“Information Architect: is the one who organizes the patterns inherent in data, making the complex clear and who creates the structure or map of information which allows others to find their personal paths to knowledge” - Richard Saul Wurman
It sometimes seems that WWW has became a dumping land of websites. Websites in all shapes and sizes, of all colors and ranges. Out of the infinite numbers, only a finite number becomes successful and will establish themselves as the brands in the industry. But why does this happen?All the websites are developed by designers and developers who put painful efforts in grilling their creativity and skill .But website development is not a single process. It is a team work of various associated teams like design, development, testing, validation, SEO etc. So it is not possible to put blame on one single shoulder.
Importance of Information Architects
Among the teams involved in the overall process of website development, information architects too play a significant role but most of the time, it is subdued under the pressure of other work flows. An information architect works as a bridge between the visual design of a website and its complex structure of back end logic. In any website, the key focus should be on the UX levels rendered to the users or the target audience. If the user is not getting the required information that he wants from a website, then it creates a negative impression in the overall image of the website or the entire brands. In cases of big business houses with huge complex data to manage, the information architects plays a decisive role in bringing coherent structure to the unstructured data.
Once the requirement analysis of a website plan is done, the the prototype model will be on the move with different teams working on diverse domains like design, development etc. The IA will interact with the business stakeholders to have a clear idea about the requirements of information that their website should provide to the users. Now, it is possible to analyze the role of information architects in website designing. Not only that, there is a stark need for the IA to work in coordination with the web designer so that both the works goes hand in hand with out any contradictions.
How they help in successful design?
Balance between user and designer
The designer has to have frequent communication with the website owners so that the design will echo the exact requirements of the owner. but of course, the information architect helps the designer to get a good balance in the needs cited by the owner and with the web development company. In certain cases, it will not be possible for the web solution provider to comply exactly to what the stakeholder says, so, the IA will take the risk of convincing the benefits of going by the way of designer for better prospects of the website and also the business.
Depicts the full picture of website
After gathering the required data from the users and the owners of the business, the information architects will formulate the information hierarchy so that it will be easy for the designer to design the structures involved in web development.
High UX
Only if the user is able to find the right information at the right time, he will go back to the same website for more. So, more levels of UX can be converted to SEO statistics and monetary benefits too with the help from information architects.
Note:
It is a known fact that majority of the websites do know about the need of information architects in deciding the website architecture but it is not getting the required attention as it is being pushed aside by content strategies of internet marketing. But don't you think that information architects can contribute more to a better design?
