What is Information Architecture?
(or Architects Don’t Design Tents)
I’m an Information Architect, but explaining what I do in a way people can easily understand is difficult. Luckily (for you) I’ve had to answer the question of “So, what does an Information Architect do?” a number of times. Like a stand-up comedian on the circuit who can see first hand which jokes gets the laughs and which ones need more work, I can see which explanations trigger the light bulb above people’s heads and which result in a glazed look accompanied by slow unconvincing nodding.
I feel fairly confident to deliver an explanation that is easy to grasp but which doesn’t over-simplify things. One qualifier before I start, I am an Information Architect in the web field so the explanation may not be correct for other branches of IA.
An Information Architect is a specialist Web Designer. So why don’t I call myself a web designer? The same reason a radiologist calls himself a radiologist and not simply a doctor. The title of radiologist is more descriptive and tells you a lot more about what he does when he is working in the hospital.
And a hospital is one of the props from the real bricks, metal and mortar Architecture field that I will use to explain the equally real Information Architecture field. The other prop is a tent. “Wait”, you cry “Architects don’t design tents!” A very good point but read on to see why I agree with you.
If you are going camping and need a place to stay for a night under the stars and protected from the rain, wind and other elements, what do you do? You could use a tent. If you don’t have a tent you just go down to the store and buy a tent. You get to pick the colour, size, brand but not a lot more. But that’s fine, as you’ll only sleep in it for a night or two. Heck, it doesn’t even have to be comfortable.
Moving quickly onto our second prop, the hospital. When a town or city needs a new hospital they can’t pop down to the local store and pick one up ready made. They have to plan the thing. And to do that they have to hire an architect.
The first step the architect does isn’t to design the shape of the building, or to decide what colour it will be, although he may have his preferences and some ideas floating around in his head. No, the first step is to analyse or find out what the purpose of the hospital is. Will it specialise in heart surgery, or will it be a hospital dealing with the overflow of emergency cases in the area? How many patients will it serve? Building a hospital that serves a population of 5,000 would be different to one that has to serve 500,000. Things like infrastructure, the roads, the electricity supply, water, sewage, maybe even emergency helicopter access also have to be analysed and planned. Things like the number of beds (rooms), operating theatres, waiting areas, kitchens, parking also come into the equation. An architect may choose to visit and study similar hospitals to see how things are implemented.
Only after all that will he turn his attention to the structure, shape and look of the hospital. It is only after all the research and planning that he is able to do so. If the preceding steps were skipped, a lot of money would be spent but it would be at best pot-luck whether the hospital would function to the benefit fo the patients.
An Information Architect’s job is similar to an architect designing a hospital. To maximise the chances of a site being successful and serving the intended audience well, a lot of researching, planning, analysing has to be done. The IA process starts with researching and defining the goals of a site. Another word for goals is targets. If you don’t define what your targets are you can’t possibly know if you have hit or missed. With any web site, the goals always involve your audience. That is the next step of the process. Without knowing your audience well, things like why they will come to your site, what are they looking for, etc. you don’t really have a true understanding of how to achieve your goals. The process continues with studying comparable or rival sites, to see what things they do well, what content they have and what things they are missing. Only at the last stage will an Information Architect turn his attention to the visual design of a site.
It is long, sometimes difficult work without the thrill of instant gratification but at the end of the day the satisfaction comes when the site is launched and the site serves its audience well and thus achieves its goals. (And thus by definition is a success)
And the tents? Their equivalents in the web world are the quick two or two dozen page sites. Quick to put up, sometimes very stylish, sometimes serving their purposes (but sometimes only by chance) but almost never a long lasting preposition. Of course that type of site like tents have their place in the world but as you and I both noted, Architects Don’t Design Tents.
Leave any questions or comments below. Questions about bits you don’t understand are especially welcome. You can also compare my “comedian on a circuit explanation” to others who are much more respected.
I liked this it makes sense now what an IA does. It is a much better approach to web design that is much more professional and customer oriented.
I like your idea. And I found out gradually that what you really want to do in your speciality is to express in the whole creating process…
Checking out your web-site, I always think that you are making up the well prepared whole design first…, arrange the contents…, and finally disign the GUI design interface… And I can see that you really like the whole process of creating site.
Taking just some job names, such as Web designers, System Engineers, Programmers, Information Specialist etc., it’s just a category…, which cannot define what we really do in our job or speciality. Although definition and reality sometimes differ, they can give anyone strong preconception of what we do.
I call myself System Engineer, but doesn’t mean that I’m doing a typical System Engineering… Of course, I do talk with customers, sales companies… And from the talks, decide what we really create…, design application, program, test… So, I could also call myself, I’m a programmer or tester or whatsoever…
But I put the biggest pride on my system engineering part of the job, and that’s what I call myself this one… I’m really happy that I can hear what you really think.
This Web-Log is brilliant.
Ben,
Good to hear that you liked the article. It’s not perfect, I might take some time to edit and refine it a bit. Yes, IA is a better approach to web design. I practice light-weight IA which fits in better with the timescales of web design. Maybe I will write a few more articles in the future on the subject of light-weight IA.
Kengo,
Thanks for the nice comments again. It is always nice to hear how other people think about their jobs and their job titles. The best thing about a blog compared to just a web site is that there is a sharing of minds.
Well, I finally and fully read this article of your’s and I am impressed. As a sort of web designer, I’d like to strive to be an ‘information architect’. Knowing oneself by that title seems fulfilling.
Shay,
I guess I should edit the article a bit. It looks a bit heavy going, right?
Yeah, being an Information Architect is fulfilling but I’ve had a few unexpected negative reactions when I tell people that I am an IA. I guess they think it is a pretenious title that I made up for myself. *shrug* It could be that in Japan, there aren’t many IAs.
Maybe in the same vein is knowledge creation that is at the heart of inovation in companies. Is there any relationship between information architecture and creation?? or is that too deep of a philosophical question?