Information Architecture

Information architecture is the arrangement of content in a clear and intuitive way.  It standardises labelling conventions such as menu names, link titles and button names across site pages.  It consists of two components: structure and labelling.

Structure – consists of organising content into categories, hierarchies and relationships.

Labelling – are the classifications that represent them.

These two components create the navigation system so users can find the relevant information with ease in a time efficient manner (Hannah, 2023).

Information Architecture Principles

In  2010, UX designer Dan Brown outlined eight guiding principles of Information Architecture, which prompts designers how to approach information through content, necessary function, clarity, change and simplicity:

1. Principles of Objects – the consideration of each object and how they compliment each other.

2. Principles of Choices – there should be a number of limited options to prevent the user being overwhelmed.

3. Principles of Disclosure – only reveal relevant information for the user to complete the task.

4. Principles of Exemplars – using icons or images help users to navigate functions more easily. 

5. Principles of Front Doors – search traffic does not always direct users to the home page, which means that each page should provide a ways to navigate the site.

6. Principles of Multiple Classifications – users may navigate a site differently so there should be menus and search facilities at various levels of information.

7. Principles of Navigation – navigation should be clear, consistent and intuitive, so users can find their way around a site easily.

8. Principles of Growth – additional information may be added over time, so a site will change over time.  How can the site adapt over time?

Card Sorting

Card sorting is a UX design process that helps to eliminate information not being in the intuitive place. It sorts labels for content into larger categories (Vinney, 2022).  This techniques was used to decide which categories the app should have and if they were useful.  All the items that were associated with water safety at the beach were listed on cards (See image below).  It was tempting to pre-categorise them but it was decided to wait, so participants could label categories themselves, which would provide further insights.  Four participants were asked to arrange 32 menu items into categories (See below).  Three participants arranged them into four categories and one participant arrranged them into five categories.  Only activities and emergency categories were selected by two of the participants, although there were similarities such as health and safety.  

Card Sort For Water Safety Assignment - Heugh, 2023
Categories Organised by Participants - Heugh (2023)

The next stage was to provide category titles, which consisted of safety, emergency, amenities, weather and activities.  The sort was carried out again with new participants, which yielded more cohesive results (See below).  I also reaslised that I had seen alcohol as a hazard and the participants saw it as an amenity, so I realise that the cards need to be explicit for accurate card sorting otherwise participants associate items with their own perceptions.

What I learned from this that no one , even myself, provided more than five categories, which maybe points to Fitts Law (Laws of UX, 2023) that we cannot process more than a limited set of data.  The categories also changed again as iterations of the app progressed being safety, emergency, weather, amenities, tides, donate and flags, still adhering to Fitts Law.  I thought this was a good exercise in understanding how association can play a large part in information architecture and that it is important to be unambiguous in meaning and explanation.

References

Brown, D., (2010) Information Architecture Lenses.  Available at: Information Architecture Lenses. Perspectives on Structure | by Dan Brown | EightShapes | Medium  Accessed: 18.10.2023.

Laws of UX (2023) Laws of UX.  Available at: Home | Laws of UX  Accessed: 15.12.2023.

Hannah, J., (2023) What is Information Architecture? Available at: What is information architecture? – UX Design Institute  Accessed 18.10.2023.

Vinney, C., (2022) Card Sorting in UX: What is it?  Available at: Card sorting in UX: What is it? – UX Design Institute Accessed: 18.10.2023.