Part one of a three part workshop co taught with Dan Klyn and Christina Wodtke on Feb 7, 2013 at General Assembly in NYC. ABOUT THIS WORKSHOP Information architecture (IA) once was practiced as a sort of web-era librarianship. It was about organizing the information contained within websites to make things easier to find and use. But today an increasingly significant proportion of our daily business is conducted digitally. Using a variety of devices, people communicate with one another, search for information and entertainment, make retail purchases, initiate and negotiate business transactions, and more. This class will explore well-architected digital experiences. What does it mean to architect information? How does the structure of information relate to understanding? How can information architects manage complex information across channels and contexts? What unique value can professional information architects bring to the creation and delivery of products and services? What is the interplay of information architecture and the other disciplines within user experience? This class will provide a broad introduction to a useful set of tools and ideas that provide a framework under which user and business insight can be harvested and used in pursuit of real business goals.

1. Understanding
Information Architecture
Abby Covert
Dan Klyn
Christina Wodtke

2. Abby Covert Dan Klyn Christina Wodtke
@Abby_the_IA @DanKlyn @CWodtke
Part 1: Part 2: Part 3:
Identify opportunities for Structure goals to create Transform an information
growth, change and clarity and consensus experience into a social
improvement during among stakeholders and experience
requirement gathering makers

3. Objectives
• Present a new model for understanding information
architecture
• Practice using tools for creating consensus,
representing meaning and shaping structure.
• Get hands-on instruction with different kinds of
approaches to creating diagrams and instructions for
indicating interaction
• List of IA "do's," and "don'ts" based a combined 40
years of experience as an information architect.

4. Abby Loves to use Information
Architecture to...
Identify opportunities for
growth, change and
improvement during
requirement gathering
4

5. Information
Architecture
• Facilitates understanding
• Orders meaning
• Establishes truth
• Creates clarity
• Makes pictures of consensus
5

6. I am an
information
architect
I intend to because I believe
make the unclear clear everything is complex
put the what architecture frames
before the how problems, design solves
them
facilitate understanding understanding is
organize meaning, always good but it is
create clarity and equally important to
establish truth not understand
support goals, makers clarity is a
and users prerequisite of truth
by: Abby Covert & Dan Klyn
6

7. Complexity
part of something
that is complicated or
hard to understand
7

8. Users • Comfort with context
• Access/Interest/Trust
• Reading & Grade level
Layers of
• Aesthetics & Taste Complexity
• Budget • Distraction
• Reach • Loyalty
• Competition • Channel Limits
Markting
• Scope • Scalability
Makers
• Talent • Quality Assurance
• Tools • maintainability
• Integration
• Tone • Production Budget
• Brand • direction
Design • Context
• Flow • Structure
Information • Clarity • Tasks
Architecture • Models • Truth
• Goals
• Research
• Competition
Strategic Goals
• REturn on Investment
• Growth towards goals
Stakeholders & Their Bosses • Reputation
• The bottom Line
8

9. ?#?$%!
What happens when
complexity is not dealt
with properly?
9

10. When complexity is ignored...
User Stakeholder MAKER
satisfaction Satisfaction Satisfaction
Sometimes all 3 at once...
10

11. Herding
Cats:
Finding
Models for
exploring
complexity
in groups
11

12. Only you can help
prevent Brainstorms
12

13. I Have used Framestorms to help
• Change the audience for Sharpie from a office supply
consumer to teenagers looking for a self expression tool
• Grow a 150,000 member Facebook fan base for JELL-O
over the weekend.
• Pilot a revolutionary diet for people with Type 2 diabetes
• Analyze and strategically prioritize digital marketing
efforts and improvements for Herman Miller in support of
their movement into the B to C market
• Guide a team of 45 business stakeholders at Nike
through an overhaul of 20 + systems affecting 120,000
employees and their customers

14. And some of my
favorite tools are
REALLY easy to
learn
14

15. How people hear about
your offering(s)
How people explore
your offering(s)
What could detract How people Who else could
from this person opt into your entice this person
proceeding at this offering(s) at this point?
point?
I find success
How people use
your offering the in Using this
first time Funnel to
How people use explore a
your offering product from a
over time user lifecycle
perspective
15

16. Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Step 4
Context What What
happens happens
What
Context happens
Context
What
Context happens
I find success in
Using this Map
model to explore a
Process from a
contextual
lifecycle perspective

17. What are these kids doing? 17

18. Company Up!
• Who should we work on as an example...?
– In the past I have seen students have fun with:
» In-n-Out Burger
» The MoMa
» Square
» General Assembly
» Your company name here
18

19. Which Frame works?
Product Marketing Process Improvement
19

20. Directions
– Using the framework brainstorm through
assumptions, questions and facts of the
problem space.
• Identify 3 colors of post its to use for the 3
things you are brainstorming
• Start with 5 minutes of silence and writing
individually, then let’s go around and share and
map each person’s post its
20

21. Thanks
Abbycovert@gmail.com
@ Abby_The_IA
www.Abbytheia.com