Information Architecture

The discipline of Information Architecture has only recently been recognised, its importance elevated by our growing reliance on the storage of vast quantities of data and on its rapid, meaningful interpretation.

The best definition I can find for it is as follows:

Information architecture involves the design of organization and navigation systems to help people find and manage information more successfully.

webword.com

I just love examples of well-designed signs, charts, presentations and webpages - things that truly turn data into information - and the links below lead you to the best examples that I've so far found of the science and art of Information Architecture.

Sites to Visit

• If you're new to Information Architecture, there's plenty of introductory material on the web. Try, for example, this University of Texas site or, this information from the imaginatively named newstrolls site.
• Richard Saul Wurman is a leading figure in the Information Architecture community. His quirky website links to information about the TEDMED3 conference, to his amazing Understanding USA and Understanding Children websites and to the websites of his friends and family. He is also the author of Information Anxiety and Information Anxiety 2, which I'd highly recommend.
• Another of the key figures in this area is Edward Tufte. He too has a distinctly quirky website which will link you to, among other things, summaries of his extraordinary books. In sharp contrast to Wurman, Tufte believes that the computer screen is currently too low-resolution to compete with the printed page in the production of high-quality, information-rich charts and illustrations. You can read a summary of Tufte's principles of design here.
• Website design is a particularly rich area for the application of Information Architecture principles. An especially rich source of links to this material appears on websitetips.com.
• A couple of interesting websites that demonstrate various aspects of Information Architecture are:
  • the Major League Baseball statistics section
    (click on the 'Stats' tab at the top of the screen)
  • the Inxight website, which offers a clever tool for allowing you to map and navigate a hierarchical website
  • the Kartoo search engine, which displays its results in a graphical format
• Another favourite author of mine whose work is broadly in this area is Donald A. Norman. After you've read one of his books you'll start to take an unhealthy interest in the design of everyday items such as doors, cups and vending machines. Donald A. Norman, in conjuction with the website design guru, Jakob Nielsen, has started the Nielsen Norman Group, to "help companies enter the age of the consumer, designing human-centered and services".