What is Information Architecture?
Information architecture (IA) is the art of expressing a model or concept of information used in activities that require explicit details of complex systems. Among these activities are library systems, Content Management Systems, web development, user interactions, database development, programming, technical writing, enterprise architecture, and critical system software design.
Information architecture has somewhat different meanings in these different branches of IS or IT architecture. Most definitions have common qualities: a structural design of shared environments, methods of organizing and labeling websites, intranets, and online communities, and ways of bringing the principles of design and architecture to the digital landscape.
Getting Started
- Defining Information Architecture - Peter Morville.
- Defining the damn thing - interactionbydesign.com.
- Information Architecture Defined - Christina Wodtke.
- The Definition of Information Architecture - Peter Morville.
- What Is Information Architecture? - Iain Barker.
- Web Site Architecture 101 - Rudy Limebac.
- Visual vocabulary for describing information architecture and interaction design - Jesse James Garrett.
Favorite Sites (with IA material)
- Boxes and Arrows
- IA at Digital Web - Digital Web Magazine.
- iaslash - Michael Angeles.
- Information Architecture Resources - Jesse James Garrett.
- The Information Architecture Institute
Recommended Reading
Information Architecture for the World Wide Web: Designing Large-Scale Web Sites
In this post-Ajaxian Web 2.0 world of wikis, folksonomies, and mashups, well-planned information architecture has never been more essential. This classic primer shows information architects, designers, and web site developers how to build large-scale and maintainable web sites that are easy to navigate and appealing to users. The third edition is updated to address emerging technologies while maintaining its focus on fundamentals.
Web ReDesign 2.0: Workflow that Works
The web is ever-changing; this Core Process applies to all design and redesign projects, from the simplest to the most complex. Use this book as a mutable resource. Adapt it into a methodology that works for you. Call it a plan, call it a roadmap, call it a guide -- we call it Workflow That Works, because that's what it is.
See also: Ambient Findability: What We Find Changes Who We Become
Assorted Articles About Information Architecture
The articles have been broken down into the following categories:
Affinity Diagrams
- Affinity Diagrams by James Hom.
- What is Affinity Diagramming? - Gerry Gaffney.
- Affinity Diagramming - UsabilityNet.
- The KJ-Technique: A Group Process for Establishing Priorities - Jared M. Spool.
Card Sorting
- All About Card Sorting: An Interview with Donna Spencer - Steve Baty.
- Analyzing Card Sort Results with a Spreadsheet Template - Joe Lamantia.
- Card Sort Analysis Spreadsheet - Donna Maurer.
- Card Sorting: A Definitive Guide - Donna Maurer and Todd Warfell.
- Card Sorting - Joshua Kaufman.
- Card Sorting - UsabilityNet.
- Card Sorting: Current Practices and Beyond - Jed Wood and Larry Wood.
- Card Sorting - Downloads - Syntagm.
- Card-Sorting Exercise: Instructions: Part 1
- Card Sorting For Intranet Information Architecture - Nick Besseling.
- Card Sorting - Holger Maassen.
- Card Sorting: How Many Users to Test - Jakob Nielsen.
- Card Sorting: Mistakes Made and Lessons Learned - Sam Ng.
- Card Sorting: Pushing Users Beyond Terminology Matches - Jakob Nielsen.
- Card Sorting to Discover the Users' Model of the Information Space - Jakob Nielsen.
- Cluster Analysis for Web Site Organization - Shirley Martin.
- Don't Get Out of Sorts! - Peter Merholz.
- Extending Card-Sorting Techniques... - Michael Hawley.
- For Cardsorting, 20 is Enough - Kath Straub.
- How to do a simple card sort - EMMUS.
- Information Architecture: Using Card Sorting for Web Cassification Design - Gerry McGovern.
- Information Design Using Card Sorting - James Robertson.
- Information Design Using Card Sorting by James Robertson - James Robertson.
- Usability Methods: For Cardsorting, 20 is Enough - Kath Straub.
Content Inventory
- Doing a Content Inventory - Jeffrey Veen.
- Preparing and Planning an Audit - Sue Henczel.
- Taking a Content Inventory - Donna Maurer.
- Why You Shouldn't Start IA with a Content Inventory - Donna Maurer.
Prototyping
- 16 Design Tools for Prototyping and Wireframing - Gary Barber.
- A Forgotten Prototype Technique: Comics - Jared Spool.
- Balancing Fidelity in Prototyping - Henrik Olsen.
- Create Your Own Magnetic Prototype - Alexa Andrzejewski.
- Defining Feature Sets Through Prototyping - Laura S. Quinn.
- Don't Make the Demo Look Done - Kathy Sierra.
- Five Paper Prototyping Tips - Matthew Klee.
- Getting Involvement With Prototype Interfaces - Donna Maurer.
- Prototyping with Adobe GoLive - Henrik Olsen.
- Hand-Crafting Prototypes in Visio - Henrik Olsen.
- Industry Trends in Prototyping - Dave Cronin.
- Interface in Form: Paper and Product Prototyping for Feedback and Fun - Bruce Hanington.
- Just Build It: HTML Prototyping and Agile Development - Garrett Dimon.
- Live by the Mockup, Die by the Mockup - Luke Wroblewski.
- Looking Back on 16 Years of Paper Prototyping - Jared Spool.
- Paper Prototypes - Jensen Harris.
- Paper Prototyping - Shawn Medero.
- Paper Prototyping - UsabilityNet.
- Paper Prototyping: Getting User Data Before You Code - Jakob Nielsen.
- Paper Prototyping with Morae - David Travis.
- Paper Prototyping Video - Joe Arnold.
- Prototyping 2 separate studies
- Prototyping Beyond the Sunshine Scenario - Henrik Olsen.
- Prototyping - James Hom.
- Prototyping With PowerPoint - Jensen Harris.
- Prototyping With Style - Jeff Lash.
- Prototyping with XHTML - Anders Ramsay and Leah Buley.
- Quick CSS Mockups with Photoshop - Casper Voogt.
- Rapid Prototyping Tools - Dan Harrelson.
- Sketching in Code: the Magic of Prototyping - David Verba.
- The Art of UI Prototyping- Scott Berkun.
- The Dark Side of Prototyping - Henrik Olsen.
- The Promised Land of Prototyping - Henrik Olsen.
- The Value of Paper Prototyping - Christian Watson.
- Testing Paper Mock-Up of Homepage - Jakob Nielsen.
- Testing Web Page Design Concepts for Usability - Dey Alexander.
- Using Paper Prototypes to Manage Risk
- Using Prototypes - Gerd Waloszek and Joelle Carignan.
- Visio - The Interaction Designer's Nail Gun (3rd edition) - Henrik Olsen.
Wireframes
- 20 Steps to Better Wireframing - Clive Howard.
- Documenting Interaction Design: Wire Frames with Visio and Word - interakt.nu.
- Easier Page States for Wireframes - Richard Rutter.
- How Do We Do HTML Wireframes? - Gene Smith.
- HTML Wireframes and Prototypes: All Gain and No Pain - Julie Stanford.
- How to Get Clients to Look at Wireframes...Properly - Caroline Jarrett.
- Know Your Place - Nathan Curtis.
- More on Wireframes - Chris Baker.
- Page Description Diagrams - D. Keith Robinson.
- Practical Applications: Visio or HTML for Wireframes - Jeff Gothelf.
- Shades of Gray: Wireframes as Thinking Device - Will Evans.
- Site Diagrams: Mapping an Information Space - Jason Withrow.
- The 7 Wonders of Wireframes - Paul Boag.
- The Devil's in the Wireframes - Liz Danzico.
- The Fine Art of Wireframes - T. Scott Stromberg.
- The Guided Wireframe Narrative for Rich Internet Applications - Andres Zapata.
- The Life Cycle of a Wireframe - Nick Finck.
- Real Wireframes Get Real Results - Stephen Turbek.
- Recyclable Information Architecture - Nick Finck.
- Using Wireframes - Strange Systems.
- (Wire)frame yourself - Future Now.
- Wire Frame Your Site - Matt Beach.
- Wireframe Annotations in Visio : Special Deliverable #11 - Dan Brown.
- Wireframes -Chris Baker.
- Wireframes Magazine - Jakub Linowski.
- Wireframes: Struggles and Solutions, Part 1 - Sarah Harrison.
- Wireframing in a Web 2.0 World - Richard Rutter.
- Wireframing With InDesign and Illustrator - Todd Warfe.
- Wireframing With Patterns - Lindsay Ellerbyns.
- Wireframeworks Manifesto - Hammad Khan.