So You Want To Be An Interaction Designer shhh.. don’t tell them! at least I think it’s IAish… […]

great presentation on the use of walls in the creative process. mark Rettig manages to marry the theoretical […]

Elements of Experience Design “a compilation of excerpts from Nathan Shedroff’s Experience Design.” How It Works: Online Maps […]

I’ve decided to start collecting definations of IA. Feel free to add any you come across or heck, make one up!

From Addwise

“Information Architecture (IA) is the process of organizing and presenting data to the user in a meaningful, clear and intuitive manner. IA is the foundation of all great websites. All other design aspects – form, function, metaphor, navigation, interface, interaction, visual, and information systems – build upon the groundwork of information architecture. Initiating the IA process is the first thing you should do when designing a website.”

webworld’s interview with lou

“Information architecture involves the design of organization and navigation systems to help people find and manage information more successfully.” “

Lou again, on O’reilly

Information architecture involves the design of organization, labeling, navigation, and searching systems to help people find and manage information more successfully.

Organization systems are the ways content can be grouped. Labeling systems are essentially what you call those content groups. Navigation systems, like navigation bars and site maps, help you move around and browse through the content. Searching systems help you formulate queries that can be matched with relevant documents.

Jesse James Garrett in his “Elements of user Experience” says

Information Architecture: Stuctural design of the informaiton space to facilitate intuive access to content.

Stephen Downes gives a philosophical definition

Well – what is an information architect?

From my own experience, I would say that the practitioners are professionals, versed in every aspect of web design, adept communicators, and gifted visualizers – they are people who eat, sleep and dream web design and structure. But you can’t put that on the job description.

Or – as I Sing the Body Electronic author Fred Moody observes: information architects are the sort of people who understand that the instructions on the shampoo bottle are just wrong: “Lather. Rinse. Repeat.”

Squishy says

Information architecture is the science of figuring out what you want your site to do and then constructing a blueprint before you dive in and put the thing together.

Shel Kimen says

“What is information architecture?

At its most basic, information architecture is the construction of a structure or the organization of information. In a library, for example, information architecture is a combination of the catalog system and the physical design of the building that holds the books. On the Web, information architecture is a combination of organizing a site’s content into categories and creating an interface to support those categories. It stems from traditional architecture, which is made up of architectural programming and architectural planning. “

Somebody explained what an IA does to her mom like this

“You know when you’re on a website and you see a bunch of navigation choices to click on? I’m the one who decided what the choices are, what they are called and where they take you when you click”

thank god she added

Much like our real world namesakes, we design spaces for human beings to live work and play in. The big difference is the materials we work with: cement is replaced with thesauri, timber with hierarchies and steel with interaction flows.

information architecture – a whatis definition is based on technical writing….

“information architecture is the set of ideas about how all information in a given context should be treated philosophically and, in a general way, how it should be organized.”

and finally (because I have got to get some work done today)

Mattie Langenberg

Information architecture, as the name implies, is basically about taking content and a structure to present that content to an audience. Whether the content is intended for a private audience on an intranet or for the public, it is the information architect’s job to ensure that information is well-organized and presented in an easily accessible interface.

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This is one of the most beautiful sites I have come across. more thoughts on it Old thread […]

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shoot on over to the Carbon Log. Noel’s on fire these days…

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Website indexing

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