Information Architecture

Design the structure that holds the content. Stack-agnostic. Applies to marketing sites, product surfaces, knowledge bases, e-commerce, and editorial content.

A well-designed IA makes the rest of the project easier. A poorly-designed IA forces every downstream decision to fight the structure.

When to use

• Designing a new site or major section from scratch
• Restructuring an existing site
• Adding a new content type or category
• Designing site navigation or menu systems
• Defining URL structure and slug patterns
• Building taxonomies or tag systems
• Auditing an existing IA for problems

When NOT to use