Intro to Information Architecture and Site Maps

The aisles within your local grocery store are categorized in a way that helps you, the customer, navigate the store and locate the items you are seeking. Library books are arranged using a specific system that helps people easily access work by an author within their favorite genre or subject area. Shopping for a product on Amazon Prime is often seamless and straightforward for the user due to the site’s organization. In short, people need and value direction and structure. Furthermore, people thrive best in well-organized environments because they can quickly access exactly what they need. This idea holds true within User Experience (UX) Design.

Information Architecture and UX Architects

In User Experience Design, Information Architecture, also called IA, is the science of organizing and structuring content in a logical user-friendly way. This discipline focuses on the organization of information within digital products, such as applications, software, and websites. 

UX architects achieve information architecture. They focus on the structure and flow of digital products. They conduct research and translate and organize the information into visual representations including sitemaps, wireframes, and prototypes. UX architects understand how the end-user will interact with a platform. They seek to unite the platform and the user in a way that is comfortable for the user. 

The Significance of Information Architecture

So why is IA important? Everyone is seeking some form of content and they’re looking to find it fast. Therefore, locating content is a time-sensitive practice. In today’s information age, information has become a commodity that is quickly and widely disseminated and easily available. User Experience Design ensures that the user’s experience is smooth and painless when interacting with a product or service. 

Information Architecture considers the user while structuring the content the user is seeking. Solid structure and flow within the apps and websites we utilize help us locate the content we want effortlessly. Additionally, if users can find the content they are pursuing straightforwardly, they are more likely to continue utilizing the app, software, or website. Conversely, if they cannot achieve their goal, they will likely abandon the platform.

Information Architecture is effective when the end-user is not hindered by the structure or flow of an app or site they are using. According to CareerFoundry, when all is in order, IA becomes invisible. 

“Good design, when it’s done well, becomes invisible. It’s only when it’s done poorly that we notice it.”

Jared Spool, UX Designer, Writer, Researcher, Speaker, Educator

UX architects are tasked with creating an experience in which a user can focus on retrieving the content they are seeking instead of figuring out how to navigate the platform they are using. Although IA is not directly visible or identifiable, it is the “backbone for design.” 

Eight Principles of Information Architecture

Information Architecture did not have a set of principles or guidelines, until Dan Brown, a well-known UX Designer, Information Architect, Speaker, and Consultant, shared his own. Brown published the following principles as a reference when creating and assessing the Information Architecture of a platform. 

1. The Principle of Objects: Treat content as a living, breathing thing with a lifecycle, behaviors, and attributes.
2. The Principle of Choices: Create pages that offer meaningful choices to users, keeping the range of choices available focused on a particular task.
3. The Principle of Disclosure: Show only enough information to help people understand what kinds of information they’ll find as they dig deeper.
4. The Principle of Exemplars: Describe the contents of categories by showing examples of the contents.
5. The Principle of Front Doors: Assume at least half of the website’s visitors will come through some page other than the home page.
6. The Principle of Multiple Classification: Offer users several different classification schemes to browse the site’s content.
7. The Principle of Focused Navigation: The principle of focused navigation – Don’t mix apples and oranges in your navigation scheme.
8. The Principle of Growth: Assume the content you have today is a small fraction of the content you will have tomorrow.

For a deeper look, view Brown’s Full PDF.

Site Maps in Information Architecture

A UX site map is a visual representation of the architecture of a website. Site maps are hierarchical diagrams that display how pages are prioritized, linked, and labeled. Information Architects often build site maps to clarify the purpose and goals of a website, communicate the structure and flow of a site to colleagues and team members working on the site, or analyze the organization of an existing site for improvement.

Site Maps: The City of Baltimore Website

Recently, I created a site map for the current Information Architecture of the City of Baltimore website. Town, city, and county websites within the United States are often structured poorly. Although these sites host a great amount of crucial content, the experience of obtaining this information can be a painful one. 

Current Site Map

At first glance, Baltimore’s site doesn’t look too bad. However, as I dove into the subpages of this site, I found that some of the pages are redundant, while other content feels out of place. 

For example, some main pages, such as “News,” also exist as subpages (under “Office of the Mayor). I understand why this may have been done, as users may want to access the latest news quickly and the news articles are published by the Office of the Mayor. However, in my opinion, this category of information is significant enough to stand alone. 

Similarly, “Online Payments” is linked within the top navigation of the site, but also exists within “311 Services.” Baltimore’s online payments are processed through an entirely different external website, so the link does not lead to a subpage. I could argue that “Online Payments” does not mesh with the rest of the content within “311 Services” but also feels misplaced in the top navigation. 

Finally, the site’s “Connect” page feels unnecessary and outdated, as it generates a stream of recent posts connected to individuals and branches serving the city. At the top of the page, there are icon links to filter these posts by social media, but the only icons that generate results are “All” and “Twitter.” Although the goal is for users to connect with the City of Baltimore via multiple platforms, this can be achieved differently. 

Proposed Site Map

After familiarizing myself with the City of Baltimore’s current site IA, I rearranged some of the site’s content to create a more manageable structure and flow. Here is my proposed site map.

Here, I limited some of the redundancy within the site by moving “Online Payments” to the header. “Online Payments” is important for the users of the site to access, but felt awkwardly placed in the top navigation. I decided to move “Online Payments” to the header since it links to an external website. That way, it’s one of the first things users see but does not disrupt the flow of the top navigation content. Considering its importance, I maintained “Online Payments” within the services page, just in case users miss it in the site header.

Additionally, I kept “News” in the top navigation of the site, but removed it from the “Office of the Mayor” page because I believe it is significant enough to stand alone. Each “News” subpage and article clearly communicate that the articles are published by the office of the mayor. 

To group similar content categories and limit the number of pages in the top navigation, I decided to combine “311 Services” and “Directory” into one page that eventually divides into two subpages. Furthermore, I removed the “Connect” page entirely, replacing it with social media links placed in the site’s footer. 

Altogether, my goal in developing a new Information Architecture was to limit the redundancy within the City of Baltimore’s website, solidify the purpose of each top navigation page, eliminate unnecessary pages and paths, and make navigating the site a smoother experience. 

View my entire sitemap exercise below.

Site Map Exercise Final Thoughts

Kudos to information architects! Structuring content and considering the user is definitely a balancing act. Through this exercise, I found that it may be easier for architects to develop a site map from scratch as opposed to creating a new structure and flow from the old. But then again, either approach may present challenges.

Some websites, like Google.com, may be straightforward, focusing on one specific topic or housing one kind of content, resulting in clean and simple site maps. Others, like town sites, may be hubs for all kinds of information and content. Nevertheless, there are likely gray areas and blurry lines when organizing content. Some information stands alone, some fits into multiple categories. 

All things considered, information architecture makes or breaks an application or website. If the organization of a platform inhibits the user from achieving their goal and accessing the content they need, the IA should be reworked.