Information Architecture
Information architecture organizes and labels website content so people can easily navigate, search, and understand hierarchy. Clear structure and consistent naming makes a site feel intuitive, improve UX, and support SEO.
There’s a lot of discussion surrounding User Experience and the need to have an “intuitive” website. In this context, intuitive refers to a user’s ability to come to a website for the first time and easily find their way around without any effort, struggle, or really having to think about the actions they’re taking.
The intuitiveness of an website’s navigation is often evaluated through usability testing, but it is created through information architecture (IA). IA is often the least visible part of the UX process, but it’s one of the most impactful—most navigation and discoverability problems within a site can be traced back to issues with the IA.
What is information architecture?
In simple terms IA is the practice of organizing, labeling, and structuring content in a way that makes sense and enables people to find it. Unlike visual aspects of the design process your website’s information architecture is the structural system of logic and organization on which everything else is built.