When timid users step up to your site and are spooked by the ghosts of content past, or those who dare to enter become lost in a maze of composted navigation, a dusting just won’t fix the years/decades of content rot. You know you need to pull everything out to figure out what you have, what to keep, and what to toss—but that can be a daunting and overwhelming endeavor. In this talk, I’ll equip you with the tools and approaches you’ll need to face the overwhelming content beast head-on, to organize it in a way that is not only useful to your visitors, but actually feels welcoming. This talk introduces information architecture techniques, best suited for site owners, designers, freelancers, or small teams lacking dedicated content strategists. • Audit a complex site to understand what content exists. • Understand the variety of IA document types and which to use when. • Create documents that help drive content review and decision-making. • Promote a positive user experience and overall design through better content organization.

1. Bringing Order to a Content Hoarder
An Information Architecture (IA) Primer
Cornell Drupal Camp 2016 • #DrupalCampCU • @anthonydpaul

2. eldest confirmed labyrinth carving
Pylos, Greece c. 1200 BC
Theseus and the Minotaur pottery
Greece c. 500 BC
Minotaur / labyrinth mosaic
Conimbriga, Portugal c. 200 AD
Innate fear of
being lost
Defeat or
be defeated
Onset of
madness

3. too many pages
unclear labels
expired content
broken links
wth is this evenpile of nope
no hierarchy

4. can has my wibsite
nope
visitors

5. be my bff
k lol
we practitioners

6. “This doesn’t look
toooo bad…”

7. multiple multilevel flyouts

8. exponential paths

9. “The filesystem
may be clearer…”

10. 15,000

11. 12,000

12. painting by
Justin Gerard

13. Anthony D Paul
Director of User Experience
@anthonydpaul

14. IA process at a glance
inventory explore clean decide
What it
could be
What it
should be

15. inventory: What do we have already?
1. Content types
2. Pages
3. Specific details
4. Calls-to-action

16. artifact 1 of 2: spreadsheet

17. artifact 2 of 2: messy notes

18. SiteSucker (MacOS, free)
Tips:
Turn off Robots.txt

19. SlickPlan (online, free trial)
Tips:
In import, include “links”

20. Paparazzi! (MacOS, free)
Tips:
Use batch, but it crashes
Physical card sort

21. explore: What may we want/need?
1. Competition gaps
2. Unfulfilled audience needs
3. New content types
4. Menu label ideas

22. mostly more notes

23. Interviews, focus groups
Tips:
Focus on “what works”
rather than “likes”

24. Search analytics
Tips:
Look for missing
keywords

25. Session analytics
Tips:
Look to individual
session data via
User Explorer

26. Survey data (e.g.)
Tips:
Google filetype:pdf
market report search

27. Comparative analysis
Tips:
Look to who solves
similar problems

28. clean: What is easy to ditch?
1. Redundant
2. Expired
3. Broken/Dead

29. updated spreadsheet with notes

30. decide: What is most important?
1. Sorting methods (different attributes)
2. Important audience needs (tasks)
3. Important business needs (CTAs)

31. artifact 1 of 3: stickie notes

32. artifact 2 of 3: flow doc

33. artifact 3 of 3: spreadsheet

34. Optimal Sort (online, free trial)
Tips:
Involve users and
decision-makers

35. 5 Hat Racks: https://youtu.be/Tgi1JQGHENI
Tips:
Try grouping by audience
Contrast by grouping by
type of task

36. Personas/Scenarios/Stories
Tips:
Reduce distractions

37. End Deliverables

39. content vs pages
recommended related
filters
stacks
shortcuts

40. other menusCTAs
mirrorsexternal links

41. Notes:
URL redirects
Merges and splits
New content
Content to update

42. Validating Your IA

43. Treejack test (online, free trial)
Tips:
Test words and
hierarchy only

44. Usability test
Tips:
Test in context

45. Success

47. Any tool in any order to answer questions
inventory explore clean decide
What it
could be
What it
should be

48. artwork by
Joelle Saveliev
“That wasn’t
so scary…”

49. Up next
1. Lean requirements gathering
2. User journey mapping
3. Information architecture
4. Usability tests

50. My vids
http://wordpress.tv/?s=anthony+paul
My talks and blog
http://adp.rocks or http:// .ws or http:// .ws
More
Wayfinding in Architecture (Passini)
Sorting Things Out (Bowker/Star)
Ambient Findability (Morville)
search: Abby Covert, Dan Klyn
Thank you
@anthonydpaul