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Doors and Windows
As a personal note, I find the term “information architech” to be so pretentious it hurts.
When I use the term "information architech," I do not mean it to be pretentious. It is certainly has a nice sound to it, but that is not why I chose it. My uncle is an architect and I have always looked up to him. I remember watching with fascination as he sketched incredibly precise line drawings on his large drafting table, or meticulously assembled models of buildings that one day would be. In particular I was interested in blue prints of houses, and I began drawing my own at a very young age. I liked thinking about the pathways that hypothetical visitors would take from the moment they entered the home, to their exiting on the other side. I loved to think about how the placement of doors and windows would affect their experience, and to what extent their configuration would influence their motion from one room to the next.
No matter how much we may advance in technology, the human mind is very rarely able to conceive something entirely new. It is not surprisingly then, that most people "walk into" a website with the same mentality as a person stepping into a home or a building. A website, therefore, has a structure that strongly influences the movement of the visitors moving through it. And like a building, a website has windows, doors and walls. Some windows or doors may be open, others closed. Some websites have few of either, giving the structure an enclosed, almost claustrophobic feeling; while others are so "open," so completely lacking in structure as to give one a sense of agoraphobia. Whether you are trying to sell something or simply convey a message, such a structure will be unconducive to your mission.
I call myself an information architech not because I do not feel the title "web designer" is not interesting enough, but simply that it does not accurately describe what it is that I do. My primary concern is not the colors or the images that make up your website (although these certainly have their place) but where the walls, windows and doors are placed--or how they might be positioned differently in order to make your information more findable, and more easily understood once it is found.
Much of the task of an information archiech is taking the time to form a deep understanding of the content matter you are trying to communicate, whether it is an idea, a product or a service. No matter what the subject matter, everything has a natural order that can eventually be perceived with patient thought and study. It is only once that order is understood that categories can be decided upon, and it is the categories that will determine that basic structure of your websites.
Doors are links or buttons that lead you from one room to the next, while windows are the elements that entice you as to what is "beyond." The pathways that lead from the user to the "goal" (such as making a purchase or requesting a service) have been called "funnels." However, they should be funnels that focus rather than funnels that constrict. Many visitors will go far down a path only to learn at the last moment they had taken a wrong turn. Well designed navigational structures should never "trap" a user; in fact, they should at any point the process be able to find any other page on the website in two clicks or less.
New developments in javascript and AJAX have added an entirely new dimension of navigational structures. Consider the left hand navigation bar on this website. The visitor has immediate access to all of the major categories on the website. However, without moving to another page, one can expand this list to see other subjects beneath this category. Once you click on a link, the content changes but the page remains stable. Entering the site at http://www.informationarchitech.com, you seem to never leave the home page. Every door leads to the same room, but the room never stays the same. However, every page still has an individual entry in the search engines, so there is no danger of any single piece of content becoming "unfindable."
This is only one approach to creative structure, and is not appropriate to every situation. For every site plan, one must take into consideration demographic factors, as well as taxonominal (e.g. "categorical") ones. Some users are accustomed to and even expect highly visual websites with creatively disguised links and navigational elements, while others are just beginning to recognize what is meant by the blue, underlining of certain phrases on a web page. You must know your audience, and if you do not yet know your audience, you must keep it simple.
If you feel that your existing website needs a structural overhaul, do not hesitate to contact us using our online form.