"Even the coolest feature or the most compelling content is useless if people can’t find it." - Jakob Nielsen
When we’re designing a website, nothing happens in a vacuum. Every facet of design – research, IA, interaction design, visual design, content strategy - tends to affect everything else.
So it’s important to know where Information Architecture (in general) and tree testing (in particular) fit into the design process.
How does IA fit into design?
It's not just for breakfast any more
How does tree testing fit into design?
Do it early in the design process - later is too late
The research phase
Contextual inquiry, open card sorting, and baseline tree testing
The design phase: creating new trees
Using research to create new trees
The design phase: going wide
Testing several alternative trees against each other
The design phase: going deep
Iterating until we get the tree right
Putting it all together
Diagrams of the full-fat and hurry-up approaches
Comparing to other IA methods
Tree testing vs. closed card sorting, usability testing, and analytics