A free, self-paced textbook in 7 chapters. Read a chapter, then drill it with the 209 companion flashcards using spaced repetition.
Information architecture is the practice of organizing content, navigation, and labeling so people can find and make sense of information inside a product, website, or service. Goo...
The organization half of IA answers the question, how is content grouped and described? A taxonomy is a hierarchical classification that organizes items into categories and subcate...
Navigation is the system of pathways users follow to reach content, and it has several distinct layers that work together. Global navigation appears on every page and supports orie...
Labels are the words users see on menus, links, and categories, and they are the single highest-leverage decision in IA. If labels are vague or reflect internal jargon, users canno...
Because internal logic almost never matches real user expectations precisely, IA decisions should be tested with users. Card sorting is the foundational research method: participan...
Wayfinding is the cognitive process of orienting and navigating, and answers three questions: where am I, where can I go, and how do I get back? Visual cues that answer these — a h...
IA work does not end when the structure is drawn; content has to be modeled and maintained or the structure decays. A content type is a category of structured content — article, pr...