Walk This Way…

There’s an old Three Stooges skit where they are to follow a man giving them directions. The man walks in a bent over, exaggerated gait. He tells them: “Walk this way…” So they follow the man, mimicking his odd posture…

That man is represented by the modern Information Architect (IA). These are the people who lead us through the maze of information throughout a website. They have to find a way to synthesize the design and the execution (Wodke, p1).

While the IA draws from the research being done in cognitive psychology, there is no definitive training for the position. People generally end up in this position indirectly, having been pushed into the role by need while doing another part of the project (Hoffman, p2).

I find it fascinating that a career position can define itself as it evolves. There are managers who still don’t understand the value of hiring an IA, so it becomes a sales position in the early stages as the IA has to clarify their role, and actively sell their services. I’m sure there doubt in the design world too. Many designers are aware of some of the principles IA’s use such as the “rule of proximity” which “indicates that items close together are perceived as being related/associated” (Hoffman, p2).

It will be interesting to see if the IA’s can convince business leaders and designers that they can better lead the end-user to their destinations. While it appears valuable on the surface, web design is already developing conventions that internet-users understand, based on frequency of certain conventions they have found in their use of the net. Hoffman refers to this as transference. “Transference, in this context of learning, refers to our expectations about an interface’s behavior based on our previous experiences with other interfaces” (p5).

For now, we’ll let the IA lead the way. As their work becomes more pervasive, they will be teaching others how to guide people along the path of found information.

References:

Wodke, C. (2001). Defining information architecture deliverables. Boxes and Arrows.

Hoffman, A. (2006). Information architects: Web builders with a sales bent. Monster.com

Withrow, J. (2006). Cognitive Psychology & IA: From theory to practice. Boxes and Arrows.