- posted on
- September 2, 2007
- by Liz Danzico
The Seven Lies (of Information Architecture) in Chicago
Last week at An Event Apart Chicago hosted by Jeffrey Zeldman and Eric Meyer, I had the pleasure of meeting a huge number of approachable and impassioned attendees. I heard talks ranging from the high-level-inspiration kind to the get-your-hands-dirty kind that define the event.
For the first time, I gave a talk on The Seven Lies of Information Architecture. I wasn’t sure how it would fare, as I’m an IA myself, and contesting principles is always tricky. I got good feedback from some nice attendees and look forward to refining the ideas, providing more examples, as I develop the Lies. As I described them, they are:
1. Navigation must be consistent.
2. There is a magic number (plus or minus two).
3. Users must get to all parts of the site all of the time.
4. Users must know where they are at all times.
5. The user experience must be seamless.
6. Shorter is better.
7. Information architects must do information architecture.
After the talk, I noticed a pattern in the kinds of questions I got, so I thought I’d post just a few of the answers here:
“I’d like to be an IA, but I’m not sure where to start.”
Information Architecture Institute (IAI), a nonprofit organization dedicated to furthering awareness and practice of information architecture. You have to be a member, but the mailing list is also quite good.
Information Architecture Meetup, a great turnout in New York City, but I’m not sure about others.
Information Architecture Resources, Jesse James Garrett’s ever-growing list.
Interaction Design Association (IxDA), another nonprofit whose focus is on interaction design with lots of good local events. The mailing list is also good.
“If I’m interested in IA, what should I be reading?”
Boxes and Arrows, a magazine for information architects.
Communicating Design, Dan Brown, 2006. Includes stunning and varied examples of all kinds of IA deliverables.
Designing for People, Henry Dreyfuss, 1955. A biography about Dreyfuss and industrial design, but applicable to design practitioners of all shapes and sizes.
Designing for Interaction, Dan Saffer, 2006. One of the most comprehensive and relevant resources for interaction designers.
Information Architecture for the World Wide Web, 3rd edition, Louis Rosenfeld, Peter Morville, 2006. The IA bible.
“What are some of the design pattern resources you refer to?”
Jennifer Tidwell’s Designing Interfaces
Chris Messina’s flickr Design Patterns
“Where can I find some of the research papers that support the Seven Lies?”
“Expertise and the perception of shape in information,” Andrew Dillon, Dille Schaap, 1996.
“The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two,” George Miller, 1956.
There are stacks more, but these provide a good place to start.
Great list of resources. I am familiar with some, but not all. I’m trying to read more and more, so this will help me. If I may ask, how do you feel about http://www.welie.com/patterns/ or the Design of Sites book? I’ve been told that they are good, but am intrested in an expert opinion.
Thanks for these! As I told you in person, I enjoyed your talk very much.
Eddie: Those are both great resources as well. Martijn van Welie’s site continues to impress me, and I really respect the effort behind The Design of Sites, now in its second edition. While it’s useful to have something in print that you can dogear and annotate, I do prefer the up-to-date nature of the online resources. Keeping the patterns up to date can be a team’s job, literally.
Lisa: Thanks!
Hey Liz, I wish I could have thanked you in person, but I never could find you among the masses at An Event Apart - Chicago. My completely biased opinion is that your talk was the highlight of the conference. As a fellow “word nerd” who also has the role information architect on my growing list of “other duties as assigned,” I really connected with your points and felt very liberated for my future decision making when I am faced with going against the common IA rules.
Your talk was certainly one of the highlights of the conference for me. Looking at the top notch quality of all the talks that was no mean feat.
Whenever I fly to the States from Belgium again, I’ll make certain to pad some days to get rid of the jet lag. That will definitely help with the retention.
Thanks for some more resources to add to my ever-growing list of bookmarks from AEA. Your talk definitely made me think, especially for a non-IA doing information architecture - which is probably why telling me hierarchal breadcrumbs aren’t as important as I had previously thought, made me look like I had been punched in the stomach.
[...] 7 Lies of Information Architecture - an excellent starting point with links to respected resources. Should help debunk some myths, e.g. Lie 2. “There is a magic number (plus or minus two).” [...]
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