Information Architecture
IA is the process of organizing and labeling your website for usability and wayfinding.
Overview
In the best-case scenarios, your user shouldn’t have to guess at navigation meanings or think too hard to perform any action on the site.
Structure
We employ site maps to organizes information into categories and grouping that are logical and easy to understand at a glance.
Providing distinct navigational choices to users will help them feel confident in their progress finding deeper content. Content should feel laid out in a logical manner and searching for information should be easy.
How-to Articles
Tools
- Workflowy: Visual list maker great for breaking up big ideas into manageable pieces
- Google Draw: Helpful for creating a more visual sitemap
- Coggle: Mind map and flow chart generator
Wayfinding
It’s not the number of steps it take to get to the goal, but rather how logical and guided the journey is.
Your site navigation should provide clear direction and orientation. Use terminology in the navigation that makes sense to users rather than internal organization nomenclature.
Consistency
Consistent naming conventions help maintain clarity.
When creating labels, tags and taxonomies, make sure to keep terminology uniform. This will enhance the readability and design of the site. In essence you should call things what they are. This applies mostly to navigation, labels and buttons.
For example, if a housing calls their student dormitories “Undergraduate Residential Housing”, but most users call them “dorms”, consider going with “Dorms and Housing” as a label.