The importance of Information Architecture

2 March, 2010

Most of the time when I tell people what I do, I’m met with either blank stares or questions about house extensions. The role of the information architect is often misunderstood but just as crucial to the website creation process as either a web designer or developer.

Information architects are responsible for organising and planning out where and how the information on your site will fit. This is often planned in conjunction with an investigation of your site functionality and is also strongly influenced by the technical complexity of a given site.

In general terms, it’s about defining the ‘master plan’ for your site and determining a set of basic expectations to be met by web designers, copywriters, developers and maintainers.

Information architects will often use a wide range of in their working day, both digital and physical (paper, pens, charts, etc). Here are a few of the more common ones;

Wireframes
A central part of any website plan, wireframes are a fast, iterative way of planning the physical structure of your website interface without becoming distracted by visual flair.

Site-maps
Site-maps define the general page structure of your site, and can range from a simple sketch with a few items to a hundred-item categorised database.

Workflows / User Maps
These allow the information architect to walk through the website in the shoes of a user, and map out each step of the process. These often tie in closely with your sales or business process and are crucial to get right!

Information architecture is a crucial part of all our web design projects. Designing and building a website without this step is akin to building a house without consulting an architect - you may have excellent carpenters, bricklayers and electricians, but without an overall plan you’ll end up with nothing but a big mess.

Blog post written by Michael Bartlett of Feedia - Web Design Brisbane