Ideally, your web site should strike a cost-effective balance between usability and functionality while complying with web standards and being visually appealing. It’s quite the task, but to achieve this goal, you have to pour a foundation solid enough to withstand your site launch and flexible enough to adapt to change.
Information Architecture as Your Foundation
Building a proper foundation means brainstorming and organizing all your site’s ideas and content into an online environment that users can search, browse, navigate and easily understand. If that sounds like a hard job, it’s because it is.
Say Hello to Information Architecture
Humans organize things for the purpose of understanding, explaining, and controlling them. More importantly, the way we package and communicate information has a direct impact on how people perceive it.
An Information Architect’s job is to plan and arrange information so your visitors can find the answers to their questions. Essentially, the work of an Information Architect is to create the backbones of a web solution that bring together your business goals, content, and user needs while performing like a well-oiled machine.
So, without further ado…
3 Reasons You Need Information Architecture
To Increase Productivity
The faster your staff can find company information and resources, the easier it will be to train them and boost their productivity. Show me a confused employee jabbing a hole in his mouse and I’ll show you a CEO that might as well be lighting one-hundred dollar bills on fire. Efficiency makes the business world go round and Information Architecture is where it all starts.
To Satisfy Customers
When your audience visits your web site, a good Information Architecture takes into account their probable behavior and needs. A site that’s easy to navigate and learn translates into new and returning customers who adapt to the system you’ve created. This builds comfort and rapport making it a snap to introduce new products, features, and services to your users now that they know the lay of the land and trust you.
To Save Money
There is a difference between price and cost. Price refers to the purchase price of something, in this case a web site. Cost — now pay attention — refers to the amount of money you will spend over time redoing your website if you ignore your foundation and expansion concerns in the planning stages. Remember, a web site is an investment in your identity that grows as your business expands. Would you sail around the world promoting your business in a boat with holes in the bottom? No, because you wouldn’t get far.
My boat’s name is: I ♥ IA!
Happy architecting,
Pete Karabetis
P.S. — I encourage you to contact Vim Interactive for your Information Architecture needs. We’re kind of in love with the whole process.
