Table Of Content1 A Practical Guide to Information Architecture
A Practical Guide to
Information
Architecture
by Donna Spencer
i A Practical Guide to Information Architecture
A Practical Guide to Information Architecture
by Donna Spencer
Published in 2010 by Five Simple Steps
Studio Two, The Coach House
Stanwell Road
Penarth
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we On the web: www.fivesimplesteps.com
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w Please send errors to errata@fivesimplesteps.com
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o Publisher: Five Simple Steps
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e Editor: Bill Harper
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d fro Designer: Nick Boulton
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Copyright © 2010 Donna Spencer
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by
any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage and
retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.
ISBN: 978-0-9561740-4-8
A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library.
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iii A Practical Guide to Information Architecture
Acknowledgements
This book didn’t come from nowhere – it came from teaching
information architecture in workshop form for many years – at
loads of conferences and in-house for clients.
So the first thank you goes to everyone who has been in one
of those workshops and asked good questions and shared good
stories. I don’t figure things out until I have to do them or answer
questions about them, so a lot of my thoughts are a direct result of
questions people ask me.
Thanks to all my clients who have let me play with their
content, and paid me to do it. How cool is it to be paid to do
something so fun!
I sent a really rubbish draft out to a pile of smart people to
see what they thought. Thanks to the following folks for reading
the draft and sending me comments – they really did help make
this book better. In first name order (yes, I am an IA): Arun
Martin, Brian Hoffman, Christopher Frost, Daniel Souza, Gary
Barber, Kirsten Hall, Kushal Pisavadia, Margaret Hanley, Marianne
Colwell, Mike Pauley, Nathan Wall, Rachel Peters, Rowan Peter,
Ruth Ellison, Patrick Foster and Steph Beath. And thanks to
everyone who shared stories that helped to emphasise points in
various chapters.
My editor Bill Harper was amazing. I looked at the first
chapters he sent back and thought he hadn’t done anything – I
couldn’t see any differences. But he had done tons of work – he’d
managed to improve my writing out of sight and still keep it
sounding just like me. Bill, I hope you can edit for me for every
other book I write (and I’m glad you’re my friend).
To my lovely kid who has just spent months watching TV and
reading books while I work evenings and weekends – thanks for
putting up with me as your mum. I promise to spend more time
with you until the book bug bites again.
And to Steve who has only known me in writing mode –
thanks for saying “I understand” and meaning it.
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v A Practical Guide to Information Architecture
Foreword
Derek Featherstone
Long before I was a web developer or an accessibility specialist, I
was a high school teacher. One of the things I miss the most about
that time was ongoing discussion about education, teaching and
learning with my peers. We tried to do as much as we could to
understand what our students were saying, doing, and thinking –
it was the only way to truly assess their progress. We were trying
to get inside their head, so to speak, to uncover their existing
knowledge about a subject and how that framed what we were
currently learning in class. Why? So that we could teach, and they
could learn, more effectively.
In teaching, we used many of the types of exercises
we use in user research: card sorts, think aloud activities,
probing for existing knowledge and more. It was all about
understanding people.
I learned those techniques from some of the best teachers
I could have hoped for. Many of the discussions we had about
education left a lasting impression. My time learning to teach was
the first time that I truly understood the meaning of the ancient
Chinese proverb:
“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man
to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”
This proverb doesn’t mention one critical aspect of success: the
balance between fish and fishing. Yes, I need to be able to fish for
myself, but in the short term, if you don’t feed me some fish, I’m
going to starve.
When I was learning to teach, I had support from friends,
peers and my professors both in terms of helping me learn to fish,
AND feeding me some fish so that I didn’t starve while I was
still learning.
I left teaching in 1999, and started my own company. That
change of context left me with nobody to help me learn to fish,
and, suddenly, I had no fish to eat. Oh, I struggled through,
making things up, learning along the way, picking up every bit of
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knowledge I could from books, articles, and anything else I could
find. Sure that information helped me learn the things I needed
to build web sites and applications and to understand people. But
what they lacked, at least for me, was the relationship to the whole.
I needed something to connect those nitty-gritty tactics I was
learning to the big picture strategy.
Having read through Donna’s book, it just feels like the right
balance between fish and fishing. She gives you some fish –
techniques you can use right away to 1) understand the mindset
and motivations of people using your sites, 2) implement and test
a draft of your work and 3) iterate to a more complete solution. At
the same time, she beautifully connects those techniques to the
big picture of user experience and Information Architecture.
As you read this book, you’ll find it will work for you in
different ways, at different times in your careers. If you’re just
getting started out as an IA, or are a web designer/developer team
of one that is responsible for IA as part of your job, this book gives
you the fish you so desperately need when you’re hungry. And
you’ll feel like Donna is right there guiding and supporting you
with insight from her years working in the field. She’ll tell you not
to expect perfection in your work (that’s why we iterate, after all!).
She’ll tell you to just get on with it and try something. And she’ll
always tie it back to the big picture to give you enough context to
make sense of your work. She’ll feed you some fish, but teach you
how to fish for yourself along the way.
I’m not just saying this because Donna and I have grown to be
good friends over the course of our careers. I’m saying this because
I really mean it: this is the book that I needed 10 years ago.
vii A Practical Guide to Information Architecture
Contents
Part 1
About information architecture 1
What is information architecture? 3
ia in a project 9
Who does ia? 19
ia for non Web 31
before you start 37
Part 2
Understanding people 51
Learning about your users 53
anaLysing user research 75
communicating about users 85
hoW peopLe Look for info 97
hoW peopLe think about categories 113
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Part 3
Understanding content 121
content you have 123
content you need 133
communicating about content 137
content pLanning 143
cLassification schemes 155
Part 4
Designing an information
architecture 177
ia patterns 179
LabeLs and Language 209
hoW to create ia 217
testing ia 229
communicating ia 245
Part 5
Designing navigation 255
navigation core 257
navigation extras 271
designing navigation 283
testing navigation 289
communicating navigation 295
ix A Practical Guide to Information Architecture
Introduction
I’ll tell you a secret. One that my friends and family mostly know
about, and many people who meet me eventually figure out. But
it is one of those slightly embarrassing secrets – one that I don’t
usually just tell people when I meet them for the first time. But
you’re going to be my friend for the next 300 pages, so you may as
well know this.
I really like organising stuff. Like, really. There are few things
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m I enjoy more than having a day off and tidying the pantry, re-
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c organising all my yarn (I’m a weaver and have crates and crates of
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we in a different order. Well, that would be if I actually had time to do
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w any of those things. But when I do, I get into the zone and organise
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w and tidy. It’s bliss.
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< So knowing that, can you imagine how I feel when someone
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o calls me up and says “Our intranet/website is in a total mess. No-
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e one can find anything and there’s stuff hidden in there that has
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o been out of date for years. We need help!” Yep, you know where
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m I’m going with this – I love it. And I love that people pay me
d fro to do it.
a But there is actually one thing I like even better than
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nl organising things. I love teaching other people how to do it. I’ve
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D been teaching information architecture workshops at conferences
and in-house for about 8 years now. It’s been cool to watch how
things have changed, and how people’s general awareness of IA
has increased over that time. It’s been cool to spend a day with
people and hear them say “Wow, I actually knew a whole lot
of that, I just didn’t know I knew it” and go away feeling more
confident about their messy projects.
Now I’ve written down some of what I know about IA. Now
you too can read this book and say “Wow, I actually knew a whole
lot of that” (I do hope you learn some new things too of course)
and can go away feeling more confident about your
messy projects.
At least that’s the plan – I hope it works out for you.
Happy organising!
