Information architecture is all about organising information and providing methods for people to find and use it, usually via navigation. It relates primarily to websites, web applications, intranets, file and document management systems.
This full day workshop will provide you with a thorough overview and understanding of information architecture theory & practice. It will cover a wide range of IA issues, including an understanding of how it fits into a project, fundamental skills & knowledge required for IA work and current IA issues. It will be theoretical and practical and allow you to immediately apply ideas to your projects.
During the workshop, you’ll learn:
- What information architecture is and how it relates to other user experience disciplines
- Core IA techniques – analysing content, conducting user research, card sorting and more
- Core IA theories – classification, categorisation, metadata & labelling
- IA patterns – structures for different types of sites
- Designing navigation & page layouts
- Putting it together in an IA project
- Current issues in IA
At the end of the workshop, you will understand:
- how to design sites that help users find what they want
- what organisational scheme or schemes are best for your content
- how to conduct user research that helps develop your information architecture
- how to conduct a card sorting exercise
- how core IA theories, such as metadata, classification, and categorisation affect your site’s success
- how to conduct a content analysis and develop a solid IA structure
- how to design effective navigation and page layouts
The workshop will combine discussion, questions and hands-on activities. Extensive notes and resources will be provided for further personal exploration.
Who’s this workshop for?
This workshop is most suited to people who have responsibility for large web sites, including information architects, product managers, website producers, communication managers, marketing managers, business analysts and graphic designers. It is also suited to people who are new to the field and would like to know more about information architecture work.
This workshop is taught at the level of an ‘advanced intro’, covering the basics and also allowing exploration of key challenges and issues.