Designing Usable & Flexible Information Architecture

SUSAN TEAGUE RECTOR

INFORMATION ARCHITECT & WEB STRATEGIST

UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO - DENVER

My story (and maybe yours too)

“This fast food approach to information drives librarians crazy. ‘Our

information is healthier and tastes better too’ they shout. But nobody listens. We’re too busy Googling.’

- Morville, Ambient Findability

navigation

search

organization

labeling

Users

ContextContent

IA

3 Circles of IA

“Designing a structure that can accommodate twice as much content as it can today is like

building an armoire with twice as many drawers.”

Dan Brown – 8 Principles of IA

Prioritize. Brainstorm. Refine. Evaluate.

1

You have clear goals for your website

You know what the competition is doing

You understand your user personas

You understand your content

Anticipate Multiple Entrances & Exits

2

Know Thy User Tasks3

Support Scent, Snacking & Foraging

4

Expose Important Options First

5

Keep it Consistent6

http://badskirt.blogspot.com/2011/12/some-of-best-things-about-holidays-are.html

Utilize Patterns7

Microsoft Navigation Pattern Library

Expect Growth8

Visualization of the Internet – Notre Dame

Gov.uk’s Design Principles:

1. Start with needs2. Do less3. Design with data4. Do the hard work to make it simple5. Iterate. Then iterate again6. Build for inclusion7. Understand context8. Build digital services, not websites9. Be consistent, not uniform10. Make things open: it makes things better

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Thank you!Questions?