1. University Web Forum 27 June 2007 Mini Masterclass Information Architecture A crash course Presenter: Georg Hibberd

2. University Web Forum 27 June 2007 What it is Why we need it Basic principles Designing an IA Pitfalls and problems Overview

3. University Web Forum 27 June 2007 Continually being redefined A mix of info management / software interface design / cataloging and some other stuff What is it?

4. University Web Forum 27 June 2007 Structuring information Arrange it in a website to provide easy access Arrange in CMS to allow easy maintenance and pretty URLs What it involves

5. University Web Forum 27 June 2007 What are the aims of your unit? What does your unit see as the role of the site? How willing/able are you to support it? 1. Organisational needs

6. University Web Forum 27 June 2007 Who is/are your audience(s) What tasks are they trying to achieve Develop personas 2. Audience needs

7. University Web Forum 27 June 2007 Role based IA: divided at the top level by audience type Task based IA: divided at the top level by task type Role or task based

8. University Web Forum 27 June 2007 1.Many audiences, many tasks = role based 2.Many audiences, few tasks = task based 3.Few audiences, few tasks = task based Which one?

9. University Web Forum 27 June 2007 No hard and fast rules or definitive designs Each design will be contextual Some basic guidelines can be used but expect tweaking Design for growth It just has to be usable

10. University Web Forum 27 June 2007 Design for the audience, not the structure of your organisation Never assume that your audience knows as much as you do Think about the experience of the user across the entire uni, not just with your unit 3. Try to ignore political pressure

11. University Web Forum 27 June 2007 Tools for designing -Pens, paper and post-it notes -Whiteboards -Anything that can be changed easily

12. University Web Forum 27 June 2007 Content spreadsheets Documenting your design

14. University Web Forum 27 June 2007 Documenting your design Wireframes

16. University Web Forum 27 June 2007 White sites Documenting your design

17. University Web Forum 27 June 2007

18. 1. Tunnel vision – Ask opinion of others if stuck –Run finished design past carefully chosen colleagues –Remember your audience –Test with audience members constantly Pitfalls and problems

19. University Web Forum 27 June 2007 2. Selling your design –Use evidence (statistics, search logs, user studies, other successful websites) –Learn to compromise –Have faith in your design –Know when to let go Pitfalls and problems

20. University Web Forum 27 June 2007 Learn more Information architecture for the World Wide Web Louis Rosenfeld and Peter Morville Full text available through Library catalogue

21. University Web Forum 27 June 2007 Learn more Let others do the searching for you: http://del.icio.us/tag/ia