8 Principles of Information Architecture Every Web Designer Should Know
Information architecture (IA) is a visual representation of functional design elements and the hierarchy between them. It:
- focuses on the end user’s goals;
- demonstrates a basic structure of the website;
- is aimed at cognitive effort usage.
Much like the essay structure we were taught to write in school, information architecture in UI/UX depicts the basic things of design and the degree of importance of each of them. Below we will talk about its main principles and share with you some tips to build it.
8 Principles of Information Architecture
Let’s start with the main principles of information architecture of websites.
Object principle
The principle dictates that content should be viewed as an evolving entity that has its life cycle. Different content will have different attributes and behaviors, and this must be taken into account in design engineering.
Principle of choice
This principle means that you should offer your users meaningful choices. However, you have to make sure that the choice will focus on something specific: too many choices can be disorienting for the user. Information, too, should be presented as a hierarchy, categories, and subcategories, rather than just a long list.
Principle of disclosure
It’s important to give the user the information they need. However, it’s worth making sure that it’s really what they need, not what you want to give them. The principle also says that you should immediately give the user the information he needs to understand: what he can find on other pages of the website. The information should be given gradually, from page to page, and not try to dump everything at once.
Principle of examples
Using the principle greatly improves the user experience. For example, when you go to a certain category of products on Amazon, the website displays examples of products that fall into that category. This helps the user navigate faster, especially if they don’t fully understand what the category name means.
Principle of the front entry
Half of all visitors do not come to your website through the home page. This means that any page should contain a minimum of textual information — so that users understand where they are. Also, this once again confirms paragraph 3, no need to try to fit all the information on the home page.
Principle of multiple classifications
This principle says that different users use your website in different ways, they may have different methods for finding the same information. For example, some will use the search, while others will prefer to wander around the website. Content needs to be adapted to different scenarios of user behavior.
Principle of purposeful navigation
It’s not so important where the menu is located, it’s what it says on it that matters. Try to have your menu and navigation bar show where the user is now and where they can get to from the current page.
Growth principle
On the vast majority of websites, content is a fluid, changing entity. The amount of content you have on your website today may be only a fraction of what may be there tomorrow. Organize your content to allow it to grow in the future. And not just in terms of expanding some block of text: content can be added of all sorts.
How to Build Information Architecture?
Follow the next steps to build an excellent information architecture for your project.
Step 1: Set the classification
You can classify information in the most convenient format: alphabetical, chronological, or geographic. However, your priority task is to form groups of information objects in the most understandable way for the end user.
Step 2: Confirm the tone and way of communicating with the end user
At this step, you need to decide on the so-called “tone of voice”, which you will adhere to absolutely on all screens of the project. Otherwise, you risk causing cognitive dissonance and a desire to leave the website.
Step 3: Define relationships
If you create an IA, the following trick can come in handy: close your eyes, point your finger at any part of your project, and ask questions. If users find themselves in this place, will they understand how it relates to others? Will they remember how they got here if they look away from the screen for a few minutes? In general, there are several common relationship formats:
- hierarchical format. In this case, objects are subordinated from the center inward. In practice, it can be represented as a mental map, a tree view, and a logical view;
- scenario format. This format requires users to follow a specific path step by step;
- matrix format. The matrix structure allows the users not to depend on the will of the designer putting them in a hierarchical or scenario limits, but to choose any path they like the most;
- database format. In this case, each information object has its own set of metadata, so that the content can be structured as the end user wants.
Step 4: Provide scalability for your IA
Keep a balance: you should not have one branch have two levels of nesting, and the other — five. Consider possible scaling both within the entire website and within individual sections. You should roughly imagine what will happen to the project in a few years.
Step 5: Build a prototype
Now you can move on to the prototype: take the key scenario and work out several screens based on your IA. After that, you will need to test the navigation in the menu and check whether the goals that were identified at the very beginning are actually achieved.
What Tools to Choose for Information Architecture Building?
Now we present you with three powerful tools that help you to build an information architecture for your website.
Flowchart
Flowchart is an easy-to-use tool that will help you to improve user experience and plan user journeys. Here you can choose icons, shapes, and connectors, use a grid and add images, as well as export your projects to Figma. Also, you can share them with your teammates and clients.
Sitemap
This is a flexible mapping tool for building interactive sitemaps. It will significantly accelerate the development process of your sitemap with help of a drag-and-drop editor. Here you can easily plan your website and page structure, plan page content, as well as check the clients’ and the team’s feedback.
Conclusion
Information architecture is not a dry unchanging structure, it’s about interaction with the user. IA is part of the design documentation and the skeleton of the future project. In the IA design phase, you can define priorities, relationships, scenarios, navigation principles, decision points, and even the emotional background of the product.
We hope that now armed with the recommendations from our article, you will be able to build a great information architecture for your project without much effort.
Originally published at https://www.flowmapp.com.
