Information Architecture Tools to Use

If you were a part of the Information Architecture 101 Webinar  on June 24th then you probably remember hearing the terms "user scenario" and "card sorting."  We love these exercises as part of any IA project -- both in planning and creating your IA and in getting buy in from key staff and stakeholders who need to feel as though they are part of the process.

So.. here's another quick breakdown of what these tools are:

User scenarios are descriptions interactions of people -- in IA, these scenarios are typically descriptions of how your target audiences might interact on your website.  For example, if a target audience is the media the user scenerios might involve finding and interacting with the latest news or figuring out who the spokesperson for a particular issue might be.

Card sorting is a method that helps to identify your content's findability.  The process involves creating, then sorting a series of cards (often times index cards -- but there are also online tools to
use).  The cards are labeled with your content and/or site functions then grouped in a way you think makes sense to site visitors.  Using the user scenarios to "walk through" the cards can help uncover site visitor expectations.

What do you think your site visitors expect to find and to be able to do?