Commercial-in-Confidence 1 Information Architect and the Development Internet Application Tweek Presentation May 2001

Commercial-in-Confidence 2 Brief History

Commercial-in-Confidence 3 What lies beneath?

Commercial-in-Confidence 4 What is Information Architecture? Information architecture is an emerging field which includes aspects of composition, design, cognitive science, information sciences, computer science, and social sciences. In its basic form, Information architecture is a system of classification and organisation that provides a strategy for marking information accessible to users.

Commercial-in-Confidence 5 How does IA Work? Information architecture sets to communicate site content and functionality through the use of: –Navigation Systems –Labelling Systems –Searching Systems –Structure

Commercial-in-Confidence 6 Building Websites – Starting Point Project Goals Audience Understanding Objectives –Business –Marketing

Commercial-in-Confidence 7 Project Goals Mission and vision –What is your mission statement? –What is the companies overall vision? –What is the product vision? –How will the web site support the organizational mission? Short-term versus long-term goals –Business - What are the corporate short and long-term goals? –Application - What is the product short and long-term vision? Metrics for success –How can we define the success? How subjective is the process? –Are there any quantitative and qualitative mechanisms of measuring the success? (For example: statistics, number of hits, placed orders, time spent for user, number of navigation clicks, dropouts, etc…) –Is brand awareness part of this metrics? If so how will this be measured? –What role will “market captured” and similar statistics play in the measurement of success?

Commercial-in-Confidence 8 Audience Intended demographics –Current - What type of user do you attract? (Include market segment, user profile, skills set, psychological profile, age; information that will allow us the understand the user better) –Desired - What types of user do you wish to attract? And why? –Who is the most valuable? User profiles and sub-user profiles –Identify the principal users? For requestDSL 6 potential end users –Within the principal users what are the sub-users or categories? (The industry they belong, the department they are supporting, etc…) Reasons for using this application –What makes this application better? –Are there any differentiating elements or functions? If so, then why are the better? Focus groups –Have any studies or investigations been formed on users? If so, please provide? –What is the targeted user skill set? (For example: Computer skills, technology awareness, etc…) –What is the lifestyle of the targeted user? What features, functions, look and feel, and technology are most appealing to this user?

Commercial-in-Confidence 9 Business Model Mission statement Model description Business objectives Competitive matrix – business Competitive matrix – user interface Future plans/ growth model Revenue models –Current –Future

Commercial-in-Confidence 10 Marketing High-level strategy Value proposition Image –Desired –Perceived Marketing site versus application Current marketing content Branding efforts Ad-banner requirements Co-branding requirements Product tours –Live demos? –Step users through the “experience” –Drive users to registration?

Commercial-in-Confidence 11 Applying Information Architecture Navigation Systems –There are many types of navigation systems: Global navigation is site-wide navigation, which often complements the information hierarchy, since it allows for greater vertical and lateral movement. Local navigation is used within a “subset” of information. Hierarchical navigation is layered from the main page to the destination pages, as the name suggests. Ad hoc navigation refers to links embedded within the text, which server an editorial purpose more than an architectural one. Value proposition Labelling Systems –Web labelling systems are used as a form of representation. Single words that are used to trigger connection to a much larger group of ideas. –Labelling systems are a combination of: Labels as indexing terms - Increase search hits with appropriate tags. Link labels - Click text, expanding book titles, anchor links. Labels as headings - Consistent terminology, consistent granularity. Icons as labels. Structure –Information structure is a distinct grouping of information, based on how users retrieve information (task, system feature, information type, etc.). –Having its primary purpose to support user goals: users want to get the information they need, quickly and efficiently.

Commercial-in-Confidence 12 In Action RequestDSL

Commercial-in-Confidence 13 Sitemap

Commercial-in-Confidence 14 Global Templete – Wireframe

Commercial-in-Confidence 15 Products – Wireframe

Commercial-in-Confidence 16 Products – JSP

Commercial-in-Confidence 17 Wizards Template – Wireframe

Commercial-in-Confidence 18 Wizard – JSP

Commercial-in-Confidence 19 Thankyou Questions or Feedback?