Information architecture and interaction design are interconnected. When interaction designer research and builds amazing experiences for users, information architects focus on developing, organizing, structuring, labeling information, and content in an effective way to enhance good experiences.
My friends always describe me as a food lover. Since I am living alone I always go on apps like Uber Eats and Doordash for easier grocery delivery while getting my work down or when I’m not feeling like cooking, I order in. And something I like about this whole online grocery shopping experience is how fast technology allows me to find what I want and even the ability to compare prices between similar goods instantly.
I would like to think grocery store as a common physical example of what information architecture can do. Fresh foods, vegetables and fruits, drinks, snacks, deli, and frozen foods are divided onto different shelves in a grocery store, and that may be where a lot of people were first unintentionally being introduced to the idea.
Back to delivery apps, I see architects first give users plenty of grocery store options to choose from. Then products are divided into Meat & Fish, Dairy & Eggs, Bakery, Fresh Food, Household, Pet Care, etc. Then there goes subcategories. I can also rearrange them from lowest to highest price; filter to see what is today’s sales. Doordash even generates personalized categories like Better For You, based on my view history. What’s more, seasonal categories, and since Mother’s Day is coming, there are options for Gifts for Mom and Mothers Day Brunch. I am surprised by the amount of thoughts that have been put into this. Structured information architecture will be a solid foundation for interaction designer to work on as in finding information and completing tasks.
