Information Architect (IA) Roles
An Information Architect gathers requirements, defines the system information features (information specification) , conducts content audits, information research, data architecture, writes tone of voice, defines taxonomy, content strategy, word based marketing strategy and content object model.
If there were a template or system for what information architects need to prepare, no one would need them. While there are certain key deliverables that most projects require, the work is most often determined on a case-by-case basis dependent on scope and function.
Some of the basic deliverables include:
An Information Architect gathers requirements, defines the system information features (information specification) , conducts content audits, information research, data architecture, writes tone of voice, defines taxonomy, content strategy, word based marketing strategy and content object model.
In Web design, an information architect helps develop
programs and plans. The information architect maps the entire structure of the
site and organizes the positioning of pages within sections, developing a
functional and intuitive plan to get the user from point A to point B on the
path of least resistance.
How do information architects fit into a Web team?
Information architects should meet with clients to help define a project's scope, as well as plot the path to meet the objective and work with the designers and technologists to develop engaging and intuitive visual interfaces.
It's also important for information architects to work closely with visual designers, helping to maintain the balance between form and function. Design effects architecture as much as architecture effects design. Information architects also bridge architecture with development and work with technologists, database engineers, and HTML coders.
How do architects evaluate or design a site?
Before evaluating an existing site for architectural improvements or designing a new site, it's extremely important to find out who will be using the site, strategic and business goals, key usability principals, technical constraints, and future needs. Perhaps the hardest part of information architecture is to help identify a focus (a necessary component of intuitive form and function). However once the focus has been identified, evaluation or designing is all about anticipated user paths, logical process flows, and determining how to balance efficiency with ease of use.
What do architects create for clients?
Some of the basic deliverables include:
Site Maps: Maps reflect navigation and main content buckets. They are usually constructed to look like flowcharts and show how users navigate from one section to another.
Content Maps: Detailed maps that show what exists on each page and how content on some pages interacts with content on other pages.
Page Schematics: Black and white line drawings or block diagrams to hand off to a visual designer.
Text-Based Outlines: Sometimes information architects want to show architecture as indented text outlines and lists.
Interactive, Semi-Functional Prototyping: In some cases, information architects are responsible for outlining or story-boarding functional prototypes, and in others they actually build prototypes with HTML, Flash, Director, or PowerPoint.
Below is a short video of explaining why is information architecture important in web design:
I like your statement;
ReplyDelete"If there were a template or system for what information architects need to prepare, no one would need them."
I completely agree with that, however (as you also mentioned) there are a lot of key concepts when structuring a web site, for example, the majority of web sites have a main menu horizontally along the top of the page.
It can be compared to architects designing houses, they have a lot of rules and templates to follow. I'm willing to say that an Information Architect can design web sites more freely, be more creative and actually get away with it than a structural architect could ever do.
Interesting post Xintao!