Information Architecture

Information architecture, a subset of Web usability, is the art of dealing with a large amount of information.

Laying out a business card is a simple example of information architecture: selecting, organizing, aligning and presenting information. The card needs a look and feel which is consistent with marketing. The layout of the card guides the eye along various paths across the card to fulfill the different needs of the viewer. (Graphic design and information architecture are overlapping disciplines. Yet most designers have no training in information architecture — their emphasis is on evoking moods and 'performing', rather than fulfilling user's needs.)

Organizing and navigating data on websites is much more complex than laying out a business card. Whether you have a small 7-page site or an enormous database with millions of interwoven chunks of information you will need to carefully design the information architecture of your website. (Every website needs information architecture. It's just that few people are familiar with the term and even fewer know how to do it well.)

Information architecture work often includes:

• Organizing information: schemas, networks, heirarchies, pretty graphs, etc.
• Navigation systems: knowing where you are, finding what you are looking for
• Labeling systems: more important than you think
• Searching: the lack or failure of which is the #1 source of user annoyance on the Web