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Information design is the process of organizing
content and presenting it in the most meaningful format
for your particular audience. It isn't about creating attractive
logos or strong brand messages, but rather about improving
the clarity and functionality of a Web site. Information
design is an essential aspect of Web design; without it,
any Web site -- no matter how flashy or expensive -- is
destined to be just another waste of time, money, and bandwidth.
After all, if visitors to your site can't find the information
they need, you might as well kiss those spinning 3D graphics
good-bye. But with thorough site planning and testing, Web
builders can present content in ways that is both engaging
and informative, without sacrificing visual appeal. In other
words, good information design will keep your visitors coming
back time and time again.
At its simplest level, information design
is built on four cornerstones, each of which anchors a number
of questions.
- Organization
How will the information be arranged? Alphabetically?
Spatially? By time or topic?
- Presentation
How is the information conveyed? With words, charts, illustrations,
photographs, audio, video, or (increasingly) some combination
of all of these? Will you need one page, multiple pages,
different sections, or perhaps even subsites with their
own URLs?
- Navigation
How will visitors find what they're looking for? How will
they browse through the site? More important, how will
they know where they are?
- Change
How will the different elements of your site hold up over
time? Will the structure support the site's growth? Will
the navigation still work as well when content is added
or removed?
Our experts will be focused on who will be
using your site, will study your strategic and business
goals, key usability principals, technical constraints,
and future needs. It's extremely important to find out who
will use a site, who's building it, and what its goals are.
But after focusing, evaluation is all about anticipated
user paths, logical process flows, and determining how to
balance efficiency with ease of use.
While there are certain key deliverables
that most projects require, the work is most often determined
on a case-by-case basis dependent on scope and function.
Presentation is as much about showing information as it
is about showing information in a way that is understandable
to each client's specific Web knowledge and thought process.
Some people prefer paper, while others need to see things
clicking and moving in order to make sense of it.
Depending on your needs and preferences,
the iDeveloperNetwork experts will use the various approaches.
Some of the basic deliverables include:
- Site Maps: Maps reflect navigation and main content
buckets. They are usually constructed to look like flow
charts and show how users navigate from one section to
another.
- Content Maps: Detailed maps that show what exists
on each page and how content on some pages interacts with
content on other pages.
- Page Schematics: Black and white line drawings
or block diagrams to hand off to a visual designer. These
may, or may not, reflect layout and are used mostly to
inform the designer and the client exactly what information,
links, content, promotional space, and navigation will
be on every page of the site. Schematics also help illustrate
priority.
- Text-Based Outlines: In some cases the clients
prefer to see architecture as indented text outlines and
lists.
- Interactive, Semi-Functional Prototyping: In
some cases our experts do the outlining or story boarding
functional prototypes, and in others they actually build
prototypes with HTML, Flash, Director, or PowerPoint.
Anyone who has seen the effects of unplanned
projects - Web or otherwise - knows why it is important
to have a plan before starting to build. The iDeveloperNetwork
experts will create for your site optimal organizational
structure, which will allow the visitors to navigate freely
and confidently through a site in order to find, enjoy,
and make use of its contents.
If you have additional questions, we would be glad to advise
you personally. Our contact information can be found at
our page Contact
Us.
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