School of Information, Fall 2007
University of Texas
Information Architecture & Design
Tuesday 6:30–9:30pm
SZB 546
http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/~i385e
A. Fleming Seay
Course Overview
Syllabus
Requirements & Preferences
IA & Design Readings
Group Projects
Do’s and Don’ts
IA Overview
What is IA?
Information Architect as a Profession
Syllabus and Topics Overview
Weekly Work
Readings
Primary
Secondary
Class Work
Discussions in class
Participation is the key to getting something out of
this course
Cooperation & Collaboration with others in class
Assignments
Discussions
Class discussions
Presentations
IA Topic
Site design (your final assignment)
IA Work
Small assignments due every other week
Site critique
Examine a Web site for information structure, design,
navigability, general usability & underlying design technology
Rules for Assignments
Assignments due at the absolute beginning of class
Do not be late to class
Late assignments are penalized 20% per 24 hour
period
You are responsible for making sure the assignment is
received
E.g. Due at Noon today, turned in tomorrow at Noon
= -20%. Turned in a week later = 0.
Arrangements can be agreed upon for known issues
Travel, Serious Illness or Work
Rules for Assignments (continued)
Do not mail attachments to me unless agreed upon
Make assignments Web accessible
When required, notify class of your assignment via
class listserv
Posting or sent email times count as submission times
For Web pages, DO NOT use MS Word or FrontPage
No “Save As…”
Learn to use Web markup tools & see the XHTML code
Class Work
Mailing list (listserv)
Go to https://utlists.utexas.edu/sympa/info/inf385e .
Log in or create an account
Click subscribe in left margin.
Follow instructions.
To post a message to the mailing list, address your email to:
inf385e@utlists.utexas.edu
IA Course Requirements
Use Fundamental IA Tools
HTML Editors
Graphics Editors
Site Mapping Tools
Site Organization Tools
Learn and Use IA Methodology
Work Through the Phases of the IA Process
Create and Maintain a Design Specification
Use Structured Development Techniques
IA Course Preferences
IA Technologies
HTML, XHTML, XML
Javascript and Databases
Innovative Design using:
Content
Interfaces
Organization schemes (“architectures”)
Work on a Real Project
Developing Requirements
Defining and Implementing Designs
Dealing with changes & deadlines
Do’s and Don’ts for IA1
Do turn in assignments at the very beginning of
class.
Don’t be late for class.
Don’t use Microsoft Word’s “Save As…” feature or
FrontPage to build any Web pages.
Do try new Web designs.
Do use Web dev tools you haven’t used before.
Do embrace different aspects of the IA roles.
Introductions
Where are you from?
What program are you in and what year?
How much experience in building pages/sites?
Information Architecture Overview
What is Information Architecture?
What Do Information Architects Do?
Approaches to Information Architecture
Information Architecture Process
Design and Information Architecture
Designers and Information Architects
Information as Product
What is Information Architecture?
Builds on Skills, Methods & History of Architecture
IA is not just an analogy
IA is Process-Oriented
IA is both Art & Science
Built upon Theory (Knowledge & Experiments)
Realized in Practice (Skills & Experience)
IA is a Dynamic Discipline
Technologies are continually changing
People have accelerating needs & expectations
What defines Info Architectures?
Convey organization & information
Provide a logical, understandable structure for
current (& future) information
Seem well-designed (perception)
Provide Just in Time information
Support reference & retrieval
A picture worth a thousand words
An architecture to find those 1,000 words & more
Not always a simple picture
DNA is information, now this is IA
This IA is useful too
IA has Density
Site Maps
Communicate
structure
Where to go
Where you’ve been
How much is there
Not just graphics
Tables of content
Index
Shelves of Books
List of links
What Do Info Architects Do?
Use Tools and Methods
Apply Experience & Understanding of Users
Manage the IA Process
Roles Include
Application Development
Content Development
Design
MIS
Education
Product Management
What Do Info Architects Do?
Work through an IA Methodology
Plan
Analyze
Design
Construct
Verify
Maintain
Iterate the process
Adapt to technology, information & customer needs
AKA IA?
Experience Design
Experience Modeling (X-Mod)
User Modeling
Usability Engineering
Webmaster
Interaction Design
Multimedia Developer
Instructional Designer
Web Developer
The Visio job search…
Information Architecture is …
Proactive
Strategic for Information Systems
Tactical for Technologies
Profitable for the Organization
Central to Business
Applicable to Any Endeavor
Not just Web sites
Information & Process
Fluid
Indispensable
IA in Context
Learning
Information Seeking
Information Retrieval
Analytical
Strategy
Information
Architecture
Browsing
Strategy
Approaches to IA
Mediator of the Design Process
Interpreter of User Needs and Uses
Applying Theory to Practice (Top-Down)
Designing & Extending from Examples (Bottom-Up)
Visionary
Producer, Director
Artist or Scientist
Objective / Subjective
Project Lead – IA – Designer – Usability - QA
What about Design?
Design as Problem Solving
View of the world as an information space
Improving the information space
Products that solve these problems
Information as Product
Connections & Organization as Product
Processes that solve problems
Education (eLearning)
Business Transformation (Web 2.0)
Information Architecture is critical for good Application Design
Design & IA
Creating & managing information
Visualization alone isn’t enough
Users. Content. Context.
Design is an Attitude
View of the world as a problem space
Improving the problem space
Solving problems that no one even knew existed
Creativity put to use
Applying solutions from one domain to another
(synthesis)
Designers & Information Architects
Focus on the Users
Apply Theory
Understand the system
Use tools proficiently
Extend the system
Create new systems
Solve problems
Our IA Methodology
Planning
Analysis
Design
Technology Independent
Technology Dependent
Construction
Verification
Maintenance
IA Methodology
Planning
Analysis
Design
Verification
Construction
Maintenance
Principles of UI Design & IA
Allow feedback control
Expose the UI functionality
Make functionality clear & distinct
Reduce working memory load
Show progress & context of task
Support experts & novices
Let user select the right interface
Reveal UI & system functionality in phases
Amount of information shown, preferred
What about Visualization & IA?
Interactive GUIs are a good start
Graphical views of information can provide an
overview
Is a picture (of an action) worth 1000 words?
Is a picture of a dataset worth more?
Graphics help with abstraction, how can they
represent specifics?
Visual metaphors may be one key
Navigation as a mechanism for interpretation
Types of Visualization Interaction
Windows, Icons, Menus & Pointers
Desktops, dialogs & forms
Colors & Highlighting
Panning & Zooming
Focus-plus context
Magic Lens, Fisheye lens
Web Categories
Drill down selection in a GUI
Visual Clustering
GUIs are good for users
But let’s not go overboard.
“Although intuitively appealing, graphical
overviews of large document spaces
have yet to be shown to be useful and
understandable for users. In fact,
evaluations that have been conducted
so far provide negative evidence as to
their usefulness.”
Jef Raskin’s Humane Interface
Well architected information makes GUIs
better
The information structure(s) should guide
the interface
Deliverables for next week
Sign up for the listserv
Course readings & discussion
Tools Tutorials & Review in two weeks
Using your iSchool account (FTP)
Visio & OmniGraffle
DreamWeaver