Appendix 3: Information Architect 

There are many factors in a quality web site design   technical development, creativity, writing, color 

balance, organization   but careful planning is what makes or breaks a site.  For smaller web sites, 

organizing and linking pages can seem obvious just from being familiar with the content. On more 

complex sites, however, organizing content in a coherent and accessible fashion is more of a 

challenge.  

Over the past few years methods have been developed to meet these organizational challenges. The 

results of these design methods have been termed "information architecture" to describe information 

organized for use by specific audiences. 

In larger web projects, an "information architect" is responsible for the design and quality of this 

organization. Information architects can play a role in most of the stages of site development, 

including requirements, specification, design, evaluation, and testing.  As such they often serve as 

something of a project manager. 

Depending on the scale of site development, and thus the level of planning, an information architect 

should be able to: 

Define the goals for a site, both for the site s audience, and for the overall project.  Throughout 

the project the IA is responsible for ensuring that a site meets these goals.  Defining and sticking 

to overall goals keeps projects on track.  

Define the target audiences and rank them, possibly defining user mental models or personas for 

unfamiliar audiences.  Explicitly defining an audience s needs ensures that design decisions are 

based upon agreed upon needs, rather than personal preferences. 

Define scenarios or use cases that can be used to create site specifications  descriptions of the 

"what" and "how" of site functionality. Scenarios and use cases are broken down into specific 

tasks, or steps to achieving user goals.  These become functions the site must provide. 

Create and maintain a content inventory and hierarchy, including defining and labeling content 

categories.  This includes defining controlled vocabularies to describe content, and thesauri to 

describe term relationships.  

Create wire frames and navigation maps to communication site architecture. These design 

documents provide a "big picture" view of what will be produced, and how it will function. 

Specify an appropriate navigation system, including labeling, linking, and indexing/searching. A 

good design ensures that content is placed within a useful and consistent context, providing 

access to related information. 

Perform heuristic and usability testing. These evaluations ensure usability requirements are met 

with respect to language, layout and graphics, information design/organization, and the user 

interface. 

Be an advocate of users  needs throughout all the stages of site development and deployment.  

Although not a measurable task, no other project member is specifically responsible for taking 

care of users  needs, which is often the genuine measure of a site s success. 

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Web Services Committee 

Page 21 

May 28, 2002