From Construct to Structure: Information Architecture from Mental Models Peter Merholz and Indi Young

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 1 Approach for This Workshop  Present a methodology for taking user research data and deriving an information architecture from it  Combination of lecture and activities (single and group)  Process-oriented—step-by-step

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 2 About the Project  iRemodel.com – leading home improvement portal  Features: –Tutorial Content for users new to home improvement –Idea File –Product database with comparison engine –Contractor/architect locator –Budget estimator  New features: –Kitchen design “center” –Contractor’s management application

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 3 Gather Assumptions & Requirements Develop Personas Understand Goals & Tasks Design Information Architecture Prioritize Features Validate Usability Prototypes & Patterns Build Content Model Analyze Competition Design Interaction Understand Goals & Tasks Build Content Model Design Information Architecture

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 4 To develop an experience based on the patterns inherent in your stuff that empowers users to accomplish their goals. Our goal is...

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 5 It’s how we get a pile of stuff...

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 6...into a structured experience.

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 7 This includes labeling... SquaresTriangles Circles

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 8...and navigation systems...

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 9...that are intuitive to users. SquaresTriangles Circles Ah Ha!

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 10 But! Not all users have the same goals. Shapes!Colors!

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 11 So, good architectures let many users...

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 12...access lots of content...

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 13...in many ways.

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 14 As you can imagine, this isn’t easy…

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 15 People classify things differently…

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 16 Heaven, earth, light, darkness, firmament, waters……

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 17 What do you call this?

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 18 Is it Coke? Pop? Soda? “Coke”“Pop”“Soda”

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 19 But wait! There’s more...  fris  phosphate  bubble-water  lolly-water  Tingle Fizz Fuzz  mixer  sweet drink  tonic  fizz  sodie  cocola  soder  dopes

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 20 Architectures suffer from jargon... ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Shapes WebBeans tm

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Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 23 Architecture suffers from politics... CEO User Excellent!???

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 24 Customers used to interact directly with departments... Big Corp ABCDE

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 25 But that doesn’t translate to the Web at all... ???? ? Big Corp ABCDE

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Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 27 Architectures must be extensible... !?!

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 28

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 29

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Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 31 We don’t even know what else they are doing… !!!

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 32 Successful architectures comes from two approaches... Top-down Figure out what users need Derived from mental models Focus on user research Bottom-up Figure out what you have Derived from content model Domain of traditional IA

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 33 The Two Parts of IA, Diagrammed Surface architecture comes from Mental Model Deep architecture comes from the Content Model

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 34 What is a Mental Model? How the user thinks about and approaches their tasks and goals, usually defined within a system of interaction (…distinct from a Web experience)

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Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 36 What is a Mental Model? Grocery Shopping Prepare shopping list Look in fridge Talk to spouse Does the car need gas? How much time do I have? Plan meals Look for discounts Clip coupons

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 37 What a Mental Model Diagram Looks Like Collections of tasks organized in ever-more-general groupings Usually 3 levels – task, task group, and mental space

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 38 Ultimate Design Goal  An information architecture that corresponds to your users’ mental models… Prepare shopping list Look in fridge Talk to spouse Does the car need gas? How much time do I have? Plan meals Look for discounts Clip coupons

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 39 Ultimate Design Goal, Pt 2  An information architecture that corresponds to your users’ mental models…  …that also meets your business’ needs Prepare shopping list Look in fridge Talk to spouse Does the car need gas? How much time do I have? Plan meals Look for discounts Clip coupons $

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 40 Turning user data into a product, the big picture…

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 41 Yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak... Yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak kak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak...

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 42

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 43 Ah Ha!

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 44 Why Perform Task Analysis?  Helps you figure out what features are important to your users, and what they would call those features  Ensures that the design meets those user requirements as well as the business requirements  Provides a way to trace back all aspects of the interface to the user’s task flow  Goal: To remove the phrase “I think” from discussions about what your users need  So that you can create a Mental Model Diagram, which is really cool

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 45 Gather Assumptions & Requirements Develop Personas Understand Goals & Tasks Design Information Architecture Prioritize Features Validate Usability Prototypes & Patterns Build Content Model Analyze Competition Design Interaction

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure Find Some Users: Define the Audience  Examine target market data and personas  Gather and review data from previous research –competitive analysis, usability studies, log data  Form groups of target audiences with descriptions and priorities  Revisit groups after task analysis –possibly redefine as users have defined themselves

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure Find Some Users : Get Them  Start immediately: the better the subjects, the better the outcome  For simple research: friends, family, coworkers –Pros: cheap, easy –Cons: bias (they may know too much), not close enough to the real target audience  Mid-range options: –Existing user base, customer support inquiries, advertise on existing site –User groups, discussion lists –Traditional market research means: classified ads, etc.  Better yet, get the budget to use a recruiting agency –Pros: can get people who know nothing about the product, can get people who are exactly your audience, can recruit people in a variety of geographic locales –Cons: money

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure Find Some Users (cont): Write a Screener  A simple script to weed out subjects  Write 20 questions that narrow in on who you’re after  Order questions from generic to specific  Be very clear and specific  Avoid jargon

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure Conduct Interviews  Select a workflow to explore  Prepare the discussion guide –Focus on exploring all the tasks in the workflow –The key verb is “do” not “feel” –Don’t assume the Web or other technological solutions  Use “non-directed interview” techniques –Encourage open answers, rather than to lead the interviewee in any preconceived direction –Use predefined questions as prompts in a conversation, not a verbatim script –Allow the interviewee to direct the flow of conversation  Interview about 5 people per audience type  Prepare verbatim transcripts End Result: Detailed notes from a series of interviews Yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak kak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak...

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure Analyze the Transcripts: Overview  An extremely detailed analysis of what your users said they do to accomplish their goals  A depersonalized way to understand your target audience –All users within a particular audience set are lumped together  Less concerned with sequential order of tasks than with sensible grouping of tasks

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure Analyze the Transcripts: How to Do It  Scan interview transcripts for ‘tasks’  Copy each task to the atomic task table  Notice patterns across users. Group similar atomic tasks together under one task name  Name these groups with verbs, not nouns  Adjust these groups as the patterns grow and shift  Estimate 4 hours per interview

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure Organize Tasks Into Groups  Arrange the tasks into task groups based on: –Steps the users described –Similarity of tasks  Do this for each audience, if there are multiple audiences  Compare results between audiences and combine if appropriate  Gather task groups into mental spaces

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 53 A Collaborative Approach to Organizing Tasks  Your team, an afternoon, a large blank wall, millions of Post-Its  Read notes and make stickies –One person plucks tasks from the transcript, the other writes them down on stickies –One task per sticky, different colored stickies depending on the number of times different people mentioned the same task  Make stickies and move them around until they make sense –Cluster similar stickies on the wall and give them a name –Cluster similar clusters together, and give them a name, too  Voila! Tasks, Task Groups, and Mental Spaces

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 54 Walls of Stickies Thanks: Marc Rettig

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure Build the Mental Model  A simple visualization of how users think about the workflow you explored in the interviews  With transcript analysis, you broke activities down into their most basic elements  With the mental model diagram, you build them back up into meaningful groups  Meaningful groups are in separate areas, across a landscape  Make it a team effort – one person makes a first draft, but team members and clients should participate in refining it

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 56  Consists of: Tasks  The individual tasks that people perform when attempting to achieve a larger goal What a Mental Model Looks Like

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 57  Consists of: Task Groups  Tasks for the same goal grouped together What a Mental Model Looks Like

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 58  Consists of: Mental Spaces  The set of goals which together form a complete activity What a Mental Model Looks Like

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 59 How a Mental Model is Used  Existing site content from audit is “slotted” underneath to show where current site meets (or doesn’t) users’ needs. Proposal Template Proposal Submission Form Online Discussion Boards  Content Slotting

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 60 End result: Horizon Chart  Detailed map of your user’s everyday goals, and the individual tasks they undertake to achieve them  Shows where the existing site succeeds in meeting these goals; where it overshoots; where opportunities for future development lie  Excels as a reference document, a starting point for discussions about user requirements

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 61 Gather Assumptions & Requirements Develop Personas Understand Goals & Tasks Design Information Architecture Prioritize Features Validate Usability Prototypes & Patterns Build Content Model Analyze Competition Design Interaction

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 62 Architecture Review and Content Assessment  Architecture review looks at overview of structure –Captures high-level relationships between sections  Content audit looks at broad categories –Sampling of pages –Sufficient for most projects  A more detailed content inventory looks is more thorough –Make a big list of every piece and its URL –Give each piece a unique ID –Use this for CMS and other migration projects  Performed by someone other than the user researcher

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 63 High Level: Architecture Review  An overview of how content is structured  Identify organizational schemes  Map the site –Outline –Diagram  Refine content types (content types will be very important in a little while…)

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 64 Q: Can you automate the architecture review? A: Not really.

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 65 Typical Site-Mapping Tool Output

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 66 The Desired Result

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 67 A Closer Look: Content Audit  Identify Broad Types of Content  Typical Examples: –Executive biographies –Press releases –Product descriptions –Product documentation –Contact information –Tutorials –Case studies

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 68 Excruciating Detail: Content Inventory For every single piece of content on the site, ask:  What is it about?  Who is it for?  What type is it?  Where does it come from?

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 69 Content Inventory - Strategic Questions  ROT Removal –Is it redundant? –Is it outdated? –Is it trivial?  Does it have historical value?  Is it critical information for a small audience? -->In other words... can we get rid of it? Traffic analysis can help answer these questions.

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 70 Content Audit - Final Result  Spreadsheet with hundreds or thousands of lines, one line per page

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 71 Organize Your Types  Meaningful types are the crux of information architecture

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 72 Compare Content Types to Mental Model The types help achieve what tasks?

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 73 Comparison of Mental Model to Available Material  This is where it begins to come together  Slot content, functionality, and business requirements where it supports audiences’ mental model  Make sure to address every significant content area  Look for gaps If the project is “from scratch” and there are not many explicit features, etc., use the mental model to drive product requirements

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 74 Comparison – Very Much a Team Effort  Clients and stakeholders are essential in this process  Need domain expertise to ensure completeness

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 75 Comparison – Gap Analysis  Ideal – Every task in the audiences’ mental model is served by content and functionality  Practical – That is never the case

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 76 Gap Type 1 – User Needs Not Supported by Content  Could be an important oversight in the content of the site  Could be be an activity not appropriate for web content

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 77 Gap Type 2 – Content Available But No User Need  Could be extraneous content not worth maintaining (R.O.T.)  Could be an important way to empower the user

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 78 Let’s Look at What We Have  A diagram depicting the audience’s mental model across the top, and the company’s supporting material beneath it  Fuzzy’ user data has developed into a solid, rigorous model  A foundation from which to build the information architecture

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 79 Gather Assumptions & Requirements Develop Personas Understand Goals & Tasks Design Information Architecture Prioritize Features Validate Usability Prototypes & Patterns Build Content Model Analyze Competition Design Interaction

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 80 Q: So how do we get from the pile of content and features to a meaningful structured experience?

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 81 A: Let the mental model guide the way. How To Develop a High-Level IA In 3 E-Z Steps: 1.Organize information according to user expectations 2.Organize information based on qualities of the content 3.Label content areas using familiar language

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 82 Things To Remember – And Forget Remember:  Everything needs to have a place in the architecture – but not necessarily only one way to get to it.  Formality of this process is up to you Forget for now:  How content is produced  How your company is structured

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 83 The Architecture Diagram

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 84 Task-based Information Architecture – Step 1 Mental model super-groups become highest level of navigation

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 85 Task-based Information Architecture – Step 2 Conceptual groups become the second level

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 86 Task-based Information Architecture – Step 3 Slotted content and functionality from the Comparison is placed in appropriate area

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 87 Task-Based Information Architecture – Why Do It? Strengths  Makes certain that your site’s architecture responds to your visitors’ goals and tasks  Helps achieve business goals by presenting marketing-oriented content (e.g., cross-sells, up-sells) in a meaningful context Weaknesses  It’s a ‘first-pass’ at the information architecture –Deep structures must come from content analysis –All of it will need refinement  Some tasks don’t directly translate to navigation nodes  Limited in its depth

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 88 But Where Do We Go From Here?

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 89 Analytico-Synthetic Information Architecture  Based on time-tested principles of library science and information retrieval  Take all the content and features apart (analysis)  Then put it all back together again (synthesis)

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 90 Analysis – Content Attributes (Metadata) All content is intended:  For someone (an audience)  Who is trying to do something (a task) Additionally, identify intrinsic attributes of each content type  Start with some simple questions: –What is it? (White paper? Product review?) –Who made it? (Author) –When was it made? (Date Published) –Where was it made? (Location/Company Published)  Key question: What is it about? –Subject (Themes, Objects)  This is metadata –Information about information

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 91 etoys.com

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 92 Activity: Generating a Classification System  Divide into groups of five to seven  First: Appliance Attributes –Each team member picks a different appliance –List individual attributes e.g. Physical dimensions, color –Decide which attributes are appropriate for which audience segment e.g. do-it-yourself-er, contractor, first-timer  Second: Document Attributes –List content types e.g. product review, specifications

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 93 Analysis – The Attribute Space The content attributes combined with the subject attributes form the attribute space. Content type AuthorAudience Date Made TaskLocation SizeColor Price BrandFeatures Subject content attributessubject attributes

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 94 Analysis – Attribute Relevance  Relevance differs depending on audience and task  Eliminate attributes irrelevant to your audiences and their tasks  Audiences can have highly divergent sets of relevant attributes  Use the mental model diagram

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 95 Analysis – Attribute Relevance Remember – we’re concerned with content organization, not content presentation Content type AuthorAudience Date Made TaskLocation SizeColor Price BrandFeatures Subject content attributessubject attributes

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Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 97 Analysis – Innovation in Classification Wine.com Bestcellars.com

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 98 Activity: Classification System Step 2  Now match attributes with others on your team  Match document types to appliances.  Look for innovation

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 99 Synthesis  Attributes are the basis for organizing schemes  Look for the widest range of: –Audiences –Tasks –Content types  Look for commonalities among attributes  Group like attributes into categories  Organize categories into hierarchies  Apply the relevance test

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 100 Epinions.com

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 101 Synthesis – Primary and Secondary Structures  Multiple overlapping taxonomies are very common  Prioritize taxonomies by relevance  Make less relevant taxonomies secondary  “Edge cases” can usually (but not always) be eliminated

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 102 Intel.com

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 103 Synthesis – Verify with Card Sorting  An information architecture based on mental models ought to be fundamentally sound  Still, some assumptions are made in the organization process  And the business owners might have insisted on certain elements  Test your organization and nomenclature with card sorting

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 104 Card Sorting – Working with Users  Similar to building taxonomy, except users do it  Place concept names on cards  Ask the user to sort in piles that make sense –Encourage user to “throw away” any cards that aren’t of interest  Have user label each pile  Talk to the user about motivation, reasons, etc.

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 105 Card Sorting – Analysis  Gut analysis based on what you saw often suffices  Cluster analysis to get the details  Feed back into the information architecture

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 106 Synthesis – Nomenclature  Appropriate language is the key to success  I say potato, you say Solanum tuberosum

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure 107 Synthesis – Determining Nomenclature How to find out what terms work for your users: 1.Listen to them! 2.Read what they read 3.Watch how they work 4.Look at your competitors

Copyright 2002 Adaptive Path, LLC · · From Construct to Structure