2. From Construct to Structure: Information Architecture from Mental Models Peter Merholz and Jeffrey Veen Adaptive Path http://adaptivepath.com/workshops/ui6

3. 2 October 2001Peter Merholz and Jeffrey Veen · {peterme, jeff}@adaptivepath.com · Patterns and Pathways2 Introductions – Peter Merholz  Partner, Adaptive Path  Formerly Creative Director of Epinions.com  Memberships – AIGA Experience Design, ASIS&T Information Architecture SIG, ACM SIGCHI  Conferences – Web.Builder, Web ‘98 to ‘01, ASIS&T Summits 2000, 2001, IA2000 Conference  Roustabout on mailing lists (notably SIGIA-L and CHI-Web)  Publisher of http://peterme.com/ - Personal musingshttp://peterme.com/  I practice information architecture, but don’t call myself an information architect  peterme@adaptivepath.com

4. 2 October 2001Peter Merholz and Jeffrey Veen · {peterme, jeff}@adaptivepath.com · Patterns and Pathways3 Introductions – Jeffrey Veen  Partner, Adaptive Path  Former Executive Director, Interface, at Hotwired/Lycos  Author, The Art and Science of Web Design and The Hotwired Guide to Style  Advisory Board Member, Web ‘99 to ‘01  Conferences – User Experience World Tour, Thunder Lizard, others too numerous to mention  jeff@adaptivepath.com

5. 2 October 2001Peter Merholz and Jeffrey Veen · {peterme, jeff}@adaptivepath.com · Patterns and Pathways4 What Is Information Architecture? Information architecture is the structural design of the information space to facilitate intuitive access to content

6. 2 October 2001Peter Merholz and Jeffrey Veen · {peterme, jeff}@adaptivepath.com · Patterns and Pathways5 Structural Design of the Information Space… IA is the means by which we get from a pile of stuff to a structured experience.

7. 2 October 2001Peter Merholz and Jeffrey Veen · {peterme, jeff}@adaptivepath.com · Patterns and Pathways6 …To Facilitate Intuitive Access to Content Intuitive access means meeting user expectations.

8. 2 October 2001Peter Merholz and Jeffrey Veen · {peterme, jeff}@adaptivepath.com · Patterns and Pathways7 Common Information Architecture Problems  Information structures that resemble a company’s org chart –Your users don’t care what department you’re in

9. 2 October 2001Peter Merholz and Jeffrey Veen · {peterme, jeff}@adaptivepath.com · Patterns and Pathways8 Information structures that reflect a designers’ bias –Jargon, industry standards

10. 2 October 2001Peter Merholz and Jeffrey Veen · {peterme, jeff}@adaptivepath.com · Patterns and Pathways9 Structures that are not extensible –Making changes requires starting from scratch

11. 2 October 2001Peter Merholz and Jeffrey Veen · {peterme, jeff}@adaptivepath.com · Patterns and Pathways10 Structures that are not extensible

12. 2 October 2001Peter Merholz and Jeffrey Veen · {peterme, jeff}@adaptivepath.com · Patterns and Pathways11 How Do You Create an Intuitable Information Architecture? At the highest level, you…. 1.Research target population 2.Develop mental model diagrams from that research 3.Map content to the mental models 4.Derive a top-down structure based on audiences and their tasks 5.Derive a bottom-up structure based on content attributes

13. 2 October 2001Peter Merholz and Jeffrey Veen · {peterme, jeff}@adaptivepath.com · Patterns and Pathways12 What is a Mental Model? How the user thinks about and approaches their tasks and goals, usually defined within a system of interaction

14. 2 October 2001Peter Merholz and Jeffrey Veen · {peterme, jeff}@adaptivepath.com · Patterns and Pathways13 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

15. 2 October 2001Peter Merholz and Jeffrey Veen · {peterme, jeff}@adaptivepath.com · Patterns and Pathways14 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

16. 2 October 2001Peter Merholz and Jeffrey Veen · {peterme, jeff}@adaptivepath.com · Patterns and Pathways15 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

17. 2 October 2001Peter Merholz and Jeffrey Veen · {peterme, jeff}@adaptivepath.com · Patterns and Pathways16 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 $

18. 2 October 2001Peter Merholz and Jeffrey Veen · {peterme, jeff}@adaptivepath.com · Patterns and Pathways17 The High-Level Process – Two Tracks

19. 2 October 2001Peter Merholz and Jeffrey Veen · {peterme, jeff}@adaptivepath.com · Patterns and Pathways18 Why Perform Task Analysis?  Prototyping does not provide any rigorous and thorough way to ensure the design meets all the user and business requirements. Prototyping is hit-and-miss.  Provides a way to trace back all aspects of the user interface to the user task flow and business requirements.  Helps designers focus on the operational problems to solve rather than implementation problems.

20. 2 October 2001Peter Merholz and Jeffrey Veen · {peterme, jeff}@adaptivepath.com · Patterns and Pathways19 The Goal of Task Analysis A complete mental model diagram – collections of tasks in ever- more-general groupings

21. 2 October 2001Peter Merholz and Jeffrey Veen · {peterme, jeff}@adaptivepath.com · Patterns and Pathways20 In The Beginning, We Talk to the Users…

22. 2 October 2001Peter Merholz and Jeffrey Veen · {peterme, jeff}@adaptivepath.com · Patterns and Pathways21 Types of User Research  Conceptual research (User Interviews, Contextual Inquiry, Surveys)  Preference research (Surveys, Focus Groups, Interviews, Card Sorting)  Ability research (Prototypes, Usability Testing, Log Analysis, Customer Feedback Analysis)

23. 2 October 2001Peter Merholz and Jeffrey Veen · {peterme, jeff}@adaptivepath.com · Patterns and Pathways22 User Research – Understand Your Audience  Examine target market data  Examine competitive analysis data  Examine usability data  Examine log data  Form groups of target audiences with descriptions and priorities  Later, possibly re-define the groups as users define themselves

24. 2 October 2001Peter Merholz and Jeffrey Veen · {peterme, jeff}@adaptivepath.com · Patterns and Pathways23 User Research – Prepare Interview Questions  Select a workflow to explore.  Learn domain vocabulary and player names.  Employ ethnographic inquiry—to encourage open answers, rather than to lead the interviewee in any preconceived direction.  The written questions become prompts in a conversation, rather than a verbatim script.  Determine if face-to-face or telephone interviews are appropriate.  Alternate: user representatives

25. 2 October 2001Peter Merholz and Jeffrey Veen · {peterme, jeff}@adaptivepath.com · Patterns and Pathways24 User Research – Conduct Interviews - Protocol  Alter the questions as needed to meet the mood, tone, personality, and professional status of each interviewee.  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

26. 2 October 2001Peter Merholz and Jeffrey Veen · {peterme, jeff}@adaptivepath.com · Patterns and Pathways25 User Research – Conduct Interviews - Process  Take as-close-to-verbatim notes as is feasible –Type yourself –Have someone else listen and type –Tape-record and transcribe (get permission!)  Estimate 1 hour per interview, plus one hour cleaning up notes  Interview at least 5 people per audience type  End Result: Detailed notes from a series of interviews

27. 2 October 2001Peter Merholz and Jeffrey Veen · {peterme, jeff}@adaptivepath.com · Patterns and Pathways26 …And Then We Begin To Analyze The User…

28. 2 October 2001Peter Merholz and Jeffrey Veen · {peterme, jeff}@adaptivepath.com · Patterns and Pathways27 User Data Analysis – What It Is  An extremely detailed analysis of your users’ tasks in accomplishing their goal  A de-personalized method of understanding 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

29. 2 October 2001Peter Merholz and Jeffrey Veen · {peterme, jeff}@adaptivepath.com · Patterns and Pathways28 User Data Analysis – Analyze Notes  Read over interview transcripts, scanning for ‘tasks’  Copy each task to the atomic task table.  As you interview more users, you will notice patterns. Group similar atomic tasks together under one task name.  Change these groups as the patterns grow and shift.  Alternate: white board task analysis  Estimate 4 hours per interview

30. 2 October 2001Peter Merholz and Jeffrey Veen · {peterme, jeff}@adaptivepath.com · Patterns and Pathways29 User Data Analysis – Develop Conceptual Groups  Group the Tasks into conceptual groups based on: –Steps the users described –Similarity of tasks  Determine which conceptual groups apply to the system.  Do this for each audience, if there are multiple audiences.  Compare results between audiences and combine if appropriate.  Alphabetize conceptual groups for easy reference

31. 2 October 2001Peter Merholz and Jeffrey Veen · {peterme, jeff}@adaptivepath.com · Patterns and Pathways30 User Data Analysis – End Result  A set of conceptual groups and their constituent tasks for each audience  An appreciation for which tasks are common and more important

32. 2 October 2001Peter Merholz and Jeffrey Veen · {peterme, jeff}@adaptivepath.com · Patterns and Pathways31 …Leading To A Model Of The User’s Understanding…

33. 2 October 2001Peter Merholz and Jeffrey Veen · {peterme, jeff}@adaptivepath.com · Patterns and Pathways32 Mental Model Diagram – What It Is  A simple visualization of an audience’s collective mental model  With Task Analysis, you broke things down into their most basic elements  With the Mental Model, you build them back up into meaningful groups  Meaningful groups are presented left-to-right, across a landscape

34. 2 October 2001Peter Merholz and Jeffrey Veen · {peterme, jeff}@adaptivepath.com · Patterns and Pathways33 A Portion of a Mental Model

35. 2 October 2001Peter Merholz and Jeffrey Veen · {peterme, jeff}@adaptivepath.com · Patterns and Pathways34 Mental Model Diagram – Building It  Copy all the conceptual groups into a drawing tool (we use Visio)  Gather these groups into increasingly general super-groups  Arrange the super-groups into a meaningful order, if possible

36. 2 October 2001Peter Merholz and Jeffrey Veen · {peterme, jeff}@adaptivepath.com · Patterns and Pathways35 Mental Model Diagram – Principles  A team effort – though started by an individual, iterated with feedback from team members and clients  Make your super-groups verbs, not nouns

37. 2 October 2001Peter Merholz and Jeffrey Veen · {peterme, jeff}@adaptivepath.com · Patterns and Pathways36 Meanwhile… Someone Soaks In The Content

38. 2 October 2001Peter Merholz and Jeffrey Veen · {peterme, jeff}@adaptivepath.com · Patterns and Pathways37 The Content Audit  Developed by another member of your team  A content audit is an inventory of all the content and functionality on the current site, or otherwise available to the project  Doesn’t need to be detailed, but does need to be thorough  This inventory is crucial for the next step in the process

39. 2 October 2001Peter Merholz and Jeffrey Veen · {peterme, jeff}@adaptivepath.com · Patterns and Pathways38 …So We Can Figure Out How What We Have Compares To What They Want

40. 2 October 2001Peter Merholz and Jeffrey Veen · {peterme, jeff}@adaptivepath.com · Patterns and Pathways39 Comparison of Mental Model to Current Features, Content, and Business Goals  This is where it begins to come together  Slot content, functionality, and business goals where it supports audiences’ mental model  Make sure to address every significant content area  If this is a new property and there are not many explicit features, etc., use this to drive product requirements

41. 2 October 2001Peter Merholz and Jeffrey Veen · {peterme, jeff}@adaptivepath.com · Patterns and Pathways40 Comparison – Very Much a Team Effort  Clients and stakeholders are essential in this process  Need domain expertise to ensure completeness

42. 2 October 2001Peter Merholz and Jeffrey Veen · {peterme, jeff}@adaptivepath.com · Patterns and Pathways41 Comparison – Gap Analysis  Ideal – Every task in the audiences’ mental model is served by content and functionality  Practical – That is never the case

43. 2 October 2001Peter Merholz and Jeffrey Veen · {peterme, jeff}@adaptivepath.com · Patterns and Pathways42 Comparison – Gap Type 1 – User Needs But No Supporting Material  Determine if new material is needed here  Could simply be where the user will not be engaged in the Web site

44. 2 October 2001Peter Merholz and Jeffrey Veen · {peterme, jeff}@adaptivepath.com · Patterns and Pathways43 Comparison – Gap Type 2 – Supporting Material But No User Need  Could be extraneous material not worth maintaining  Could be important material not addressed in the mental model for some reason (i.e., didn’t talk to a certain type of user)

45. 2 October 2001Peter Merholz and Jeffrey Veen · {peterme, jeff}@adaptivepath.com · Patterns and Pathways44 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

46. 2 October 2001Peter Merholz and Jeffrey Veen · {peterme, jeff}@adaptivepath.com · Patterns and Pathways45 And Now We Can Put It All Together…

47. 2 October 2001Peter Merholz and Jeffrey Veen · {peterme, jeff}@adaptivepath.com · Patterns and Pathways46 Designing the Information Architecture So how do we get from the pile of content and features to a meaningful structured experience?

48. 2 October 2001Peter Merholz and Jeffrey Veen · {peterme, jeff}@adaptivepath.com · Patterns and Pathways47 Develop an Information Architecture in 2 E-Z Steps  Organize information according to user expectations  Label content areas using familiar language

49. 2 October 2001Peter Merholz and Jeffrey Veen · {peterme, jeff}@adaptivepath.com · Patterns and Pathways48 Two Paths to an Information Architecture 1.Task-based information architecture Top-down approach Tasks become major content ‘buckets’ Non-standard 2.Analytico-synthetic information architecture Bottom-up approach Take all the content and features apart (analysis) Then put it all back together again (synthesis) What most people think of when they think of “information architecture”

50. 2 October 2001Peter Merholz and Jeffrey Veen · {peterme, jeff}@adaptivepath.com · Patterns and Pathways49 The Two Paths, Diagrammed

51. 2 October 2001Peter Merholz and Jeffrey Veen · {peterme, jeff}@adaptivepath.com · Patterns and Pathways50 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:  How content is produced  How your company is structured

52. 2 October 2001Peter Merholz and Jeffrey Veen · {peterme, jeff}@adaptivepath.com · Patterns and Pathways51 Task-based Information Architecture – Why To Do It  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

53. 2 October 2001Peter Merholz and Jeffrey Veen · {peterme, jeff}@adaptivepath.com · Patterns and Pathways52 Task-based Information Architecture – Step 1 Mental model super-groups become highest-level

54. 2 October 2001Peter Merholz and Jeffrey Veen · {peterme, jeff}@adaptivepath.com · Patterns and Pathways53 Task-based Information Architecture – Step 2 Conceptual groups become the second level of navigation

55. 2 October 2001Peter Merholz and Jeffrey Veen · {peterme, jeff}@adaptivepath.com · Patterns and Pathways54 Task-based Information Architecture – Step 3  Slotted content and functionality from the Comparison is placed in appropriate area

56. 2 October 2001Peter Merholz and Jeffrey Veen · {peterme, jeff}@adaptivepath.com · Patterns and Pathways55 Task-based Information Architecture - Caveats  Best used as a ‘first-pass’ at the information architecture  Some tasks don’t directly translate to navigation nodes  Limited in its depth

57. 2 October 2001Peter Merholz and Jeffrey Veen · {peterme, jeff}@adaptivepath.com · Patterns and Pathways56 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)

58. 2 October 2001Peter Merholz and Jeffrey Veen · {peterme, jeff}@adaptivepath.com · Patterns and Pathways57 Analysis – Types of Content  From the content audit, identify broad types of content  Typical Examples: –Executive biographies –Press releases –Product descriptions –Product documentation –Contact information –Tutorials –Case studies

59. 2 October 2001Peter Merholz and Jeffrey Veen · {peterme, jeff}@adaptivepath.com · Patterns and Pathways58 Analysis – Core Content Attributes All content is intended:  For someone (an audience)  Who is trying to do something (a task)

60. 2 October 2001Peter Merholz and Jeffrey Veen · {peterme, jeff}@adaptivepath.com · Patterns and Pathways59 Analysis – Further Content Attributes (Metadata)  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

61. 2 October 2001Peter Merholz and Jeffrey Veen · {peterme, jeff}@adaptivepath.com · Patterns and Pathways60 Analysis – Metadata Example  What is it? – Product description  Who is the audience? -- Customers  What is the audience trying to do? – Research products  Who made the content? – Manufacturer  When was it made? – August 15, 2001  Where was it made? – San Francisco, CA  What is it about? – Wine

62. 2 October 2001Peter Merholz and Jeffrey Veen · {peterme, jeff}@adaptivepath.com · Patterns and Pathways61 Analysis – Subject Attributes (Facets)  All content has a subject –In this case, “Wine”  Subjects exist independent of content  Subject attributes are highly specific to that subject

63. 2 October 2001Peter Merholz and Jeffrey Veen · {peterme, jeff}@adaptivepath.com · Patterns and Pathways62 Analysis – Facet Example Wine –Varietal – Chardonnay –Region – Napa Valley –Price per bottle – $15 –Winery – Mondavi

64. 2 October 2001Peter Merholz and Jeffrey Veen · {peterme, jeff}@adaptivepath.com · Patterns and Pathways63 Analysis – The Attribute Space The content attributes combined with the subject attributes form the attribute space. Content type AuthorAudience Date Made TaskLocation VarietalRegion Price WineryWeight Subject content attributessubject attributes

65. 2 October 2001Peter Merholz and Jeffrey Veen · {peterme, jeff}@adaptivepath.com · Patterns and Pathways64 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  Personas and scenarios helpful

66. 2 October 2001Peter Merholz and Jeffrey Veen · {peterme, jeff}@adaptivepath.com · Patterns and Pathways65 Analysis – Attribute Relevance Remember – we’re concerned with content organization, not content presentation Content type AuthorAudience Date Made TaskLocation VarietalRegion Price WineryWeight Subject content attributessubject attributes

67. 2 October 2001Peter Merholz and Jeffrey Veen · {peterme, jeff}@adaptivepath.com · Patterns and Pathways66 Analysis – Innovation in Classification Wine.com Bestcellars.com

68. 2 October 2001Peter Merholz and Jeffrey Veen · {peterme, jeff}@adaptivepath.com · Patterns and Pathways67 Content Types Revisited  Each type should have a unique set of attributes  Multiple types with identical attribute sets can probably be combined  Different attribute sets within a type should probably be split apart  Apply common sense

69. 2 October 2001Peter Merholz and Jeffrey Veen · {peterme, jeff}@adaptivepath.com · Patterns and Pathways68 Synthesis  Attributes are the basis for organizing schemes  Look for the widest range of: –Audiences –Tasks –Content types

70. 2 October 2001Peter Merholz and Jeffrey Veen · {peterme, jeff}@adaptivepath.com · Patterns and Pathways69 Synthesis – Taxonomy  Look for commonalities among attributes  Group like attributes into categories  Organize categories into hierarchies  Apply the relevance test

71. 2 October 2001Peter Merholz and Jeffrey Veen · {peterme, jeff}@adaptivepath.com · Patterns and Pathways70 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

72. 2 October 2001Peter Merholz and Jeffrey Veen · {peterme, jeff}@adaptivepath.com · Patterns and Pathways71 Synthesis – Primary and Secondary - Wine Wine.com Bestcellars.com

73. 2 October 2001Peter Merholz and Jeffrey Veen · {peterme, jeff}@adaptivepath.com · Patterns and Pathways72 Synthesis – Nomenclature  Appropriate language is the key to success  I say potato, you say Solanum tuberosum

74. 2 October 2001Peter Merholz and Jeffrey Veen · {peterme, jeff}@adaptivepath.com · Patterns and Pathways73 Synthesis – Determining Nomenclature How to find out what terms work for your users: 1.Ask them! 2.Read what they read 3.Watch how they work 4.Look at your competitors

75. 2 October 2001Peter Merholz and Jeffrey Veen · {peterme, jeff}@adaptivepath.com · Patterns and Pathways74 Synthesis – Controlling Vocabulary  Eliminates ambiguity  Minimizes user confusion  Insures consistency of experience

76. 2 October 2001Peter Merholz and Jeffrey Veen · {peterme, jeff}@adaptivepath.com · Patterns and Pathways75 Synthesis – Principles for Controlling Vocabulary  All terms are clearly defined  A term always means the same thing  Each term is differentiated from others

77. 2 October 2001Peter Merholz and Jeffrey Veen · {peterme, jeff}@adaptivepath.com · Patterns and Pathways76 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

78. 2 October 2001Peter Merholz and Jeffrey Veen · {peterme, jeff}@adaptivepath.com · Patterns and Pathways77 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.

79. 2 October 2001Peter Merholz and Jeffrey Veen · {peterme, jeff}@adaptivepath.com · Patterns and Pathways78 Card Sorting – Analysis  Gut analysis based on what you saw often suffices  Cluster analysis to get the details  Feed back into the information architecture

80. 2 October 2001Peter Merholz and Jeffrey Veen · {peterme, jeff}@adaptivepath.com · Patterns and Pathways79 http://adaptivepath.com/workshops/ui6 {peterme, jeff}@adaptivepath.com