information architecture
"It's not about the pretty colours or shiny buttons but the real guts of your website. Information architecture is about getting your hands dirty, to deliver the most appropriate and efficient site structure, and user experience".
Information architecture (IA) is the study of your websites content and the complex systems used to deliver this. The IA for your site depends largely on your business and user goals, if a user can complete their tasks in the most efficient, appropriate and accessible way then the architecture is sound and will deliver the best user experience automatically. Having identified the user goals, during the more detailed user experience investigation, your site can be re-architected based on your results and findings producing a usable and accessible website.
IA deliverables
- Site content audit - what content have you got, what are we keeping and what's being thrown out?
- Requirements - what does the site need to achieve from a user, and business perspective?
- Sitemap - the structural design and positioning of pages within the site
- Wireframes - detailed templates for mobile, tablet and desktop architecture showing content type, layout, and accessible functionality, completed in Omnigraffle, Visio, Axure and by hand when needed
- High Fidelity Prototypes - interactive detailed prototypes, completed in Axure, highlighting key functionality, processes and interactions
You would expect to receive a range of these documents when working with dirty digital. Documents can also take different forms as shown by the hand drawn wireframe example on the left. These are often completed in the early stages of the process for speed and accuracy, enabling you to see the IA come alive instantly. Hand drawn wireframes are then reworked into a fully electronic format for distribution.
It is key to get exactly what you need and want when working with dirty digital, so we pride ourselves on delivering documentation in the most useful and efficient format. Take a closer look at some of the dirty digital templates.