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Specialty

Information architecture

Organizes, labels and connects the content of a website, an app or a service so people find what they are looking for and understand where they are.

In Spanish
Arquitectura de la información
Origin
Popularized by Wurman (1970s); on the web, Rosenfeld and Morville (1998)

What problem it addresses

When there is a lot of content, existing isn’t enough: if it can’t be found, it might as well not be there.

Principles

  • Organize

    Decide how content is grouped.

  • Label

    Choose names that make sense to the person searching.

  • Navigate

    Show where you are and where you can go.

  • Search

    Find something specific without going through everything.

Applications in design

  • Use it like this

    Test your menu labels with people before building it.

  • Avoid

    Copying the company’s org chart into the menu.

  • Don’t fall for it

    A search box doesn’t fix poor organization: people also browse.

Connections

Builds on

Related to

Authors and works

  1. 1996

    Richard Saul Wurman

    Spread the idea of the information architect, who organizes complex data so it can be understood.

  2. 1998

    Louis Rosenfeld and Peter Morville

    Described the organization, labeling, navigation and search systems of a website.

Sources

Original sources

  • Wurman, R. S. (Ed.). (1996). Information architects. Graphis.
  • Rosenfeld, L., & Morville, P. (1998). Information architecture for the World Wide Web. O’Reilly.

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