A Weblog entry posted on Wednesday, July 18 2007

Tools and tips to create great information architecture by Aaron

One of the most important aspects of creating a website or application with great usability is to have a great information architecture. When I'm working on information architecture, there are a few tips that I like to keep in mind and one great tool that I enjoy using. I must also point out that this is coming from my perspective as mainly a designer and not an expert in the field of Information Architecture.

Incubator for OS X

Incubator by MindCad is the perfect tool for organizing your thoughts and creating a usable site map. One of the main reasons is because of the speed it gives when organizing the information. Here's how it works:

Incubator is based upon creating a topic and then relating any number of sub items to that topic. In order to start a new topic, just command-double-click on the sheet and begin typing. In order to add an item to that topic, just double click on the sheet and begin typing. Attach the item to the topic by simply dragging the item onto the topic, and it automatically connects the item. It's extremely easy to organize large amounts of information in just a few minutes. Take a look at this site map example of the new Reflect CMS promotional website we're working on or view more screenshots on the MindCad website.

Information Architecture Tips

Here's some quick tips I like to keep in mind when organizing and designing content for a website:

• Call things what they are

  When working on titling pages, I try to give the most descriptive and simple title possible. Give a title that people understand quickly and intuitively, not one that is abstract unnecessarily. For example on zeldman.com, Jeffrey Zeldman chose to use the title of his book, “Designing With Web Standards” instead of trying to generalize it as “My Book” for instance. Zeldman knows that people visit his site looking for information about his book. By using the actual title, he communicates instantly. Also, avoid titles that are too trendy or gimmicky as they can be confusing to a visitor. The main thing is to communicate quickly and effectively.

• Provide an appropriate hierarchy

  In other words, don't bury things under levels and levels of navigation. However, don't offer so many options that they become overwhelming to a person visiting your site. This can be a tricky balance to find, but one technique I often like to incorporate is to develop one or more sets of navigation. For instance, split up your main pages into primary and secondary links with the primary links obviously being the ones of most importance. This can also help a designer create a meaningful visual hierarchy by bringing more attention to the primary navigation. Also, pages that are lower on the hierarchical scale can be pulled out as little pieces of information to get people digging into your site. Footers (or "Fat Bottom Footers" as we like to call them) are a great place for this type of information.

• Consider target audiences

  Your website is all about communicating to the people that actually visit your site. Consider who your audiences are and try to target them with the appropriate information. Use titles and descriptions that make sense to them, not a generic audience.

• Consider the future by creating flexibility

  If your website is active in the slightest bit then it's going to grow. If the content isn't organized in a way to accommodate this growth then you might end up with a huge mess of unorganized information. One of the most basic and common ways to handle this is to create category/tags and date archives of your information such as with blogs. This is one case where a more generic title is appropriate. For instance, on a television channel's website a "Shows" section is appropriate as new shows are added frequently.

In conclusion, keep in mind that taking a common sense approach is usually the best method. Again, the main idea is to communicate quickly and effectively to the intended audience. In order to do so, call things what they are, provide an appropriate hierarchy, consider target audiences, and create flexibility when creating information architecture.

So, what are some tips or tools you use? List or link them up here.