Information Architecture applied to a certain material answers the question of:
How do you structure the information from the whole material, so that the beneficiaries easily find and understand what they need?
Here are the 3 IA principles that i picked for deep diving during a recent inspiration session that i hosted for people creating various kinds of materials (learning, marketing, sales, legal, compliance) in a company:
1. The map of the material
Help the beneficiary have a clear image of the map of the whole material.
Offer both a clear table of contents and the current point where the beneficiary is while going through the material.
Examples from practice:
For a book: the table of contents + chapter/sub-chapter visible on pages + page numbers
For a slide deck: the agenda slide + topic title visible on slides + slide numbers
For a Youtube video: chapters with timestamps in description + on the video itself
For a Miro board: coherent overview while zoomed out + visual identifiers (icons, colored labels etc.) for each relevant frame
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2. In the order of relevance
Not all the information in a material has the same value.
Prioritise based on relevance, both for the beneficiary and for the company.
Examples from practice:
Order the parts of the material based on relevance - e.g. start with the most relevant information to pique interest of beneficiaries
Deprioritize, minimize, send links or eliminate less relevant information from the material
Adjust the material when the beneficiary group changes = the relevance of the various information chunks in the material changes
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3. Navigation for rookies
Support easy navigation for beneficiaries with low experience on the topic.
Use terms as less technical as possible for the names of the categories in the material’s structure.
Examples from practice:
For important materials, check whether people “with fresh eyes” can easily navigate through the material
Adjust the name of the categories in the structure based by using common language that beneficiaries use when going through the material
Variation: card sorting exercise for the categories in the material’s structure, where participants can propose new, simpler names for the cards.
Thanks for reading! Next time, i want to share with you some principles from Information Design that i’ve been using.
Enjoy the practice,
Bülent
I’m a seasoned Visual Facilitator who pioneers using 2D and 3D visuals for guiding sr. leadership decisions and initiatives in areas like strategy, foresight, org design and related.
Here I’m learning in public in the beautiful area of Visuals & Videos.