Information Architecture

As the web has developed drastically since the 90’s, information architecture has evolved as well. A typical information architect will know how to sketch, prototype, and refine responsive information architectures for websites. The field has grown far more complex and the term has adopted a much broader meaning.

At the IA Summit a few years ago, there was talk about User Experience superseding information architecture. In response, Peter Morville, Co-founder of the Information Architecture Institute, both agrees and disagrees with the idea. He states that just as once in the past everyone wanted to be an Information Architect, now everyone wanted to be a UX designer. But, he goes on to say that in no way makes information architecture less relevant.

"While it’s fair to say that user experience eclipsed information architecture, sadly, that’s creating real problems today because in no way has information architecture become less relevant." — Peter Morville

UX teams will often lack the ability to take in the whole ecosystem of an interface, but can be very good at tackling individual ones. As the digital world grows more complex, user experience designers are actually becoming worse than they were in the past. UX designers need to understand the core of shaping information architectures now more than ever. If they continue to lack the basic skills of information architecture, they will get lost in how complex it starts to become.

As the demand for a UX designer may become greater with time, that doesn’t mean their skill set should decrease. Now, more than ever, UX designers have something to prove. Companies are not understanding what a UX designer should be capable of and are hiring people who lack the fundamentals. If these designers want larger, more prominent roles in companies, they should also be educated in the core of what it meant to be designing with the rise of technology.



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