Architects of Information

A brief look at the history and innovation of information architecture.

Good buildings come from good people, and all problems are solved by good design.

- Stephen Gardiner

Maps and wayfinding systems, dropdown menus and breadcrumbs, the effects of Information Architecture (AI) are all around us.

The IA Institute defines Information architecture as “the art and science of organizing and labeling websites, intranets and online communities and software to support usability and findability.” It permeates everything from our websites, to our social media, even to the places we go. Any instance where we need to find what we are looking for and the process of finding it, plays into our definition of information architecture.

But where did IA come from? Is it just a natural byproduct of our human reliance on knowledge? Or did the world encounter a massive paradigm upon the publishing of the polar bear book (Information Architecture; for the web and beyond, by Rosenfeld & Morville, 1998)?

The modern definition can be traced back to Richard Saul Wurman and his talk on the architecture of information in 1976, leading to his book Information Architects; making the complex clear in 1996, followed by the first edition of the Polar Bear Book two years later. Since then, the definition of Information architecture has evolved, but when I think of an architect I think of buildings, not websites. So are they really “architects”?

Well, yes.

Not unlike information design, architecture was original a necessity, advancing on the ideas of caves in order to create more functional habitations. Like websites at the dawn of the internet, original structures were crude and only covered the necessity of function, refining these designs as the ages continued.

The codification of the tenants of architecture go way back to Vitruvius, who established the three vitruvian tenants; Utilitas (does it function?), Firmitas (will it stand?) and Venustas (is it delightful?), which relates very well to the concepts put forward in IA in the codification of the Polar bear book.

Ole Scheeren describes in his Ted talk that modern architecture produces Organizational structures. At the core of which is structural thinking, which asks the question; “how can we arrange things in both a functional and experiential way”. His argument is that contemporary architecture should be as focused on telling narratives about the people who use them as sticking to the old adage of “form follows function”.

Information architecture is the same as designing with brick and mortar, only we use information as our stone and our wood. What is designed doesn’t have to stand, but like passageways and doors in an expansive manor house, each twist and turn needs to be navigable and findable through the design itself.

As for now, IA is an exploding field, carrying millennia of learning and traditions of architects and synthesizing that learning into our greatest commodity; knowledge. And like architecture, IA is constantly growing and redefining itself. And only time will tell what great lasing works we will make and how the next generation will interpret them.