Date post: | 18-Oct-2014 |
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Technology |
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Information architectureDonna Spencer - Maadmob
(@maadonna)
About me• User experience freelancer – information
architecture, interaction design, content strategy
• Far too long (10+ years)
• Run UX Australia (Sydney, late August 2011)• @maadonna
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Topics covered• Information-seeking behaviours
• How people look for info & what they do with it
• Classification schemes• Ways to organise information & when they work
• Processes• How to determine the best IA
• Labelling• Testing IA• I’ll answer questions at the end (ask them at
any time in the ‘questions’ window)
Information-seeking behaviours
Browse or search• People say that an individual either browses
or searches• Not true - depends on what they need to do
Finding known items• Know what you want• Have words to describe it• Fairly good idea of where to start• Know there is an answer• Know when you see the answer
imdb.com
Exploring• Have some idea of what you want to know• May not know how to articulate it/
terminology• May not know where to start• May never end
Refine and narrow• Large set of items• Some criteria that matters• Narrow down to those of interest
topgear.co.uk
Comparing• Often follows from narrowing/refining• See items side-by-side to compare them
topgear.co.uk
Getting a broad idea• Sometimes people just need to know the
basics• Don’t need the detail
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/pixies
Discovering unknown• Things you didn’t know were there, but you
find yourself interested in
youtube.com
Keeping up to date• Don’t need an answer, but need to keep an
eye on things
google.com/analytics
Refinding• Finding something you’ve seen before• Don’t underestimate the importance of this
yogajournal.com
amazon.com
Information behaviours• In your projects, think about what people
need to do• Then figure out how to design for it
Classification schemes
Organisation schemes• For any set of content, there are many ways
we could organise it – many different schemes
• Some of the most common:• Subject/topic
• Geography
• Task
• Audience
• Mixed
Subject/topic
choice.com.au
alistapart.com/topics/
Geography
lonelyplanet.com
last.fm
Task
paypal.com
Audience
monash.edu.au
dell.com
chi2010.org
Mixed
ato.gov.au
Designing and testing IA
Designing IA• Process of synthesis - user research, business
goals, content• Draft top level groupings/attributes
• Just make something up!
• Check it• See if it suits the content
• See if it will suit the users
• Revise it• Stop when it feels right• Start discussing it with people
Tips• How many content groups?• Think about navigation, but put it aside• If stakeholders hate it...• Team or individual• Don’t do it in front of a computer• Make notes about rationale• Sequencing
Great labels• Are dull!• Call things by their correct name• Are consistently used• Use terms the audience uses• Are as clear as possible
yogajournal.com
3am.co.uk
Testing IA• Just tests concepts and labels• Still will need to test navigation/pages• Need
• Draft IA
• Scenarios
• Participants
optimalworkshop.com
plainframe.com
Questions(if there are more than I can answer, I’ll answer some at
http://practical-ia.com/)
And a plug...
Find out more in my full day workshop. 31 March, IA Summit,
Denver (Colorado)http://2011.iasummit.org/