Concept and design method of information architecture?

We have told you many times about the methods and skills of information construction in previous articles. Today, we will briefly introduce the concept and design method of information architecture. The following computer training will begin today's main content.

One. The concept of information architecture

What facilities does the hotel need? If you are the owner of a restaurant, how to arrange these facilities reasonably can make customers eat comfortably. This process is a process of information construction. He can make customers have a good impression on your hotel, so that they will want to come to your house for dinner next time.

In the process of arranging hotel facilities, we must follow some specifications, such as users' habits or construction specifications. It is precisely because we need to follow these specifications that we need an information architecture to reflect them.

The official explanation of information architecture is as follows: Information architecture design is an art and science, which designs the structure, organization and classification of information so that users can easily use and understand it.

Simply put, information architecture design is to make it easy for users to understand what your product is like. Let them use your products more smoothly and naturally. Just like when you enter a restaurant, you will feel that the door is a place waiting for dinner. You should eat when you go in. If you find a bathroom, you will definitely not go to the door, but will go deep. This is the advantage of information architecture: it makes it easier for users to get started and understand when using similar products, and makes the products more acceptable.

Second, how to design the information architecture.

1. Understanding users, scenarios and habits

Your product is for users. Of course, you should know your users. Let's look at the next concept: "mental model".

Mental model is a script about the development process of things written in the mind through experience and learning. After experiencing or learning some events, human beings will draw some conclusions about the development and changes of things, and then condense these experiences into a script like writing a script. When repeated or similar things happen again, we will unconsciously use these previously written scripts to predict the development and changes of things. A mental model is your prediction of the development of things. More specifically, you "hope" how things develop is not a mental model, but you "think" how things develop is your mental model.

Suppose you have never seen an iPad, and I just handed you one and told you that you can use it to read books. Before you turn on the iPad and use it, you will have a model of how to read on the iPad in your mind. You will imagine what the book will look like on the iPad screen, what you can do, such as turning pages or using bookmarks, and how to roughly accomplish these things. Even if you have never used an iPad before, you still have a "mental model" of reading books on the iPad. The style and operation of your brain-centered intelligence model depends on many factors.