The History of IA…in 500 words.

In the video we watched by Dan Kyln, we learned a little bit about the history of the field of Information Architecture.

In 1976, Architect Richard Saul Wurman introduced the ideas behind IA to a conference of his colleagues. He believed that remarkable works could be created in not only physical structures, but in 2 dimensional frameworks using the thought processes used in their field.

While the idea went over well, not much was made of it until 1996 when he published the book Information Architects, an anthology of designer’s works in 2 and 3 dimensions. Following the release of his book, in 1998 the book Information Architecture for the World Wide Web was published, and was named technology book of the year by the (at the time) start-up company Amazon.

The book was a huge success, and iterations were continually published as the field of Information Architecture grew and evolved. While the 1996 to 2016 definition of the field has changed immensly, the value and appreciation for it has not.

Today, Information Architecture is described the structural design of information or content — including text, photos and videos — within a digital product (Design Lab, 2016).

While IA is a job title and specialty all one its own, it’s widely used hand-and-hand in UX design.

IA focuses on organizing and labeling websites so that users can best find what they’re looking for, and this enhances the user’s experience on a website.

While the coursework and readings on IA were brief, I plan on watching the video Foundations of UX: Information Architecture on Lynda to get a better grasp on this interesting field!