World IA Day Talk 2017, Chicago. This talk begins by illustrating the relationship between strategy, IA, and UX. Then, it outlines the importance of information architecture as a crucial step between strategy and ux - and what to expect if any one of these key steps is overlooked. The presentation concludes with practical, actionable tips on advocating for IA to ensure great UX. 

1. Information Architecture
02.18.2017
The Strategic Structure of Great UX

2. Jessica DuVerneay
Manager, Strategy
One North Interactive
Chicago, IL

3. 3

4. Explain the relationships
between Strategy, IA, & UX.
Share My Failures.
Help You Avoid Them.

5. Story Time

6. 6
Building a
Mud Hut

7. 7
Building a
Mud Hut

8. 8
Building a
Mud Hut
Day 3

9. 9
Building a
Mud Hut
MUDSLIDE!!!

10. 10

11. Aspirational Concrete Complete

12. Story Time
Part 2

13. 13

14. Strategy IA UX

15. Definition May Look Like
An abstract but clear and concise
path forward for digital products or
services.
Supports business strategy and
user needs.
Deciding what places to make.
The “Why”
Stakeholder Alignment
Market Research
Competitive Analysis
User Research
Roadmap
KPIs & Goals
Strategy
15

16. Definition May Look Like
The creation of intentional
structures that support the
extension of strategy into digital
and physical places.
Making places made of information
that allow meaning making,
wayfinding, findability, and
understanding.
The “What”
Taxonomy
Sitemap
Navigation & Wayfinding
Wireframes
Content Model
Metadata & Labels
Information Architecture (IA)
16

17. Definition May Look Like
Delightful interactions and
meaningful experiences centered
around user needs and
expectations – making the places
of information be the best that they
can be in order to gain product or
service traction.
The “How”
User Flows
Personas
Interactive Prototypes
User Testing
Cross Channel Touchpoint Map
Interaction Design
User Experience (UX)
17

18. 18

19. We Had A Digital Strategy & Roadmap
19
Short Term
2017 – Release 1
Establish the Core
Replace several aging
websites with a
consolidated, integrated,
mobile-friendly
presence.
Medium Term
2-3 Years – Release 2+
Extend Connections
Further integrate digital
marketing tools, create a
more connected
experience, and track
behavior across
channels.
Long Term
3-5 Years
Personalize Experience
Offer a personalized,
seamless digital
experience that
replicates the feeling of
offline interactions and
adds real value to
relationships.

20. We Had A Website Strategy
20
Information
Architecture
Experience &
Visual Design
Technology
Implementation
Plan
Content
Governance Plan
• Journeys achieved
through relational data
• Improved navigation
• Robust Search
• Evolved visual direction
• Responsive Design
• Achieve desired level of
accessibility compliance
• Implement a combined site
architecture with CMS
• Migrate appropriate site content
• Position content management in
a single backend instance
• Achieve desired level of
accessibility compliance
• Execute a comprehensive
redirect strategy
• Enable tracking of anonymous
visitors
• Import contacts from CRM to
enable tracking of known users
• Simplify ecosystem toolset to
essential systems
• Enable Active Directory login to
CMS for content administration
• Plan for content ownership
and roles
• Content workflow diagram
• Guidelines, procedures
and tools to operationalize
content governance
• Main site navigation
structure and “sub-sites”
identified
• Sub-navigation for sub-
sites determined
• Clarified service
architecture – clearer
paths across industries
and practices, and better
connections between
entities
• New topic-based
taxonomy for easier
content discovery
• Header and footer content
determined

21. We Had A Plan for IA
21
• Clarified product architecture – clearer paths across types of
offerings , and better connections between these offerings
• New taxonomy for easier content discovery
• Main site navigation structure and “sub-sites” identified
• Sub-navigation for sub-sites determined
• Header and footer content determined

22. And We Needed it…
22
55
global nav
product
elements
35%
use the words
“Advising”,
“Consulting”, or
“Services”
6
mega-products that
contain a poly-
hierarchical mix of
other products

23. We Had A Process for IA
23
1: Gather Inputs
• Review current
client engagement
with service pages
• Discussions with
marketing & firm
area leaders (as
needed)
• Competitive
comparison
2: Recommendations
• Collaborate with
internal
stakeholders on
revisions
• Draft clarified
service architecture
• Illustrate impact to
site navigation,
content structure
3: Implications
• Integrate into
navigation and
content design
• Map existing
content to new
structure

24. IA
UX &
Design
Design &
Functional
Specs
FED &
Development
FED &
Development
OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB

25. We *Had* A Process for IA
25
1: Gather Inputs
• Review current
client engagement
with service pages
• Discussions with
marketing & firm
area leaders (as
needed)
• Competitive
comparison
2: Recommendations
• Collaborate with
internal
stakeholders on
revisions
• Draft clarified
service architecture
• Illustrate impact to
site navigation,
content structure
3: Implications
• ? Integrate into
navigation and
content design
• ? Map existing
content to new
structure

26. 26

27. 27

28. 28

29. IA
UX &
Design
Design &
Functional
Specs
FED &
Development
FED &
Development
OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB

30. Strategy IA UX

31. Putting it Together

32. Aspirational Concrete Complete

33. 33

34. Aspirational Concrete Complete

35. 35
Mud hut

36. Strategy IA UX

37. 37

38. 38
?

39. Strategy IA UX

40. Strategy IA UX
Aspirational Concrete Complete

41. Abstract strategy is made
concrete through IA;
Concrete IA is made
complete through UX

42. Strategy IA UX
Aspirational Concrete Complete
“We want to build a
library”
“We need bricks, and
we need to stack the
bricks intelligently, in
the right order”
“We have a house, we
plaster the walls and make
sure the doors are in the
right spot”
Big Picture Structure Interaction
You might say:
42

43. Strategy IA UX

44. Strategy IA UX

45. Strategy IA UX

47. Strategy IA UX

48. Now What?

49. I Messed Up.
Learn from failure.

50. 50
I Should Have:
Known the questions can we
answer with each phase and
how they are interdependent
Understood the reasons
these phases are descoped
and explain what can happen
if we descope or skip
Provided Concrete
Examples of how IA will
impact the project
Showed how IA can expand
beyond the site UX into
visual design, build, service,
and experience design
Taken a time out!

51. Strategy IA UX
What do we want this to do?
Why?
Who is this for?
What are our constraints?
What does success look like?
How might this differentiate us
from our peers?
How is this related to other parts
of our ecosystem?
Based on what we
know about our
strategy, what pieces
do we need?
How are they
organized?
How will this structure
meets the needs of
the org? Of the people
using it?
Now that we have
the pieces and and
a sense of how they
work together, how
can we make this
awesome?
Questions We Can Answer
51

52. “It’s fine the way it is.
We don’t have time.”
“No budget for that step.
It’s too politically loaded."
“We can do it better internally.
That’s not in scope.”
“It’s not important.
Just add that in when you make the designs.”

53. Strategy IA UX
Products that don’t
address a business need
Specific tactics deployed
without the intended
results
Something that will not be
valuable or have utility in
the near future
Wasted budget
Products that don’t make sense
& are hard to navigate
Disorienting user experience,
even though design, or UI might
seem fine (or even great)
Issues with findability &
scalability
Difficulty creating great UX
Complications & increased
budget in build
Low user adoption &
opinion of the system
Increased calls to support
Poor Conversion
Odd or lack of integration
with the rest of the
information environment
If We De-scope or Skimp, Expect:
53

54. The Numbers
54
7.5
weeks of time
burned
4.5x
over the cost of
initial IA phase
4
team members that
had headaches

55. 55
Advocate & Make Clear the Value of IA
Tell Your Stories
Know the questions can we
answer with Strategy, IA & UX -
and how they are
interdependent
Understand the reasons
Strategy, IA, & UX are de-
scoped, and explain what can
happen if we de-scope
Provide Concrete Examples of
how IA will impact your project
Show how IA can expand
beyond the site UX into visual
design, build, service, and
experience design
Take a time out (or go guerilla)

56. 56
?

57. 57

58. Next Steps

59. 59
Books
Information Architecture -
For the Web and Beyond,
4th Edition
- Rosenfeld, Morville, Arango
How to Make Sense of Any
Mess
- Covert
Understanding Context
- Hinton

60. 60
IA Institute & Mentoring Program
WIAD
Library of Online Resources
Mentoring Program
Leadership Opportunities
Salary Survey
iainstitute.org

61. 61
2017 IA Summit
Vancouver, Canada
March 22-26, 2017
IA, UX, & Strategy
3 Days, 3 Tracks
Pre-conference
workshops
iasummit.org

62. 62
Work (Shameless Plug)
One North is Hiring:
• UX Strategists
• Senior UX Strategists
• Senior QA
• Developers / FED
• Account Coordinator
• …More!
onenorth.com/careers

63. THANKS!