It’s in the middle of CONTENT, CONTEXT, USERS. It has 4 components:

  1. Organization: Scheme + structure
  2. Labeling: textual & iconic
  3. Navigation: global + local + contextual + suplemental
  4. Search: Know-item, exploratory, exhaustive, refinding.

It’s done for 2 primary human needs:

  1. Finding: we search, we navigate, or we ask.
  2. Understanding: structure, rythym and typology.

The most popular approaches are:

  • Top–down: Questions → Meet needs
  • Bottom–up: Help recognize content → Find themselves and jump to the content
    • Where am I?
    • What is here?
    • Where can I go from here?

Organization

  • Scheme
    • Exact
    • Ambiguous
  • Structure
    • Hierarchy
    • Data base
    • Hypertext

Labeling

  • Textual
    • Contextual links
    • Headings
    • Nav. systems
    • Index terms
  • Iconic
    • Visually

Labels have to design according to:

  • Audience
  • Comprehensiveness
  • Granularity
  • Syntax
  • Presentation
  • Style

Chart our course, determine our position, and find our way back. This provides a sense of context and confort as we explore.

  • Global
    • Nav. bar
    • Mega menu
    • Footer
  • Local
    • Left nav. bar
    • Sub menu
  • Contextual
    • In-line links
  • Suplemental
    • Sitemaps
    • Index
    • Guides
IA vs. Site Maps by NN/g