3 - IA in the design process

“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

Key points

Next: Chapter 4 - Planning a tree test