Information architecture is the organization of information. A good information architecture can better present and guide users to recognize information, so that users can find the final information more efficiently and smoothly.
Why is IA important?
For some products that do not have many features, their information structure is generally simple and clear. Users can find what they want at a glance, and understand how to use the product. For some complex products such as e-commerce websites, the content and features of the product are often very complex and diverse. In order to enable users to complete tasks reasonably and efficiently according to the desired process, a good information architecture appears especially important.
As an interaction designer, information architecture is an important step before I design the user interface. In my past experience with IA, it successfully help me to clarify a lot of things, such as determine the features or functions are whether primary or secondary to the problem, control the amount of information present in one page, know what type of information needs to include in one category, and find out if there are other ways to organize information and make solution clearer.
Without information architecture, the product is possible to lack some necessary information, contain unnecessary repetition of information, or have unnecessary additional information. In other words, information architecture is the skeleton of product, allow designer and other collaborator see the structure of products clearly and save more time in iterations.
I believe information architecture is a structure increase the feasibility of product. Without information architecture, the product is likely to fail to provide a good user experience due to lack of consideration from different aspects.
IA and IXD
Although information and interaction design are closely connected, but they are different. Information architecture is information-oriented, showing the structure of information space and facilitate intuitive access to content. Interaction design is the task-oriented, defining how the user interacts with the site functionally. In other words, interaction design takes information architecture as its foundation and brings it to the next level to reach the goals. In addition, good Information architecture is the foundation of efficient user experience. Based on the infomation architecture, interaction design enhance the user experience by enabling the user to achieve their objectives in the best way possible.
