How can you ensure your information architecture is sustainable?

1 Assess your current IA

The first step to ensure your IA is sustainable is to evaluate your current IA and identify its strengths and weaknesses. You can use various methods and tools to assess your IA, such as user research, analytics, usability testing, content audits, card sorting, and tree testing. These methods can help you understand how your users perceive and interact with your information, how well your content meets their needs and expectations, and how easy or difficult it is for them to find and access what they are looking for. Based on your findings, you can prioritize the areas that need improvement and plan your IA redesign.

3 Choose your IA patterns and frameworks

The third step is to choose your IA patterns and frameworks, which are the common ways of organizing and presenting information in a digital environment. There are many types of IA patterns and frameworks, such as hierarchies, lists, grids, facets, filters, tags, search, and browse. Each pattern and framework has its own advantages and disadvantages, depending on the context, content, and users. You should choose the ones that best suit your IA goals and principles, your content characteristics and volume, and your user behaviors and expectations. You should also consider how your IA patterns and frameworks can be adapted to different devices, platforms, and channels.

4 Document and communicate your IA

The fourth step is to document and communicate your IA, which is essential for ensuring its sustainability. You should create clear and comprehensive documentation of your IA, such as sitemaps, wireframes, prototypes, user flows, and content models. These documents can help you communicate your IA vision and rationale to your team members, stakeholders, and users, and facilitate feedback and collaboration. You should also document your IA processes and methods, such as your user research, content audit, card sorting, and usability testing. These documents can help you track your IA progress and outcomes, and justify your IA decisions.

5 Implement and test your IA

The fifth step is to implement and test your IA, which is the process of putting your IA into action and evaluating its performance and usability. You should use an iterative and agile approach to implement and test your IA, meaning that you should build and test your IA in small and frequent cycles, and make changes and improvements based on your results. You should use various testing methods and tools to measure your IA effectiveness and user satisfaction, such as user testing, A/B testing, heatmaps, eye tracking, and surveys. You should also monitor and analyze your IA metrics, such as page views, bounce rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates.

6 Review and update your IA

The final step is to review and update your IA, which is the process of maintaining and enhancing your IA over time. You should review and update your IA regularly, based on your user feedback, analytics, and content changes. You should also keep an eye on the emerging trends and technologies in the IA field, and learn from the best practices and examples of other libraries and organizations. By reviewing and updating your IA, you can ensure that your IA remains relevant, useful, and user-friendly for your current and future users.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?