Information Architecture

By Stacy Prendeville

Information Architecture is a planning process which creates the building blocks for a great website. Think of all those terrible websites on the Internet! Do you think the people who produced those sites planned out the project? Then think about groundbreaking sites such as the BBC and the planning, or IA (Information Architecture), is clear to see. To the end user the site is structured well, making it easy to use and most importantly -popular with web searchers.

So what does IA consist of? Well it’s a series of documents created with clients and an IA Specialist that feed into all the processes of a site's completion.

IA begins with defining a site's goals. At AWS we like to have sit down and ask our clients a series of questions outlining what sets the business apart from their competitors and what the outcomes of a successful website are to their business. We call this the design brief stage.

From here we produce a site map outlining all the site areas and most importantly illustrating any given user’s path throughout the site. We don’t want the user to click more than 3 times from the home page to find really important information because we know that user will simply get bored and go elsewhere, so we ensure through role playing scenarios that simply does not happen.

Then we take you through the wire-framing stages where we plan out the content that needs to be included in key pages of your site, this ensures there are no surprises when finally we enter the design stage where a visual is created and presented.

In essence IA makes a websites work well for all involved, so with your next web project don’t forget to set aside some time for planning. You will reap the rewards over and over again with satisfied visitors to your site.

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