For a very long time, information architecture was this slippery thing that I’d only ever experienced in site maps and task flows. Foundations class was arguably our (IXD students’) biggest dive into these practices, likely due to the fact that, at the time, none of us were really aware of the complex frameworks underpinning our favorite websites and apps. Later, I came to understand IA by definition (designing the accessibility and use of information) and even applied it in certain situations, such as in presentations and my portfolio website (information design) and with ecosystem/other types of mapping (information systems).
It wasn’t until my internship at NerdWallet, however, that I experienced information architecture on a large-scale and org-wide scale. It just so happened that the content strategy team was launching a site-wide content audit during my three months at the company. Content audits are processes (usually carried out by a team) that document and review all of the content on a given website/app/product. In NerdWallet’s case, there were dozens of pages (split between articles, calculators, and roundups) that were outdated both in visual style and brand voice. The content strategists on my team (on top of their normal duties/projects) were tasked with updating, rewriting, or otherwise reworking these pages and organizing them in a massive spreadsheet with regards to priority and scale.
I got the cool opportunity to shadow a content strategist as she went through some of these old and hidden pages, giving my own ideas for replacement copy and talking with her through her process. The audit was incredibly important, because not only were these pages inconsistent with NerdWallet’s overall brand (threatening the goals of its content strategy) but many of them were also hidden in the navigation, unreachable except for those who knew exactly where to look. As an interaction designer pursuing content design, I know it’s immensely important to include IA into any design process as a way of organizing content. However, I’m also keenly aware of IA’s role in the lifespan of content, tracking how it waxes and wanes and shifts in the experience (and interactions) of a user.
