Introduction to Information Architecture & Design - 2/14/15

Introduction to Information Architecture & Design
School of Visual Arts | February 14, 2015 Robert Stribley

Today’s presentation will be available on
SlideShare following the workshop:
www.slideshare.net/stribs

Butterfly on the New York City Highline
Pattern
Recognition:
In cognitive
psychology, the
ability to identify
familiar forms
within a complex
arrangement of
sensory stimuli

Butterflies Labeled by Species

Intro
Robert Stribley
@stribs
• I’m an Associate
Experience Director at
Razorfish
• I like literature, cinema,
music, photography, cycling
• I drink coffee
Introduction
My clients have included:
• Bank of America, PNC, Wachovia
• JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley,
Oppenheimer Funds, PNC,
Prudential, Smith Barney, T. Rowe
Price
• Boston Scientific, Nasonex
• Choice Hotels, RCI
• Computer Associates, EMC
• Ford, Lincoln
• FreshDirect
• AT&T, Nextel
• Day One, Red Cross
• Pearson, Travel Channel,
Women’s Wear Daily

Intro
About You
•What’s your name?
•What do you do for work?
•What do you do for fun?
•Coffee, tea or bottled water?
Introduction

Intro
Goals of this workshop
•Understand the basic concepts of
information architecture
•Experience the general process and
techniques used on a design project
•Review the basic deliverables an
information architect develops within a
project
Introduction

Agenda
Morning
• Background
• Design Process
• Our Project
• User Research
• Competitive Review
• Personas
• Lunch
Agenda

Agenda
Afternoon
• Card Sorting
• Site Maps
• Page Types
• Navigation
• Sketching
• Wireframes
• Q&A
Agenda

Background: History
A Brief History of IA
1975
• Richard Saul Wurman coined the term
“information architecture” to describe the field now
more often described as “information design”
1994
• Argus Associates founded in Ann Arbor, MI, the
first firm devoted to IA
1998
• First edition of Peter Morville and Lou Rosenfeld’s
Information Architecture for the World Wide Web,
affectionately known as “The Polar Bear” book
2000
• First IA Summit, Boston, MA – Defining
Information Architecture

Partially adapted from: “A brief history of information architecture” by Peter Morville and Information Architecture:
Designing information environments for purpose, edited by Alan Gilchrist and Barry Mahon
A Brief History of IA
2002
• Boxes & Arrows, online journal for information
architects goes live
• 3 new books on IA published, including Jesse James
Garrett’s The Elements of User Experience
2014
• Capital One purchases Garrett’s UX-consulting firm
Adaptive Path
2015
• 15th Annual IA Summit held in Minneapolis, MN, April
22-26
Background: History

Background
in•for•ma•tion ar•chi•tec•ture n.
Background: Defining IA
• The combination of organization,
labeling, and navigation schemes within
an information system.
• The structural design of an information
space to facilitate task completion and
intuitive access to content.
• The art and science of structuring and
classifying web sites and intranets to help
people find and manage information.
• An emerging discipline and community of
practice focused on bringing principles of
design and architecture to the digital
landscape.
Information Architecture for the World Wide Web (1st Edition), p. 4, Rosenfeld and Morville
Navigation
Interaction
Art/Science
Discipline/
Community

Background
“It's hard to say who really is an information architect. In some
sense, we all are.”
— Alex Wright, Glut

userscontent
context
IA

Interface
(skin)
information architecture
(skeleton)

Design Process
metaphor: architectural plans
Flickr.com: Cornell University Library

user experience
information
architecture
Background: User Experience
interaction
design
content
strategy
usability
testing
user research

Design Process
Project phases
by Harold Kerzner

Design Process
Discovery Definition Design Development
Design Process

Design Process
• Stakeholder Interviews
• Business Requirements
• Competitive & Comparative Audits
• User Research
• Site Inventory
Design Process

Design Process
•Personas
•Content Audit
•Card Sorts
•Use Cases
•Sketching
•Site Map
•User Journeys
•Conceptual Wires/Design
•Creative Brief
•UX Brief
Design Process

Design Process
• Site Map
• Task Flows
• Sketching
• Wireframes
• Stakeholder Reviews
• Visual Design
• Prototype
• Usability Testing
• Functional Specifications
Design Process

Design Process
•Site Development
•User Acceptance
Testing (UAT)
•Quality Assurance
(QA)
•Usability Testing
Design Process

Background
IA Deliverables
site map
features/functionality
inventory
comparative/competitive
review
requirements document
personas
sketches
use cases
user flows
prototype
wireframes
discover design
experience brief
Deliverables
user journeys

Our Project
Events.com wants to revamp its website to
become the go-to online resource for people
wanting to attend or promote events across
the United States.
Our Project

User Research
User Research in Copenhagen’s Elderly Homes

User Research
“Through research, we aim to learn
enough about the business goals,
the users, and the information
ecology to develop a solid strategy.”
– Louis Rosenfeld & Peter Morville
Discovery: User Research

User Research
Goals
• Identify patterns and trends in user behavior,
tasks, preferences, obstacles.
Methodology
• Focus Groups
• Surveys
• Interviews

User Research
Class Exercise: Survey Questions
• How do you learn about events in NYC?
• What type of events are you interested in?
• What’s more important to you:
– Price
– Type of Event
– Location
– Date
• How often do you attend the events?
• Do you ever need to promote an event?
• Do you ever invite people to an event?

Competitive Review
image by
brandon schauer

Discovery: Competitive Audit
“This type of assessment helps set an
industry ‘marker’ by looking at what the
competition is up to, what features and
functionalities are standard, and how others
have solved the same problems you might
be tasked with.”
– Dorelle Rabinowitz
Discovery: Competitive Review

Competitive Review
Heuristic Evaluation
… involves evaluators examining the
interface and judging its compliance
with recognized usability principles
(the ‘heuristics’)
- Wikipedia
Self Study
For a more detailed explanation of heuristic evaluation, see Jakob Nielsen’s Ten Usability Heuristics.

Competitive Review
Sample Usability Criteria
These examples aren’t comprehensive. Appropriate criteria will depend on the project to be completed.
Home Page
• Are home page elements appropriately weighted and distributed?
• Is information clustered in meaningful ways?
Navigation
• Is the navigation structure concise and consistent?
• Are paths to important information intuitive and unobstructed?
Content
• Is content current? Are there visible indications of content freshness?
• Is content properly adapted for the Web? Is tone of voice consistent throughout content? Is
content chunked appropriately?
• Are headings and titles scannable?
Design
• Are colors appropriate to the Web? Is white space used appropriately? Is text readable?
Search
• Are search results relevant and cleanly presented?
Functionality
• Are functionality and forms efficiently designed?
Messaging
• Are errors messages clear on the site? Is help readily available to users?
• Are there appropriate means for user feedback?

Competitive Review
Methodology
•Review and analyze competitor sites
according to particular criteria
•Draw key findings, which can influence
and guide IA through the design phase
•Include a scorecard for high-level
comparison of points across all sites
Also: Comparative Reviews

Competitive Review
Competitors

Competitive Review
Key Findings
• Search prominent on each site
• Need for filtering events
• Calendars are helpful, but not always prominent
• Profiles and social features common, but handled with varying
degrees of detail
• Free events are often highlighted
• Event detail pages may have maps, RSVP, sharing, rating,
commenting functionality
• Displaying other venues and restaurants adds utility
• Option to add or promote an event isn’t always prominent

Competitive Review
What else have we learned?
• Who are the audiences of these sites?
• What are the strengths of these sites?
• What are their weaknesses?
• How might another event site differentiate
itself from these sites?

Personas
Created at personas.media.mit.edu
Personas is a component of the Metropath(ologies) exhibit, recently on
display at the MIT Museum by the Sociable Media Group from the MIT
Media Lab. It uses sophisticated natural language processing and the
Internet to create a data portrait of one's aggregated online identity. In
short, Personas shows you how the Internet sees you.

Personas
“Personas summarize user research findings
and bring that research to life in such a way
that everyone can make decisions based on
these personas, not based on themselves.”
– Steve Mulder
Definition: Personas

Personas
Methodology
• Cluster Analysis
Goals
• Create a narrative
based on real data to
illustrate user
behavior, motivations,
goals
Small Budget
Big Budget
PlannerPromoter

Personas
Characteristics of Effective Personas
• Varied and distinct
• Detailed
• Not weighed down with minutiae
• Tied into business-specific goals
• Backed by data

SabrinaJenny DonnyJerry

Sabrina, 27
The party planner
Location:
Gramercy Park
Attitude:
Organized, outgoing
Financial Perspective:
Generous, bit of spendthrift
Online Habits:
Avid user of social networking sites,
Twitter, Facebook, etc
Events:
Wine tastings, gallery openings
Quote:
“I love getting bunches of friends
together to attend all these NYC
events. There’s so much great stuff to
do in this city!”
Small Budget
Big Budget
PlannerPromoter
PersonasDefinition: Personas

Jerry, 44
The out-of-towner
Location:
Cincinnati, OH
Attitude:
Casual, yet adventurous
Moderate spender
Online Habits:
Utilitarian use of the Web to
research trips, read about the arts
and pay bills
Events:
Museums, visiting landmarks, tours
Quote:
“I’m visiting the Big Apple with my
wife and we want to check out
some art-related events.”
Small Budget
Big Budget
PlannerPromoter

Personas
Donny, 38
The local comedian
Location:
East Village
Attitude:
Laidback, loosely organized
Frugal, paycheck to paycheck
Online Habits:
Spends time networking, promoting his
act online, haunts comedy sites
Events:
Comedy slams, variety shows
Quote:
“I land a few comedy gigs around the
city and I want to promote them better.” Small Budget
Big Budget
PlannedPromoter

Jenny, 33
The professional promoter
Location:
Williamsburg
Attitude:
Busy, disciplined, professional
Healthy budget for promotions and
advertising
Online Habits:
Heavy use of social networking sites both
professionally and personally, shops online
Events:
Small gigs, big concerts, DJ sets
Quote:
“I manage a few bands and DJs and I
have to ensure they’re listed in the right,
targeted places.”
Personas
Small Budget
Big Budget
PlannedPromoter

Class Exercise: Personas
• What tasks might each persona attempt to complete on Events.com?
• What features can you imagine each persona might like on such a site?
• What obstacles or pain points might they encounter?
Self Study
”Personas and the Role of Design Documentation" by Andrew Hinton, Boxes and Arrows, 2008/02/27

Card Sorting
“There are often better ways to organize
data than the traditional ones that first
occur to us. Each organization of the
same set of data expresses different
attributes and messages. It is also
important to experiment, reflect, and
choose which organization best
communicates our messages.”
– Nathan Shedroff, Experience Strategist
Definition: Card Sorting

Methodology
• Grouping and labeling with index cards, post it notes
• Two types:
Open – Participants sort cards with no pre-established categories.
Useful for new architectures
Closed – Participants sort cards into predetermined, provided
groups. Useful for fitting content into existing architectures
• Online card sorts
–WebSort, OptimalSort, Socratic
Goals
• Organize content more efficiently
• Find names for categories based on users’ perspectives
Self Study
"Card sorting: a definitive guide" by Donna Spencer and Todd Warfel, Boxes and Arrows, 2004/04/07

Case Studies:
• Wachovia Wealth Management Group
• American Red Cross
• Mercedes Benz

Class Exercise:
As individuals:
• Take 5 minutes to think of all the events a
person could attend
• Write each event you come up with on a Post-
It note

Class Exercise:
Now, as a group:
• Take a few minutes to organize your events
into categories (group & label them)
• Then we’ll share some categories

Characteristics & Findings:
• Lumping and splitting
• Outliers and miscellaneous items
• Placing items in multiple categories
• Categories versus filters
–E.g. Free, Family, Outdoors
• Unique but intuitive labels
–E.g. Geeks

Next Steps:
With the results of a card sort we then can:
• Build consensus
• Refine terminology
• Create a site map
• Help define navigation

Post-It Plus
This new app from 3M
allows you to scan your
Post-It Notes, organize
and share them.
InfoDefinition: Card Sort Tools

Conceptual DesignDesign: Site Maps
“A site map is a high level
diagram showing the hierarchy
of a system. Site maps reflect
the information structure, but
are not necessarily indicative of
the navigation structure.”
- Step Two Designs

Conceptual DesignDesign: Site Maps

Page Types & Templates
The Mercator Atlas of Europe
From The British Library

Conceptual Design
Home Page Category Page Details Page
Design: Page Types & Templates
Examples:

Navigation
Navigation Bridge, USS Enterprise
by Serendigity, Flickr

Grids
Types of Navigation
• Site Structure – major nav
• Hierarchical – product families
• Function – sitemap privacy
• Direct – banner ad/shortcut
• Reference – related links
• Dynamic – search results
• Breadcrumb – location
• Step Navigation – sequence
through forms/results
• Faceted Navigation – filters
results
Design: Navigation
Areas of Navigation
• Global – universal header/footer
• Local – left nav/right nav
• Local content – text links, buttons
Styles of Navigation
• Rollover
• Dropdown
• Flyout
• Tabs
• Accordion
Self Study
Adapted from Atsushi Hasegagwa’s The 7 Navigation Types of Web Sites

Grids
Mega Dropdowns
Design: Navigation

Grids
Power Footers
Design: Navigation

Sketching
Aerial Screw by Leonardo da Vinci, 1485-1487

Sketching
Can you guess what
this is a sketch of?
Design: Sketching

“twttr sketch” Twitter.com
Sketching
Twitter
[This sketch] has very special significance – it's hanging in the office somewhere with one other page.
Whenever I'm thinking about something, I really like to take out the yellow notepad and get it down.
– Jack Dorsey, Twitter
Design: Sketching

Sketching
“There are techniques
and processes whereby
we can put experience
front and center in design.
My belief is that the basis
for doing so lies in
extending the traditional
practice of sketching. ”
- Bill Buxton
Design: Sketching
Bill Buxton
Sketching User
Experiences

Bill Buxton
Sketching User
Experiences
Sketching
Attributes of a Sketch
•Quick
•Timely
•Inexpensive
•Disposable
•Plentiful
•Clear vocabulary
•Distinct gesture
•Minimal detail
•Appropriate degree of refinement
•Suggest & explore rather than confirm
•Ambiguity
Design: Sketching

Sketching
Goals
• To communicate your ideas effectively by
visualizing them
• To benefit from the participation of your
colleagues
• To quickly generate ideas and refine through
iterations
Design: Sketching

Sketching
Process
1. Discuss
2. Sketch
3. Share
4. Iterate
Design: Sketching

• Discuss the purpose of the experience you’re
sketching
• What’s its purpose?
• What features are necessary?
• How would you prioritize them?
• Who’s the audience?
• You’re not discussing layout or design
• Just the problem you’re trying to solve
• You’re not sketching yet
Design: Sketching
Discuss

Sketch
• Sketch silently
• Limit your time – 5,10 minutes
• Sketch as much as possible, as many different
ideas as possible
• Don’t worry about mistakes or style
• Emphasis is on the quantity of ideas, not the
quality of the sketches
Design: Sketching

Share
• Review your work with your team
• Keep it short – 60 seconds each
• You offer your feedback to others
• What you like
• Questions about what didn’t work for you
• You’re not grilling your colleagues and this
isn’t a competition
Design: Sketching

Iterate
• Now sketch again if you need to
• Or collaborate on a high-level wireframe (e.g.
via whiteboard)
• Then begin your wireframe with a more
informed view, with more and better ideas
• Iterate on your design
Design: Sketching

Design: Sketching
Class Exercise: Collaborative Sketching
In teams, sketch your ideas.
Event Detail Page
1. Take 5 or so minutes first to discuss what
features belong here
Design: Sketching

Design: Sketching
Event Detail Page
2. Time for silent sketching
Design: Sketching

Design: Sketching
Event Detail Page
2. Time for silent sketching
3. Time for sharing your sketches
Design: Sketching

Sketching Tools:
The following apps are
all for the iPad:
• Adobe Ideas (Free)
• Bamboo Paper (Free)
• Muji Notebook ($3.99)
• Penultimate (Free)
• SketchBook Pro ($4.99)
• Paper (Free)
InfoDesign: Sketching Tools

Wireframes
photo & sculpture by
polly verity

Wireframes
“Web site wireframes are blue prints
that define a Web page’s content and
functionality. They do not convey
design – e.g. colors, graphics, or
fonts.”
- FatPurple
Design: Wireframes

Wireframing/Prototyping Tools:
• Adobe InDesign
• Axure
• Omnigraffle (Mac)
• Microsoft Visio
• Mockingbird (online, free)
Also:
• Balsamiq
• iPlotz
• iMockups (iPad)
• Omnigraffle (iPad)
InfoDesign: Wireframing Tools
Self Study
Smashing Magazine: 35 Excellent Wireframing Resources

Design: Sketching
Responsive Web Design
“Rather than tailoring disconnected designs to each of an ever-
increasing number of web devices, we can treat them as
facets of the same experience. We can design for an optimal
viewing experience, but embed standards-based technologies
into our designs to make them not only more flexible, but more
adaptive to the media that renders them. In short, we need to
practice responsive web design.”
– Ethan Marcotte, Responsive Web Design, A List Apart
Design: Responsive Design
Self Study
Ethan Marcotte: Responsive Web Design

Design: SketchingDesign: Responsive Design

Design: SketchingDesign: Responsive Design
Desktop Tablet Mobile

Design: Sketching
Responsive Design Characteristics
• Think “mobile first”
• The goal is to maintain content and features across devices
• Responsive designs adjust at different “break points”
corresponding to the dimensions of various devices, typically
desktop, tablet and mobile
• Navigation may be repositioned
• Modules may be repositioned but hierarchies are maintained
• Images scale down in size or may be cropped
• Text size is maintained where possible, though headings may be
reduced in size
• Occasionally, content or features are dropped to save screen real
estate or if they’re not device appropriate
Design: Responsive Design

Design: Sketching
Design a Responsive Home Page
In your teams, create your final deliverable, a responsive home page for
Events.com
1) Discuss features needed for a homepage
2) Sketch your ideas for a homepage individually
3) Discuss your sketches again with your team
Design: Final Exercise

Design: Final Exercise
Don’t forget to keep your personas in mind

Additional Resources
Books:
• Information Architecture for the World Wide Web –
Louis Rosenfeld, Peter Morville
• Information Architecture: Blueprints for the Web –
Christina Wodtke, Austin Govella
• The Elements of User Experience – Jesse James
Garrett
• Designing Web Navigation: Optimizing the User
Experience – James Kalbach, Aaron Gustafson
• Design of Everyday Things – Donald Norman
• Responsive Web Design – Ethan Marcotte
Local Events:
• IA Meetup
• Brooklyn UX
• Content Strategy Meetup
Web Sites:
• Alertbox
• A List Apart
• Boxes & Arrows
• wireframes.tumblr.com
Organizations:
• Human Computer Interactions (HCI)
• Interaction Designers Association (IxDA)
• Usability Professionals Association (UPA)
Further Studies:
• School of Visual Arts
• Continuing Ed classes
• MFA in Interaction Design
• Pratt – Course in Information Design
• Rosenfeld Media
• General Assembly
• Skillshare
• Adaptive Path
• The Information Architecture Institute
• The IA Summit
• Nielsen Norman Group
• User Interface Engineering
Video:
The Right Way to Wireframe by Russ Unger (YouTube)

Slideshare address:
http://www.slideshare.net/stribs
My article on how to find an IA job:
http://blog.onwardsearch.com/2012/08/information-architecture-a-guerilla-guide-to-breaking-in/
@stribs

Design: Sketching
Wireframe & Prototyping Tools
Axure
Dreamweaver
InDesign
Visio
Design: Wireframes
Addendum:
• Grids
• Dieter Rams: 10 Principles of Good Design
• Defining Wireframes vs. Sketches, Templates, vs.
Pages

Grids
“The true benefit of using a grid is that
as you learn how to use a grid, you
start to think systemically about the
solutions you design. You start to try
and see how various details can echo
one another, how different regions of
the canvas can be reused or used for
similar things, how like elements can be
grouped together.”
– Khoi Vinh, former design Director, NYTimes.com
Design: Grids

Grids
Self Study: Want to know more?
Learn more about design by grids:
960 Grid System
960.gs
Design by Grid
www.designbygrid.com
Hashgrid
www.hashgrid.com
Design: Grids

Good design is…
Good design is innovative.
Good design makes a product useful.
Good design is aesthetic.
Good design makes a product understandable.
Good design is unobtrusive.
Good design is honest.
Good design is long-lasting.
Good design is thorough down to the last detail.
Good design is environmentally friendly.
Good design is as little design as possible.
© Dieter Rams, amended March 2003 and October 2009
Dieter Rams: 10 principles of good design

Design: SketchingDefining Sketches Versus Wireframes, Templates Versus Pages
Templates Pages
Apply to many different pages Specific, may apply to a single
page or screen
Examples:
• basic page
• category page
• product page
Examples:
• homepage
• ecommerce or transactional
form
Sketches Wireframes
Quick More time-consuming
Few details Very detailed
Not typically delivered Professional deliverable

Introduction to Information Architecture & Design - 2/14/15

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