecture (IA) is, like a blueprint, a visual representation of the product’s infrastructure, features, and hierarchy. The level of detail is up to the designer, so IA may also include navigation, application functions and behaviors, content, and flows. As a standard part of the UX process, designers create information architecture when building products. Defining every avenue and path that users can take through an app or website, information architecture is much more than just a sitemap to show what page leads where.