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So You Want To Be An Information Architect

By: Simon
Updated:
May 24, 2013
Posted: Dec 14, 2009

This is a quick post for those that want to become Information Architects.

You absolutely need to read two books: Information Architecture for the World Wide Web & Don’t Make Me Think.

You’ll need a really good attention to detail and a strong understanding of your deliverables. IA is not Usability and vice versa. They are sub sets of each other. In terms of deliverables, (being an IA) I deliver wireframes, power-points, word docs, POCs, and mockups. There are at times design aspects to those deliverables. If you come from the design side then you’ll excel, but if you’re coming from library sciences with no understanding of design principles, you have a bit more homework to do. On the usability side, I simply test if the ideas work through Usability protocols.

Find out what you’re in for. Below you’ll find the links to the books and what deliverables look like for IA.
Information Architecture for the World Wide Web
Don’t Make Me Think
Example of IA Deliverables

IA Links:

Simon Urbina

Simon Urbina

Simon is a Product Designer and Front End Dev with over 20 years of experience. He started as a graphic designer and illustrator coding his first website in 1996. He has worked with brands like Publix, Microsoft, and Discovery Channel.