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Our Services: Information Architecture
A website is only as good as the content within it. The content will never be seen if the underlying structure isn't logical and intuitive. And for us, this is a mandatory project phase for anyone who is serious about creating a usable online experience.
Open Card Sorting
An Open Card Sort involves putting all content items onto printed cards and asking representative users to place them into logical groups. Once sorted, the volunteers are asked to suggest appropriate titles for the groups they have created.
We then run the results through various software packages to create the optimum Information Architecture. This is an established and reliable technique that engages users and provides statistical evidence to support the output.
Closed Card Sorting
Based on the Open Card Sorting output, we would normally agree the content Group Names with key stakeholders. The Closed Sort then requires users to place the content items under the Group Names that have been decided upon.
The results from this process are again presented to the stakeholders and a more informed discussion can take place on how the website should be structured.
Naming Conventions
You can have the best web structure in the world, but there's no benefit if you persist with misleading or ambiguous titles.
Part of the facilitation of Card Sorting sessions is to canvass the views of users on ambiguous content titles. We find that learning about these types of issues from users is always surprising, and definitely enlightening.
Site Maps & Wireframes
Once the structure of the content has been decided, Site-maps are created that enable all project team members to understand the structure of the website, at a glance.
With the site structure in place, we can start to think about the structure of key pages in the site. This is done through Wireframes, which are a non-graphical representation of web pages, usually presented in PowerPoint or PDF format.
Wireframes provide a useful guide to what content should appear on certain pages. They also provide a very cost-effective method of developing navigation options and for deciding which content should take priority on a given page.