Literature on Information Architecture (IA)

Here’s the entire UX literature on Information Architecture (IA) by the Interaction Design Foundation, collated in one place:

The Heart of the Matter, Information Architecture in the Mobile Age

Content is the key ingredient in so many user experiences. So how does it change when it comes to planning a mobile user experience? Should you rewrite your content for each platform or do you need a different strategy to make the most of your content on all platforms? Handling content on mobile doesn’t need to be a chore but it does take planning.

Author/Copyright holder: Peter Morville. Copyright terms and licence: CC BY 2.0

In general terms the way you design information architecture (IA) for the mobile environment is very similar to the way that you design the IA for the desktop. The approach you use is near identical in fact but there are some important things to bear in mind when you do so:

Deliver what’s important on the mobile platform – that means you should focus on what’s important to the user when they’re using a smartphone. That doesn’t mean that your users will necessarily be using your app when they’re on the move or on the street – you need to research the way that they will use the app. That, in turn, lets you focus on the content that’s of value to the user and cut down the volume of data that you present on mobile.
Content should be focused on mobile – that’s smaller, simpler and easier to handle content than on the desktop. The limit of screen real estate makes large volumes of content more confusing on mobile than on a larger monitor.
Navigation should be simple – that means limiting the number of menu options and keeping things focused on what’s important to the user.

Information Architecture Design for Mobile

The process then follows a simple process:

Consider Click Investment

You want to build your information architecture hierarchy so that the minimum number of clicks is used to reach the most popular content. Less popular content can be farther away but not too far away. If people abandon a desktop website in seconds because of poor loading times – it seems likely that they would abandon a mobile website if they’re forced to wait and load multiple screens to get to the content they most value.

You can reduce levels of frustration with click investment by ensuring that you communicate the process clearly throughout the task. That means setting user expectations as to what will happen after each click before they make it.

Keep it Simple Stupid (KISS)

This comes up a lot in design and there’s no exception when creating information architecture for mobile. The simpler things are – the fewer issues with the overall experience.

So limit user choice; if your user research shows there are areas of your content that aren’t valued by mobile users – eliminate that content. You can always offer it via a desktop experience on mobile for the occasional user that really wants that content. The simpler your IA – the less chance that the user becomes frustrated with it.

Then plan your app’s IA – use a simple drill-down structure and nest content into clear, easy to understand and well-defined categories. Make sure that you understand the path from top-level information to sub-levels.

We’ve got some tips for this:

Keep categories to a minimum – again the simpler things are, the better the UX on mobile. That doesn’t mean abandon useful data but do think about the fact that people get lost more often the farther they drill down for information. 5 levels is enough on the desktop, with mobile you almost certainly want to aim for less.
Keep content and categories together – no empty pages, no empty links. If a user clicks on a navigation item, it must deliver some relevant content too.
Keep links to a sensible number too – don’t overwhelm the user with dozens of links. Ideally, keep the number of links displayed to fewer than 10.
Prioritize by popularity – “deck placement” is vital to controlling the simplicity of the experience. The more popular something is within the app or site; the more vital it is that you make it easy to get to. However, this can have an impact on the success of new features or content; as it will be placed lower in the deck and become harder to find. You may need to strike a careful balance between the two.
Label navigation items clearly and concisely – this applies to links as well as menu options; this is very important on phones with very small screens.

Think About Input Devices

Not all smartphones are touch screens. You need to ensure that you maintain the “tap worthiness” of navigation items (minimum 30 pixels) whilst still providing quick methods for non-touch screen users to get to data (0 to 9 as shortcut keys will be better than 1 to 10 as they match the numeric keys on the phone).

Author/Copyright holder: Asim18. Copyright terms and licence: CC BY 3.0

Provide Clear Navigational Cues

Navigation on mobile is more complicated than it is for desktop. Make your “breadcrumbs” explicit – if you use a back button, put a label on it to tell the user where it takes them. Make sure you have a home page icon that is clear and distinct and will take the person back to the beginning of their interaction.

The Take Away

Information architecture design for mobile doesn’t differ dramatically from information architecture design for the desktop. It’s important to research what’s useful on the mobile platform to your users and to try to keep things as simple and manageable as possible. This is true for both the IA and the navigation which directs the user through the IA.

References & Where to Learn More:

You can find this excellent guide to information architecture in general: The Ultimate Guide to Information Architecture.

We’ve treated navigation and IA as interchangeable in this article. However, strictly speaking, they aren’t. The Nielsen Norman Group explains why not.

Usability First explores information architecture in a succinct way.

Hero Image: Author/Copyright holder: murdocke23. Copyright terms and licence: CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Learn more about Information Architecture (IA)

Take a deep dive into Information Architecture (IA) with our course User Experience: The Beginner’s Guide .

If you’ve heard the term user experience design and been overwhelmed by all the jargon, then you’re not alone. In fact, most practicing UX designers struggle to explain what they do!

“[User experience] is used by people to say, ‘I’m a user experience designer, I design websites,’ or ‘I design apps.’ […] and they think the experience is that simple device, the website, or the app, or who knows what. No! It’s everything — it’s the way you experience the world, it’s the way you experience your life, it’s the way you experience the service. Or, yeah, an app or a computer system. But it’s a system that’s everything.”
— Don Norman, pioneer and inventor of the term “user experience,” in an interview with NNGroup

As indicated by Don Norman, User Experience is an umbrella term that covers several areas. When you work with user experience, it’s crucial to understand what those areas are so that you know how best to apply the tools available to you.

In this course, you will gain an introduction to the breadth of UX design and understand why it matters. You’ll also learn the roles and responsibilities of a UX designer, how to confidently talk about UX and practical methods that you can apply to your work immediately.

You will learn to identify the overlaps and differences between different fields and adapt your existing skills to UX design. Once you understand the lay of the land, you’ll be able to chart your journey into a career in UX design. You’ll hear from practicing UX designers from within the IxDF community — people who come from diverse backgrounds, have taught themselves design, learned on the job, and are enjoying successful careers.

If you are new to the Interaction Design Foundation, this course is a great place to start because it brings together materials from many of our other courses. This provides you with both an excellent introduction to user experience and a preview of the courses we have to offer to help you develop your future career. After each lesson, we will introduce you to the courses you can take if a specific topic has caught your attention. That way, you’ll find it easy to continue your learning journey.

In the first lesson, you’ll learn what user experience design is and what a UX designer does. You’ll also learn about the importance of portfolios and what hiring managers look for in them.

In the second lesson, you’ll learn how to think like a UX designer. This lesson also introduces you to the very first exercise for you to dip your toes into the cool waters of user experience.

In the third and the fourth lessons, you’ll learn about the most common UX design tools and methods. You’ll also practice each of the methods through tailor-made exercises that walk you through the different stages of the design process.

In the final lesson, you’ll step outside the classroom and into the real world. You’ll understand the role of a UX designer within an organization and what it takes to overcome common challenges at the workplace. You’ll also learn how to leverage your existing skills to successfully transition to and thrive in a new career in UX.

You’ll be taught by some of the world’s leading experts. The experts we’ve handpicked for you are:

Alan Dix, Director of the Computational Foundry at Swansea University, author of Statistics for HCI: Making Sense of Quantitative Data
Ann Blandford, Professor of Human-Computer Interaction at University College London
Frank Spillers, Service Designer, Founder and CEO of Experience Dynamics
Laura Klein, Product Management Expert, Principal at Users Know, Author of Build Better Products and UX for Lean Startups
Michal Malewicz, Designer and Creative Director / CEO of Hype4 Mobile
Mike Rohde, Experience and Interface Designer, Author of The Sketchnote Handbook: The Illustrated Guide to Visual Note Taking
Szymon Adamiak, Software Engineer and Co-founder of Hype4 Mobile
William Hudson, User Experience Strategist and Founder of Syntagm

Throughout the course, we’ll supply you with lots of templates and step-by-step guides so you can start applying what you learn in your everyday practice.

You’ll find a series of exercises that will help you get hands-on experience with the methods you learn. Whether you’re a newcomer to design considering a career switch, an experienced practitioner looking to brush up on the basics, or work closely with designers and are curious to know what your colleagues are up to, you will benefit from the learning materials and practical exercises in this course.

You can also learn with your fellow course-takers and use the discussion forums to get feedback and inspire other people who are learning alongside you. You and your fellow course-takers have a huge knowledge and experience base between you, so we think you should take advantage of it whenever possible.

You earn a verifiable and industry-trusted Course Certificate once you’ve completed the course. You can highlight it on your resume, LinkedIn profile or website.

User Experience: The Beginner’s Guide

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All open-source articles on Information Architecture (IA)