My first knowledge of information architecture came from a class where the professor asked us to put all the information labels that could potentially appear in our design on a sticky note. This activity was my first step in understanding information architecture. After doing that, I did find that I knew how to arrange the information better in the design.
After I learned about information architecture, I realized that many things in this information age contain this concept. Especially platforms that include vast amounts of information. The first example that comes to mind is the Google Arts and Culture website(https://artsandculture.google.com/). This site contains information on artworks from all over the world, stories about them, and the latest art-related news. But it’s not confusing when opening their homepage because all the information is well organized, and users know where to find them. The titles and layout of the website direct the user to the right spot. The opposite example is the school’s portal site(https://portal.cca.edu/). I tried to find information about students working one time. Still, I couldn’t find it on the homepage, navigation, or internal search (even the “work” tag is on the navigation bar), so I gave up the portal and looked on Google afterward.
I deeply feel the importance of information architecture in UX design. When users don’t know where to find the target information, they will give up using the platform, which is the worst outcome of a product. I think good information architecture needs to consider the human visual and more profound intuition of human cognition. Information architecture is the blueprint for interaction design, while interaction design and information architecture need to complement each other to achieve the best user experience.
