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In my time designing marketing collateral for associations, I have noticed a number of mistakes that are made relatively consistently on websites across the industry. Over the next month (possibly longer) I will be posting an article each Tuesday with tips to help your organization avoid or rectify these common mistakes. Our first article in the series will be discussing Information Architecture, and how it impacts the effectiveness of your organization’s website.
By definition, information architecture is described as:
The art of expressing a model or concept of information used in activities that require explicit details of complex systems. Among these activities are library systems, Content Management Systems, web development, user interactions, database development, programming, technical writing, enterprise architecture, and critical system software design.
Or as I like to describe it, making information easy to find and quick to navigate. When it comes to information architecture simplicity is key, which is exactly what makes it such a hard thing to achieve. When a designer or information architect has done their job well it usually goes unnoticed, however when they fail the following results:
I have nothing against the National Science Teachers Association, however their website is an utter mess of options. While people may love options in life, they rarely do online. In fact a well designed website leads the visitor through the information, guiding them along the way. An overload of options such as this creates so much work for the user that the easier solution is to just avoid using the site at all. If your organization’s website is anything like the NSTA’s then the following tips will help you rectify the problem.
3 Key Principals
Findability - to what degree a particular object is easy to discover or locate. In relation to information architecture, findability is how effectively a website assists a user in finding the information they seek.
Usability - denotes the ease with which people can use a website in order to achieve a particular goal. This refers to how effectively the navigation of a website functions and whether it is intuitive.
Learnability - the intuitiveness of a website. This is how easy it is for a user to quickly learn how a website functions even if it is complex. Well designed solutions require no explanation.
Avoiding the Mess
Set Goals
Setting goals is such a large part of our process because they help you make decisions. Being able to relate each decision back to a set of well-defined goals relieves the doubt that results in content that never goes away.
Appoint an Editor
Once you have a set of goals that determines what your website should communicate, an editor must review every bit of the content and determine what stays and what goes. Think of maintaining content like pruning a tree. You will need to cut off a lot of branches to maintain the shape of the site.
View Your Stats
If your website has grown uncontrolled over the years, it may have a lot of information that is just plain outdated or irrelevant. Reviewing your website’s analytics can show you which pages are rarely used and help you quickly find content to cut.
Develop Multiple Sites
Often times associations try to contain multiple marketing initiatives or resources in one massive portal. Over the years these large portal-type websites have disappeared because of how confusing they are to navigate. Instead, consider breaking up the different initiatives into smaller more focused sites that link to one another.
Think Simple
If your navigation needs advanced user based roles, or multiple paths of discovery to assist users then chances are you are over-complicating it. Instead think about what would be the simplest way to convey your message and achieve the same results. Not only will your users find your site easier to use, you will save development time (cost) as well.
David M. Patt, CAE
Good critique. Keep it up.
November 25th, 2008 at 6:16 pmAnthony Zinni
David,
Welcome, and thanks for the comment. I have been following your blog for a while now and find it insightful. It is great to have you joining the discussion.
November 25th, 2008 at 7:23 pmColorado Running
Valid points, it all goes back to the KISS principle.
December 1st, 2008 at 3:40 pm