What do you do if your Information Architecture lacks creativity and innovation?

1 Assess your IA goals

Before you start brainstorming or sketching your IA, you need to have a clear understanding of what you want to achieve with it. What are the main objectives and requirements of your project? Who are your target users and what are their expectations and preferences? How do you measure the success and effectiveness of your IA? These questions will help you define your IA goals and scope, and align them with your content strategy and business goals. You can use tools such as personas, scenarios, user journeys, and stakeholder interviews to gather and analyze this information.

2 Explore different IA patterns

There is no one-size-fits-all solution for IA, and different types of websites or applications may require different IA patterns. For example, you can use a hierarchical, sequential, matrix, or faceted IA pattern, depending on the nature and complexity of your content and functionality. You can also combine or modify these patterns to suit your specific needs and context. To get inspired, you can look at some examples of successful IA patterns from other websites or applications in your domain or industry, or from different domains or industries. You can use tools such as card sorting, tree testing, and sitemaps to experiment and test different IA patterns.

4 Collaborate with others

Another way to enhance your IA creativity and innovation is to collaborate with others who have different perspectives, skills, and experiences. Working with other designers, developers, content writers, marketers, or stakeholders can help you broaden your horizons, challenge your assumptions, and discover new possibilities and solutions. You can use tools such as brainstorming, sketching, mind mapping, and affinity diagramming to facilitate your collaboration and co-creation. You can also use tools such as feedback sessions, workshops, and presentations to share and discuss your IA ideas and designs with others.

5 Keep learning and improving

Finally, you can boost your IA creativity and innovation by keeping yourself updated and informed about the latest trends, best practices, and research in the field of IA. You can also learn from your own experiences and mistakes, and use them as opportunities to improve and refine your IA skills and knowledge. You can use tools such as blogs, podcasts, books, courses, webinars, and conferences to learn and grow as an IA professional. You can also use tools such as portfolios, case studies, and reviews to showcase and evaluate your IA projects and achievements.

6 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?