IA and UXP Design
February 7th, 2009
When I tell people this is what I do for a living, the first question is usually “What’s that then?”
“Information Architecture and User Experience Design” I tell them.
“What’s that then?” they ask.
Information Architecture is the practice of, well, architecting information. Is architecting even a word? I’m not sure it is. OK so it’s the process of ORGANIZING information – specifically organizing information contained within a website. As an Information Architect it’s my job to collect and organize the information/content that exists across the numerous pages and files of a site and basically design the structure and hierarcy of that information into a site map and user-flow diagram. From there I create a detailed breakdown of each page in the form of a wireframe, which shows the various elements that appear on each page. Put simply I help design and build websites by preparing a “paper-version” of the website which is used as a reference and tool for the entire team – most specifically the graphic designers and programmers who will create the finished site. This documentation is invaluable as a resource not only for designers and developers but also to clients and anyone else involved in the design and build of the site because it provides a top-level view of the site and enables anyone to better understand how the site is/will be organized as well as what kind of functionality and user experience should be expected. There is a great deal more to Information Architecture and User Experience Design. Perhaps I will write more about it, or perhaps I will just refer anyone who is interested to check out Boxes and Arrows.
“What is it you do again?”
