Towson University’s Outreach Blog

Sharyn

In case I didn’t mention this before, I took a course on Information Architecture (IA) this past spring. The course was useful and gave me the opportunity to put some IA best practices to work on class projects for some real life clients. Since then, I’ve been reminding colleagues around the division about the importance of IA and some steps we can take to be more efficient when it comes to designing a better user experience for our clients and their audiences.

5 IA steps that will definitely pay off!

1. Complete a content inventory – if there is a site or application in place already, evaluate what’s going to the chopping block and what aspects are going to stick around. This ties right into the next step and you’ll see why in a second. If it’s a brand new project, this step can get skipped and you can jump to step 2.
2. Gather requirements – Sounds so basic, but this is the step that can keep a project on track or let it spiral out of control. Meet with your stake holders to discuss what the needs are for the site and what’s actually doable. The time frame of the project might restrict how extensive the functionality can be. In the end, you’ll be happy you have this document to refer to and you can always reign the scope of the project back in as new ideas are presented.
3. Organize a site map – Now, take your content inventory and your requirements document and create a site map. Personally, I like to use index cards (post-its work good too!) and create piles of things that will go together. Another approach is to create something that looks like a family tree to represent how all the pages and content will be organized.
4. Lay out wireframes – Wireframing helps with laying out the basic framework of a site, but it also can show functionality. When I say functionality I and referring to how pages interact with one another and various designs to accommodate the various features that need to be incorporated into the design. Keep this simple. If you start to add too much color or design you stake holders will get too caught up in those elements oppose to the functionality, which is what you want them to focus on at this point.
5. Create screen designs – Your wireframes are signed off on, now the part you’ve been dying to start – the actual design of the pages. This is where the graphic designer gets to go to town on applying the aesthetic look and feel to the basic wireframe.

So, why do all this. You will save time…I promise. Your programmers will be happy they have a concrete document to work from. Your clients will be happy to be a part of the process, opposed to a getting a big surprise when the whole thing is complete. And, your project managers will be happy with the efficiencies that came out of the process.

Try it, let me know how it works out for you!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010 at 1:03 pm and is filed under Business Analysis, IT, TU Faculty & Staff. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.