Information Architects Create the Blueprint for User Experience

User experience design is multi-dimensional, multi-faceted, and often times, complex in nature. The output of experience design, however, is the exact opposite. It is intended to be streamlined, integrated, and fundamentally simple for your users.

To create the best experience for your visitors/users/customers, experience design necessitates an integrated approach of all functions in discovery, analysis, and design. It requires a clear strategic vision for the experience you want your visitors/customers to have. It requires well-organized structures, easily understood labels, and predictable placement for users to scan and select the next step in the process. The visual elements support these intuitive structures with guiding cues and recognizable imagery that emote a feeling of connectedness, relevancy and/or a compelling call to action.

Bob Moll of Pathfinder UXD has a great post, The Hand-Off Between Information Architecture and Visual Design, which reviews the necessary role of information architecture and how it is the precursor to effective and relevant visual design. "Information architects must be able to clearly communicate to visual designers the requirements, expectations and creative boundaries for the visual design." Moll suggests "If form follows function, the information equivalent may be "look follows feel."

Understanding the role of the information architect and inserting their expertise at the right stage of the Web design lifecycle is critical to the overall success in experience design.

Moll recommends a few techniques that should be considered during your own development lifecycle:

• Make a list of all the graphic “things” needed for the product, including icons, widgets, marketing logos, buttons, controls, etc.
• Take the list and make a crude thumbnail sketch of each item on a page so the visual designer can “see” what you want
• Create wireframes that show hierarchy and where hierarchy is not clear annotate the wireframes with callouts indicating what is most important
• Note any visual restrictions; for example, type size or limitations to using color
• Include any branding guides, restrictions or preferences
• Let the designer know the evaluation criteria for a successful design; for example, “the design must be very readable, easy to see in bad light and use only standard type faces.”
• List any technical constraints that impact the visual design, such as limits to file sizes

One of my favorite bumper stickers comes to mind to summarize this best:

By Heather D