According to UX Planet, “Information architecture (IA) is a science of organizing and structuring content of the websites, web and mobile applications, and social media software.” Or, “the practice of deciding how to arrange the parts of something to be understandable.”
The goal of an Information Architect is to reduce the possibility of usability and navigation problems. Having a well-planned and formatted information architecture can help save money and time.
What does an Information Architect do, typically?
In their book, Information Architecture of the World Wide Web, Lou Rosenfeld and Peter Morville note the main components of IA:
- Organization & Categorization: How information is structured
- Labeling: How information is presented
- Navigation: How users go about their journey/browse your site
- Searching: How users look for information
Information Architecture (IA) Is Not UX Design
IA focuses on structure and content organization. Information Architects create skeletons for a website or product by classifying what components need to be within it. UX aims to create a great user experience. UX involves navigation and its ability to promote engagement (adding context to a user’s instinctive behavior).
Important metrics for an Information Architect
- Volume of traffic to categories
- Volume of conversions
- Bounce rates on category landing pages
- Entrance rates
