Architecture
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Overview
A graphic designer and an architect, Richard Saul Wurman who coined the term “information architecture” draws a powerful parallel between the disciplines:
[…] as architects are expected to create structure and order in the world through planning and building, information architects were expected to draw lines and derive some kind of order in dataspace, their primary task being to make this information simpler, more direct, and ultimately more comprehensible.
As with architecture, IA is based on and concerned with:
- Solid structure/foundation
- Functionality and use
- Suitability/fit as it relates to the environment, political or cultural climate
How this affects IA
IA can take inspiration from various architectural movements especially in how they deal with and adapt to the complexity of their context:
- Form follows function which emphasises utility, attractiveness and stability/sustainability over time
- Organic architecture which emphasises harmony with the environment
- Bioclimatic architecture which refers to designing buildings around local climate conditions
- Adaptive reuse which considers converting an abandoned building to another use, instead of demolishing it
Photo by Ivan Franco Bottoni on Unsplash
While there are parallels between architecture and IA (the importance of context and solid foundation), there are also some important differences:
There are physics to meaning and structure, and it's very, very possible to do it wrong—to mess up. A door is always a door to an architect; a door is not always a door to us. We can spend an hour with a room full of stakeholder making sure we all mean the same thing when we say the word door, and that time would be very well spent! A project has spun off course many a time because no one had the IA approach of exposing the parts, making sure we know what we mean when we say what we say, determining a system, ensuring the integrity of meaning is still intact.
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