[thelist] information architecture & visio

[spinhead]

[i'm not an information architect, but i play one at work]

easy to understand, not attractive (we'll deal with that in a minute:) my
favorite starting point is a large piece of cardboard. we start in the
middle (home page, usually, but not always.)

now, brain dump - big loopy circles for 'this area' and 'that area,'
individual pages grouped more or less in those areas or new, undefined
areas.

next, color-coded lines for linkage (in a general sense, not each individual
hyperlink.) does this area naturally lead to that area? link 'em up for now.
does your business plan call for linkage from that area to over here? how do
we envision visitors moving thru the site? draw the anticipated paths thru
the site

finally, re-create in visio. this lets me focus on to process rather than
the tool; i'm MUCH better with a box of crayons than i am with visio.
however, if you can visio better than you crayon, you can start here and
skip the cardboard.

after the site layout, create some real pretty printouts of each major page
layout. include the browser with full chrome (if you can ascertain your
client's favorite browser, that's a plus) so they see the real vision
instead of something unrealistic. insert everybody's favorite bedtime story
(Lorem Ipsum) and smile a lot while you explain how simple it all is.

spinhead


----- Original Message -----
From: "A. Erickson" <amanda at gawow.com>
To: <thelist at lists.evolt.org>
Sent: Friday, July 13, 2001 9:55 AM
Subject: [thelist] information architecture & visio


> Any info architects on the list?
>
> I'm looking for some thoughts on ways to present information architecture
to
> clients in an attractive and easily-understood manner.
>
> I've seen people use visio and then I've also seen large stacks of paper
> where nearly every page in the site is "layed out" with an indication of
the
> number of links that need to go on the page and the things that *must* be
> there (logo, tagline, photo of the pres, etc.)
>
> Any thoughts on this? Anyone have a method that works for them?
>
> - amanda
>
> --
> http://gawow.com