Book Review: Information Architecture

David Schatsky | May 15, 2003, 12:52 PM

The design of any non-trivial Web site must make explicit decisions about information architecture. Yet many sites are designed without regard for the discipline, putting technologists in the driver’s seat, or marketers, or committees of stakeholders that don’t understand the principles of information architecture.

What is IA? Information architecture is the crucial design layer that lies between graphic design and technology design. It represents a semantic organization of the content of a Web site that can make the site easier to use and more effective at fulfilling its core purposes.

When designing or changing your site, you need to work with an information architect. If you want to understand enough about the field of information architecture to hire a good one, or to work with one effectively, read Information Architecture: Blueprints for the Web by Christina Wodtke (New Riders, 2002; ISBN 0735712506).

The book gives a fine overview of the role of information architecture in Web site design. It’s comprehensive enough to teach you to recognize what you don’t know, without snowing you into thinking you’ll know it all after you read the book. It puts gurus and the rules they peddle in their proper place (which Jupiter has done in a report last year on usability, and helpfully illustrates the methods and the power of the principles of information organization and taxonomies. Whether you thought metadata was geed fodder or a Greek god, this book lays out simply what it is and how it can drive the usability of a Web site.

The book covers more than pure information architecture, giving a nice overview of interface design and navigation flow. Rather than comprising the book's focus, this breadth helps put IA in perspective.

Written in a witty, engaging style, I consider the book to be a key resource for any exec charged with making their Web site as effective as possible. Another resource not to overlook, by the way, is the Jupiter Site Review, which can rapidly give you actionable recommendations to improve your site today.