5
The architecture of information
The visible and invisible structures that organize the world around us: from the menu on our favorite sneaker store’s website, to the path we need to take to find the truth online.
What are the different ways you can organize the world around you?
Goal
Understand the importance of organization, prioritization, and clarity when designing digital products.
Illustrations by Michela Picchi
As a designer, you want the people who are using the product you designed to be able to easily find what they’re looking for. Information Architects are the professionals responsible for categorizing the ever-inflating scope of information on websites and other digital applications, in a way that makes sense for users.
Not every company has dedicated Information Architects inside their teams, and it’s imperative for designers to think about the architecture of information on the products we create. How do we want people to navigate our app? What should we label menu items? What hierarchies and relationships do we want to create between the different areas of our product?
“Some things are simple. Some things are complicated. Every single thing in the universe is complex.”
The changes we make to an interface can impact and reflect the organizations we work for. A new content structure we propose might challenge how the company is currently structured, how teams are organized, customer support channels, and internal workflows.
These decisions can also have an impact on society at large. Our communities are in the process of moving a lot of key social interactions to digital spaces (e.g., telemedicine services, live streams in social apps, census survey from the government, virtual concerts). With that, the way we organize and provide easy access to information becomes even more critical.
How do we empower people to navigate these new digital spaces? What are the 1-to-1 and 1-to-many interactions we allow them to have? Decisions that appear tactical and straightforward (like how to design an app’s navigation system) can have a profound impact on someone’s day.
In this chapter, we’ll review some basic definitions of Information Architecture, learn how it has historically affected the products we use, and understand how to more tactically apply it to the products we create.
Reading list
1.
How to Make Sense
of Any Mess
A seven-step process for arranging the parts of something and making it understandable as a whole. By Abby Covert.
Borrow this book from local public libraries or buy it from local bookstores.
2.
Complete beginner’s guide to information architecture
UX Booth (15 min)
3.
The difference between information architecture and navigation
Jen Cardello (6 min)
4.
Information and Information Architecture: The BIG Picture
Carrie Webster (17 min)
5.
How to Build a Task Flow
Laura Klein (8 min)
6.
The strategic value of information architecture
Jorge Arango (2 min)
7.
Why IA matters for UX — a brief history of information architecture
Lucia Wang (4 min)
8.
So you want to be an IA?
Abby Covert (9 min)
1.
How to make choosing easier
Sheena Iyengar
2.
How architecture can connect us
Thom Mayne
Watchlist
How would you explain the practice of information architecture to a colleague?
How does information architecture apply to your everyday life? What’s the organization of the spaces you visit, or the digital services you use every day?
What are the types of content you consume on a daily basis? In what format is each content piece usually presented (e.g. text, tweet, video, audio, book, etc.)? How is that content organized or categorized?
Reflection
Try if for yourself
The reading list in this chapter just scratched the surface on Information Architecture and how it is deeply ingrained in the design practice. To see it in action, search for case studies and guides on the many methods related to it. And experiment with it on your own: document the steps included on the sign-up flow of your favorite app. As you practice, you will naturally start paying attention to how information is organized around you.
![Upside down illustration of a person](https://i-p.rmcdn.net/5ecbe27f82f5b3005df02f46/1937030/upload-ecc95242-48f0-40ea-b0d5-478e876e403d.jpg?w=1006&e=webp)
![Abstract shapes](https://i-p.rmcdn.net/5ecbe27f82f5b3005df02f46/1937030/upload-0fd05498-e07b-42be-b061-000f8ee5c5a7.jpg?w=1006&e=webp)
![Book: how to make sense of any mess](https://i-p.rmcdn.net/5ecbe27f82f5b3005df02f46/1937030/upload-e12a82e4-567d-483a-acf7-b2a562ee4c00.png?e=webp&nll=true)