More of our transactions and social interactions are moving online every day. People access these digital products and services using a growing variety of devices: notebook computers, mobile phones, wearables, voice-driven smart assistants, and more.

Good experience requires that these systems be coherent and understandable. As a result, information architecture (IA) is more important today than ever before.

In this fast-paced one-day workshop you will:

  • Understand the primary goals of information architecture

  • Explore how people find information and how IA helps that search effort

  • Learn about the use of conceptual modeling in IA

  • Master basic IA components: organization schemes, labeling systems, and navigation systems

  • Identify the communication skills essential to architecting in multi-disciplinary teams

  • Learn how UX designers communicate IA design concepts to other team members

  • Discover how to create architectures that can evolve over time

Structure

The workshop is divided into four parts:

  • Part 1 introduces information architecture

  • Part 2 covers conceptual modeling, which is foundational to good IA

  • Part 3 reviews the standard components used to implement information architectures

  • Part 4 describes essential skills one must master to actually do IA

Hands-on exercises give participants a direct practical understanding of key IA concepts.

About me

I’ve been practicing information architecture for over twenty years. I’ve helped “make the complex clear” for organizations ranging from non-profits in the developing world to Fortune-100 corporations.

I’m a co-author of Information Architecture: for the Web and Beyond, the fourth edition of O’Reilly’s celebrated polar bear book about IA, and the author of Living in Information: Responsible Design for Digital Places. I’m also a former president and director of the Information Architecture Institute.

In addition to working as a consultant, writer, and speaker, I’m also an ​adjunct professor at the California College of the Arts (CCA) in San Francisco, where I teach Systems studio classes to Interaction Design master’s students (MDes).

Would you like me to teach this workshop at your organization or event?

Let’s talk