Information Architecture

What is Information Architecture?

Information Architecture, or IA, is an illustration of the layout of the content, structure, hierarchy and flow of a website, app or other digital product. It is the foundation for which all other aspects of a product will be built.

What is the purpose of information architecture.

Information architecture (IA) is the practice of organizing the content and structure of a website, app or other digital product to support good usability and findability. IA has a tremendous impact to the overall design of a product in that it influences how a user navigates, discovers content, and interacts with the content on the screen.

How to create information architecture:

Creating IA is typically done with low fidelity tools ranging from drawing by hand to using a digital tool. Regardless of the choice, the basics are the same:

• Create a starting point from which to expand from
• Draw a line to the next element, screen or series of screens and name them
• Repeat this process until you have mapped out the complete architecture of the product

Notes:

• IA is meant to be low fidelity so you can quickly build and re-build the structure of your product until you are happy with it
• IA is meant to help organize the structure but will impact how a user navigates through your product, so keep this in mind as you build it out