You’re designing a UX project. How can you ensure your information architecture is the best it can be?

In my approach, the initial phase precedes goal definition—it centers around comprehending users through thorough user research. This involves gaining insights into the target audience and understanding their objectives and preferences. The next step is to identify user personas along with their distinctive characteristics. This foundational understanding is a crucial guide in defining project goals and scope.

- Define Goals and Objectives: Clearly outline the project's purpose and desired outcomes. - Gather Data from Users and Competitors: Collect comprehensive insights from users and market competitors. - Confirm Resource Utilization with In-House Team: Assess the use of existing company resources with the in-house team. - Integrate Tracking Methods for Project Effectiveness: Implement tracking mechanisms to measure project performance.

Approach to designing Information Architecture (IA) largely depends on the domain/industry. In B2B, target users might be experts/specialists, so IA needs to match their knowledge/competence level. In B2C, things might be fuzzier, so UX Designers may want to perform open card sorting to figure things out. Irrespective of the context, designers should rely on domain knowledge—whether theirs or from experts—as it is key to creating IA that matches user's mental models. Also, IA isn't just about creating sitemaps, it also decides how information is displayed on widgets like cards, shaping how they behave. Good IA is about how things look (e.g. font sizes and colors) and how they're arranged (e.g. order of information) to make products better.

From my experience, early testing methods such as card sorting and tree testing are very important for defining a good Information Architecture. Understanding the users' preferences before building a website or a mobile app is key to user satisfaction, as it ensures the IA aligns with the users' mental models.

Observe your target users' everyday interactions with various products and their corresponding information architectures to gain a comprehensive understanding of their ecosystem. Users rely on past experiences when recalling information, so design an intuitive information architecture that reflects familiarity from previous interactions.

Practicing Jacob's law important factor plays in designing intuitive experiences There are several laws in UX written based on learnings and they will be helpful to start with obviously.

Use card sorts to create the basic structure. Work with your clients to identify any odd, non-intuitive connections. Take a moment to see if there is an opportunity to consolidate or expand. Write up your tasks and test them with paper block wireframes.

I came across a very interesting problem related to refining the IA of a website that I was redesigning after conducting a usability test. I realized that even though the convention was to have 5-7 menu items in a navigation, users were actually more comfortable with having more items. One of them even said that they liked having all the options right in front of them, rather than having to open drop downs for each menu option. Since this was an A/B Test, the IA with more menu items received more positive feedback, and was easier to navigate. However, if the website was mobile-first having more menu items would not be suitable. What are your thoughts on this?

Design the IA to accommodate future growth and expansion. Plan for scalability as the content volume or scope increases. Document the IA structure and guidelines for future reference. Provide documentation for developers and content creators.