I’m interested in architecture for the same reason that I’m interested in food and sleep. OK, it’s not essential to survival, but it’s pretty darn close. Caves are in short supply, and I prefer living with a roof over my head, indoor plumbing, and central air. Architecture is all around us, if you include strip malls and gas stations, and I do, because somebody designed these places before building them, and they had reasons, however lame, for the design choices they made. I am interested in the why behind the design―why an architect or other kind of designer made a particular design choice and, more important, how it affects us consumers.
Some places just make me feel good. I like being in a room with a view. I like airiness and light, and I also like feeling sheltered and cozy. Architects like Sarah Susanka, author of The Not So Big House, know this about people and design accordingly. I want to see how architects in my recently adopted hometown of Dallas handle these issues, and of course I want to see where the rich people live.
I’m interested in information architecture for similar reasons. Less about design and more about organization, IA makes information easy to find. You won’t die from exposure without it, but you will waste time and feel frustration. If a website has information and you can’t find it, the information might as well not exist.
I have some experience with IA, both with websites and, sneer if you must, help systems. The former deals with organizing information, including links, headings, body text, and widgets on a webpage. The latter deals with writing and organizing information in an application that users can search or click through. See that little blue question mark in the upper right corner of your Word document? That’s an example of a help system. Mine makes for better reading of course.
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