introduction to information architecture & design - 3/21/15

Introduction to Information Architecture & Design

School of Visual Arts | March 21, 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

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,

Reaology/Sotheby’s International

• Computer Associates, EMC

• Ford, Lincoln

• FreshDirect

• AT&T, Nextel

• Day One, Red Cross

• Pearson, Travel Channel, Women’s

Wear Daily

About You

•What’s your name?

•What do you do for work?

•What do you do for fun?

•Coffee, tea or bottled water?

Introduction

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

Afternoon

• Card Sorting

• Site Maps

• Page Types

• Navigation

• Sketching

• Wireframes

• Q&A

Agenda

Background

Background: History

A Brief History of IA

• Richard Saul Wurman coined the term

“information architecture” to describe the field now

more often described as “information design”

• Argus Associates founded in Ann Arbor, MI, the

first firm devoted to IA

• First edition of Peter Morville and Lou Rosenfeld’s

Information Architecture for the World Wide Web,

affectionately known as “The Polar Bear” book

• 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

• 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

• Capital One purchases Garrett’s UX-consulting firm

Adaptive Path

• 15th Annual IA Summit held in Minneapolis, MN, April

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

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

• Stakeholder Interviews

• Business Requirements

• Competitive & Comparative Audits

• User Research

• Site Inventory

Design Process

• Personas

• Content Audit

• Card Sorts

• Use Cases

• Sketching

• Site Map

• User Journeys

• Conceptual Wires/Design

• Creative Brief

• UX Brief

Design Process

• Site Map

• Task Flows

• Sketching

• Wireframes

• Stakeholder Reviews

• Visual Design

• Prototype

• Usability Testing

• Functional Specifications

Design Process

• Site Development

• User Acceptance

Testing (UAT)

• Quality Assurance

• 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

Discovery

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

• 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?

Definition

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

• Create a narrative

based on real data to

illustrate user

behavior, motivations,

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, 27The 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, 44The 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

Lunch Break

Agenda

Afternoon

• Card Sorting

• Site Maps

• Page Types

• Navigation

• Sketching

• Wireframes

• Q&A

Agenda

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

Design

Site Maps

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 EuropeFrom The British Library

Conceptual Design

Home Page Category Page Details Page

Design: Page Types & Templates

Examples:

Navigation

Navigation Bridge, USS Enterprise by Serendigity, Flickr

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

Mega Dropdowns

Design: Navigation

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 BuxtonSketching User

Experiences

Bill BuxtonSketching 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

• 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

Design: Sketching

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

SketchingDesign: Sketching

• 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

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

Event Detail Page

2. Time for silent 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 (Free)

• Paper (Free)

• Adonit Forge (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

• Sketch/Invision

• Mockingbird (online, free)

• Balsamiq

• iPlotz

• iMockups (iPad)

• Omnigraffle (iPad)

InfoDesign: Wireframing Tools

Self Study

Smashing Magazine: 35 Excellent Wireframing Resources

Responsive Design

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

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 PageIn 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

Don’t forget to keep your personas in mind

Development

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

introduction to information architecture & design - 3/21/15

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