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Designing Information Architecture: A practical guide to structuring digital content for findability and easy navigability
A well-structured, easy-reference handbook on information architecture filled with essential knowledge, step-by-step instructions, and practical tips on IA methods A well-designed information architecture (IA) that makes it easier for people to find the information they need is essential to the success of any web app, network, or application―especially for information-rich, digital environments. Practical Information Architecture provides a comprehensive introduction to IA methods for those who are new to information architecture and want to get up to speed quickly while on the job. The book presents illustrative examples and case studies separately from reference information and practical guidance. You’ll gain the foundational knowledge you need to design effective information architectures, labeling systems, navigation systems, and search systems that meet users’ information-seeking needs. The book concludes with design guidance and analyses of information architectures for various domains, including Web sites, mobile devices, and voice user interfaces; personalized information architectures, and complex enterprise information architectures. After reading this book, you will be able to successfully execute an IA design project. The book is aimed primarily at aspiring information architects and UX professionals who create information architectures. The book also helps members of web development and product teams who need to understand what information architects do to work collaboratively with them. The book assumes beginner-level knowledge of the UX research, strategy, and design process.
570 pages, Paperback
Published March 28, 2025
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June 26, 2025
Helpful guide to information architecture (UI) which also covers user interface (UI) and user experience (UX). It's very detailed, with plenty of examples. It references many resources and recommends others. The author runs UXmatters.
Notes
What Is Information Architecture?
Goals of information architecture
• Make info easy to find
• Provide information scent (provide cues to help users find relevant info and ignore irrelevant info)
• Support browsing
• Support search
• Create sense of place (familiarity makes easier to use)
• Make content easy to consume
• Combat information overload
Recommended books
• Information Architecture: For the Web and Beyond (2015) by Louis Rosenfeld, Peter Morville, Jorge Arango ("classic, definitive, comprehensive")
• Information Architecture: Blueprints for the Web (2009) by Christina Wodtke
• A Practical Guide to Information Architecture (2010) by Donna Spencer (brief)
• Everyday Information Architecture (2019) by Lisa Maria Martin (brief)
• Designing Web Navigation (2007) by James Kalbach
How People Seek Information
Make interactions reversible so users feel safe interacting with UI or exploring an information space.
Location breadcrumbs are especially helpful when users click an external link that leads to a page deep within a different information space because they help users visualize the page’s location within its information hierarchy.
Structural Patterns and Organization Schemes
Try to limit number of categories at one level to <50.
Don't put a page in so many categories that it's difficult for people to understand hierarchy.
Hierarchy that's too broad and presents too many choices at once can overwhelm. Hierarchy that's too deep requires users to click through too many levels. Try to balance breadth and depth.
If there's good information scent at each decision point, people generally persist in seeking info they want.
Understanding and Structuring Content
Competitive content analysis
• Identify key competitors.
• Conduct content inventory. Inventory each competitor's information space. Note publication frequency, content quantity, content formats, topics.
• Conduct content audit. Decide what content to sample (e.g., most popular, most recent). Rate quality of particular types of content as low, medium, high. Determine competitor's SEO strategy. Evaluate each page's SEO (URL, meta description, meta title, headings, alt text, internal links, keyword density). Compare competitor's organic traffic with yours.
• Analyze content topics. For each page in sample, assign 1 or more topics. Identify what topics competitor is missing, and which you're missing.
• Analyze trends. Identify competitors' most prevalent, high-quality topics. Identify popular themes that are common across competitors.
Classifying Information
Synonym ring: List of equivalent terms for a concept that enables a search engine to broaden results. Not all terms must be true synonyms; near synonyms may be included.
Authority file: Index of authority records which define authoritative (preferred) terms for the concepts within body of knowledge.
Labeling Information
Accessibility standards
• Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0
• Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 3.0 Working Draft (incomplete)
• Web Accessibility Initiative–Accessible Rich Internet Applications (WAI-ARIA)
• ARIA Authoring Practices Guide (APG)
Limit personal pronouns in labels. When label refers to organization, use "Our" or "Us." When label refers to user, use "Your."
Don't center text anywhere, including titles, headings. Left-aligned text is easier to read.
Use white background with black text or black background with white text. If you must use a color rather than black, ensure it's dark. Most people find reading large blocks of white text on a dark background tiring, so reserve dark backgrounds for navigation bars and page title bars.
All caps requires ~30% more space than mixed case and slows reading speed by ~15%. Avoid all caps for long page titles and subheadings. Link labels are usually short, so you could use all caps for highest level of links.
Limit italics to single word or very brief phrase. Don't use for subheadings; they don't provide enough emphasis. Italic and oblique font styles don’t render as clearly on screens, so are harder to read.
Link labels should ideally be title of page linked to, or description of page linked to. If links are within a clearly titled page or labeled subsection of a page, generic labels such as "Learn More," "Read More," "View More" are OK.
It's best to show text labels with icons.
Foundations of Navigation Design
To take up less space on mobile, have breadcrumbs show only 1-2 levels above current page.
Consider adding "You are here" before breadcrumbs.
Designing Navigation
Button text labels should be verbs that indicate resulting action. Button labels are typically title case, bold text, centered. They should be 1 word, never more than 3. Capitalize 1st and last words.
Minimize use of submenus, and limit submenu levels to 1.
Megamenus should never scroll. Don't display megamenus on hover.
Any vertical navigation menu should be on left of page.
Because horizontal navigation bar can fit limited number of links, labels should be 1 word, never more than 3.
Use fixed positioning to place horizontal navigation bar at top of pages and scroll content behind it. You can automatically hide navigation bar when user scrolls down, then show it when user scrolls back up.
Hamburger menu limits visibility and discoverability, so don't use it on desktop unless you have too many links to fit.
When creating wireframes or mockups, use actual labels (not placeholders) for navigation to identify any layout problems that long labels or dynamic text might cause.
Designing Search
Pros & cons of on-demand loading of search results with infinite scrolling
• Provides seamless experience for savvy users
• Better suited to less goal-oriented tasks such as viewing a feed rather than seeking specific content
• More efficient because more results are loaded only when user wants them
• Difficult for users to know how many results have loaded or where they are within results
• Returning to a specific result earlier in the list can be challenging
• Users used to pagination controls may prefer them
Notes
What Is Information Architecture?
Goals of information architecture
• Make info easy to find
• Provide information scent (provide cues to help users find relevant info and ignore irrelevant info)
• Support browsing
• Support search
• Create sense of place (familiarity makes easier to use)
• Make content easy to consume
• Combat information overload
Recommended books
• Information Architecture: For the Web and Beyond (2015) by Louis Rosenfeld, Peter Morville, Jorge Arango ("classic, definitive, comprehensive")
• Information Architecture: Blueprints for the Web (2009) by Christina Wodtke
• A Practical Guide to Information Architecture (2010) by Donna Spencer (brief)
• Everyday Information Architecture (2019) by Lisa Maria Martin (brief)
• Designing Web Navigation (2007) by James Kalbach
How People Seek Information
People use the principle of least effort in their information seeking, even to the point that they will accept information they know to be of lower quality—less reliable—if it is more readily available or easier to use.Design Principles
Make interactions reversible so users feel safe interacting with UI or exploring an information space.
Location breadcrumbs are especially helpful when users click an external link that leads to a page deep within a different information space because they help users visualize the page’s location within its information hierarchy.
Structural Patterns and Organization Schemes
Try to limit number of categories at one level to <50.
Don't put a page in so many categories that it's difficult for people to understand hierarchy.
Hierarchy that's too broad and presents too many choices at once can overwhelm. Hierarchy that's too deep requires users to click through too many levels. Try to balance breadth and depth.
If there's good information scent at each decision point, people generally persist in seeking info they want.
Understanding and Structuring Content
Competitive content analysis
• Identify key competitors.
• Conduct content inventory. Inventory each competitor's information space. Note publication frequency, content quantity, content formats, topics.
• Conduct content audit. Decide what content to sample (e.g., most popular, most recent). Rate quality of particular types of content as low, medium, high. Determine competitor's SEO strategy. Evaluate each page's SEO (URL, meta description, meta title, headings, alt text, internal links, keyword density). Compare competitor's organic traffic with yours.
• Analyze content topics. For each page in sample, assign 1 or more topics. Identify what topics competitor is missing, and which you're missing.
• Analyze trends. Identify competitors' most prevalent, high-quality topics. Identify popular themes that are common across competitors.
Classifying Information
Synonym ring: List of equivalent terms for a concept that enables a search engine to broaden results. Not all terms must be true synonyms; near synonyms may be included.
Authority file: Index of authority records which define authoritative (preferred) terms for the concepts within body of knowledge.
Labeling Information
Accessibility standards
• Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0
• Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 3.0 Working Draft (incomplete)
• Web Accessibility Initiative–Accessible Rich Internet Applications (WAI-ARIA)
• ARIA Authoring Practices Guide (APG)
Limit personal pronouns in labels. When label refers to organization, use "Our" or "Us." When label refers to user, use "Your."
Don't center text anywhere, including titles, headings. Left-aligned text is easier to read.
Use white background with black text or black background with white text. If you must use a color rather than black, ensure it's dark. Most people find reading large blocks of white text on a dark background tiring, so reserve dark backgrounds for navigation bars and page title bars.
All caps requires ~30% more space than mixed case and slows reading speed by ~15%. Avoid all caps for long page titles and subheadings. Link labels are usually short, so you could use all caps for highest level of links.
Limit italics to single word or very brief phrase. Don't use for subheadings; they don't provide enough emphasis. Italic and oblique font styles don’t render as clearly on screens, so are harder to read.
Link labels should ideally be title of page linked to, or description of page linked to. If links are within a clearly titled page or labeled subsection of a page, generic labels such as "Learn More," "Read More," "View More" are OK.
It's best to show text labels with icons.
Foundations of Navigation Design
To take up less space on mobile, have breadcrumbs show only 1-2 levels above current page.
Consider adding "You are here" before breadcrumbs.
Designing Navigation
Button text labels should be verbs that indicate resulting action. Button labels are typically title case, bold text, centered. They should be 1 word, never more than 3. Capitalize 1st and last words.
Minimize use of submenus, and limit submenu levels to 1.
Megamenus should never scroll. Don't display megamenus on hover.
Any vertical navigation menu should be on left of page.
Because horizontal navigation bar can fit limited number of links, labels should be 1 word, never more than 3.
Use fixed positioning to place horizontal navigation bar at top of pages and scroll content behind it. You can automatically hide navigation bar when user scrolls down, then show it when user scrolls back up.
Hamburger menu limits visibility and discoverability, so don't use it on desktop unless you have too many links to fit.
When creating wireframes or mockups, use actual labels (not placeholders) for navigation to identify any layout problems that long labels or dynamic text might cause.
Designing Search
Pros & cons of on-demand loading of search results with infinite scrolling
• Provides seamless experience for savvy users
• Better suited to less goal-oriented tasks such as viewing a feed rather than seeking specific content
• More efficient because more results are loaded only when user wants them
• Difficult for users to know how many results have loaded or where they are within results
• Returning to a specific result earlier in the list can be challenging
• Users used to pagination controls may prefer them
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