How to Organize Content II

Slides I designed for a second-level class on how to organize content using Information Architecture.

I explained the methods of Information Architecture and highlighted how Content Strategy and UX Writing comes into play.

Enjoy learning!

Transcript

1. How to Organize Content Introduction to Information Architecture II
2. Hola! I’m Lola Salehu, a product designer, writer and content strategist. — Paystack.
3. Today we’re gonna be talking about... The act of structuring and organizing content The classification of things or concepts to create hierarchy and provide meaning. Organization systems, labeling systems, navigation systems and searching systems. Information Architecture Content Strategy + UX Writing Methods of Information Architecture 02 03 01
4. Information Architecture (Recap) What is it? 01
5. Information Architecture The act of making sense of complexity by structuring and presenting content to users in a way that is relevant to their context and needs. • Content • Context and • Users
6. Recap: Elements of Information Architecture Information Architecture concerned with how content is structured and presented to a user at each touchpoint within the system, as experienced over time. User flows structure (and depicts) how a user experiences a system over time. + They work hand-in-hand
7. Methods of Information Architecture Organization Systems Labeling Systems 01 02 03 Navigation Systems Searching Systems 04
8. Organization Systems 01 What are thoseee?
9. Organization Systems These are groups or categories that are used to divide information. They help users to predict where they can find certain information easily. There are three main organizational systems: • Hierarchical • Sequential, and • Matrix.
10. 1. Hierarchical Organization I previously mentioned a well-known technique of content organization which is called Visual Hierarchy. It is initially based on Gestalt psychological theory and its main goal is to present content in such a way that users can understand the level of importance for each element. It uses the ability of the brain to distinguish objects on the basis of their physical differences, such as size, color, contrast, alignment etc
11. Hierarchical Organization
12. 2. Sequential Organization This method usually creates some kind of a path for the users. A person has to go step-by-step by interacting with content to accomplish the task they need. This kind of structure is often used for retail or ecommerce websites or apps, where people have to go from one task to another to complete their purchase.
13. 2. Sequential Organization
14. 3. Matrix Organization This is more like a “choose-your-own adventure” method. It’s a bit more complicated for users, since they choose the way of navigation on their own. Users are given choices of content organization. For example, they can navigate through content which is ordered according to date, or some may prefer navigation according to topics.
15. 3. Matrix Organization
16. Other types of organization systems Audience Schemes Content is organized for separate groups of users. Chronological schemes Content is organized by date. Topic Schemes Content is organized according to the specific subject. Alphabetical Schemes Content is organized in alphabetical order.
17. Labeling Systems What is it? 02
18. Labeling Systems Labeling is simply a way to represent or categorize data. A great amount of information can confuse users. This is why we create labels which represent loads of data in few words. For example, when people give the contact information of their company on their website, it usually includes the phone number, email, and social media contacts. But all of this information can easily be categorised as “Contact”.
19. Navigation Systems 03 What is it?
20. Navigation Systems Navigation is simply a set of actions and techniques that guides users throughout an app or website, and enables them to fulfill their goals by successfully interacting with the product. As such, a navigation system involves the ways and techniques through which users move through content.
21. Types of Navigation Systems Global Navigation Contextual Navigation Local Navigation 02 01 03 + +
22. Global Navigation This is typically presented on every page throughout an interface. It sits at the top of the page, and consists of a set of links that allow users to access the top-level pages of a site
23. Local Navigation Helps users to explore what is nearby. It is also known as sub-navigation or page navigation. We can view it as ‘an extension’ of the global navigation. There are 3 common ways to arrange the global and the local navigation — inverted-L, horizontal and embedded vertical.
24. Contextual Navigation This is used to direct users to related pages, when the information can’t be fitted neatly into the structure of the global and local navigation. For example, on an e-commerce website, this could be the“related products” or “you may also like” links, you typically find on the pages.
25. Searching Systems 04 What are they?
26. Searching Systems Are used in information architecture to help users search for data within a digital product like a website or an app. It is mostly effective for products with loads of information which puts the users at risk of getting lost. In this case, you might want to consider a search engine, filters, and many other tools that would help your users find content and plan how the data will look after the search.
27. Pop Quiz! What are the highlighted types of Navigation Systems? + +
28. Supporting Elements for Information Architecture When designing an effective IA, we also need to consider the following: • Content Strategy • UX Writing
29. What exactly is content?
30. Content Simply put; Content is the most important part of any website or app. It is the: • Information • Media • or a function that people are there to get from you. • Written text, photos or videos; • Small pieces of information like stock alerts, flight alerts, (tweets); etc.
31. Content Strategy It is the art of bringing the right content to the right person, at the right time, and in the right context. A content strategy takes a business’ goals, and then uses content as a primary means to achieve those goals.
32. Information Architecture: Content Strategy While deciding on a system to best structure and organize your content, a huge part of IA is making sure that you’re presenting content to your users in a way that is relevant to their context and needs. This is where Content Strategy comes in.
33. Information Architecture: Content Strategy Most interfaces are stories Think about some of the best products and services out there, and the stories their website homepage is trying to tell. Someone took the time to carefully write, design and build that page so that you, as a visitor, can understand the message in a quick, digestible and human manner. Pretty much every page on the web is trying to tell a story.
34. Content Strategy: How-to
35. Content Strategy: How-to When your story is more refined and you’ve gotten enough feedback from stakeholders to confidently move into the next phase, you can start asking yourself more specific design-related questions like: • What is the best way of displaying this information? • Which parts of the text can be grouped in modules? • Which parts of the story can you replace with images, videos, or short animations instead? • Which parts of the story can you complement with those same resources? • Which specific proof points do you want to display to back up your arguments? • Which actions do you expect people to take after going through your page story?
36. Content Strategy: How-to You’re basically considering details about your Users, their Motivations and their goals and factoring it into the way you pass information across to them. UX Tools to be used • Personas • Empathy Mapping • Customer Journeymapping • Competitive analysis
37. That brings us to UX Writing..
38. This is the practice of crafting the copy found throughout a digital product.That includes the text on buttons, menus, error messages, and more. It is also called UI or Microcopy and it guides users within a product and helps them interact with it. UX Writing
39. UX Writing
40. • 📙 How to Make Sense of Any Mess: Information Architecture for Everybody by Abby Cover • 📙 Understanding Context: Environment, Language, and Information Architecture by Andrew Hinton Recommended Reading & Resources Books About Information Architecture
41. • 📄 UX Writing Guidelines • 📄 The UX Writing Library • 📄 The 5 W’s of Microcopy • 📄 How to become a UX Writer Recommended Reading & Resources Websites & Articles About UX Writing
42. • 📄 Information Architecture and Navigation • 📄 Navigation systems: IA for Designers • 📄 The architecture of information • 📄 An introduction to Taxonomies Recommended Reading & Resources Websites & Articles About Navigation Systems
43. • 📄 A content strategy guide for UX Designers • 📄 Content Strategy and Storytelling Recommended Reading & Resources Websites & Articles About Content Strategy
44. CREDITS: This presentation template was created by Slidesgo, including icons by Flaticon, and infographics & images by Freepik Do you have any questions? omololasalehu@gmail.com @LolaSalehu https://bit.ly/LolaSalehu That’s all for now..