A talk I gave on Mobile IA at the University of Washington iSchool's Information Architecture Summer Institute. Presented in Seattle, June 2012. [Originally uploaded to Slideshare June 21, 2012]

1. MOBILE
INFORMATION
ARCHITECTURE
EVERYTHING YOU ALREADY KNOW
IS STILL RIGHT. SORT OF.
Presented by ANDY FITZGERALD

2. ABOUT ANDY
User Experience Designer
Deloitte Digital | Übermind
Information Architect
Simpson Center for the Humanities
Doctor of Language & Literature
University of Washington
@andybywire
In the Twittersphere

3. ABOUT DELOITTE DIGITAL
Focus on Mobile & Emerging Technologies
Mobile Strategy
Concepts & Prototypes
Consumer mobile & mCommerce
Enterprise mobiles
B2B mobile
Public sector mobile
Mobile readiness

4. Why does mobile matter?

5. 4.8 billion people worldwide own mobile phones

6. 4.8 billion people worldwide own mobile phones
(4.2 billion people worldwide own toothbrushes).

7. 4.8 billion people worldwide own mobile phones
(4.2 billion people worldwide own toothbrushes).
There are 1.2 billion mobile web users worldwide.

8. 4.8 billion people worldwide own mobile phones
(4.2 billion people worldwide own toothbrushes).
There are 1.2 billion mobile web users worldwide.
The number of mobile-connected devices will
exceed the world’s population in 2012.

9. 4.8 billion people worldwide own mobile phones
(4.2 billion people worldwide own toothbrushes).
There are 1.2 billion mobile web users worldwide.
The number of mobile-connected devices will
exceed the world’s population in 2012.
Mobile internet use is expected to surpass desktop
by 2014.
Digital
Disrup,on,
Deloi&e
Digital
h&p://www.deloi&edigital.com/featured/digital-­‐disrup9on-­‐2x.png

10. Is design for mobile really so
different from web design?

11. .YES.
&
NO

12. .YES.
&
NO

13. DONALD NORMAN
The Design of Everyday Things (1988)
Knowledge in the World
Interpretation substitutes for learning
High ease of use on first encounter
Efficiency slowed by the need of interpretation
Knowledge in the Head
Requires learning
Low ease of use on first encounter
Highly efficient

14. THE WAY WE USE THE WEB RELIES HEAVILY ON
“KNOWLEDGE IN THE HEAD.”
WE HAVE INTERNALIZED THIS KNOWLEDGE
REALLY WELL.

15. THE WAY WE USE THE WEB RELIES HEAVILY ON
“KNOWLEDGE IN THE HEAD.”
WE HAVE INTERNALIZED THIS KNOWLEDGE
REALLY WELL.

17. WE’RE ALSO GOOD AT INTERNALIZING THE
“HEAD KNOWLEDGE” WE USE IN MOBILE.
INSTEAD OF ONE KNOWLEDGE PATTERN,
HOWEVER, THERE ARE DOZENS.

18. WE’RE ALSO GOOD AT INTERNALIZING THE
“HEAD KNOWLEDGE” WE USE IN MOBILE.
INSTEAD OF ONE KNOWLEDGE PATTERN,
HOWEVER, THERE ARE DOZENS.

20. AND THEN THERE’S NATIVE.

22. DESIGN GUIDES ARE OPTIONAL, RIGHT?
SOMETIMES YOU WANT YOUR APP TO
LOOK THE SAME ACROSS DEVICES.

23. EPICURIOUS
iPhone

24. EPICURIOUS
iPhone

25. EPICURIOUS
Android

26. EPICURIOUS
Android

27. PORTING PITFALLS
Ugly user interface
Poor use of “Knowledge in the Head”
Shortchanges device capabilities
Require “hacks” that lead to poor performance and
unreliability
Create poor forward compatibility of design work
Generate aggravating user experiences
(& resulting negative feedback and brand damage)

28. So how does one
design for mobile?

29. INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE HAPPENS
BY DESIGN OR BY DEFAULT.
WE HAVE INTERNALIZED THIS KNOWLEDGE
REALLY WELL.

30. DESIGNING FOR MOBILE
Put content first
Separate taxonomy and navigation
Learn patterns

31. CONTENT FIRST
Future-proof content
write for the “chunk”
create content for re-use from the start
Leverage metadata
design for dynamically generated pages that respond to
presentation and context
Adapted
from
Adap,ng
Ourselves
to
Adap,ve
Content,
Karen
McGrane
@
IAS12

32. CONTENT FIRST
“THE MORE STRUCTURE YOU PUT INTO
CONTENT THE FREER IT WILL
BECOME.”
– Rachel Lovinger
@rlovinger

33. TAXONOMY & NAVIGATION
“A TAXONOMY IS BOTH [...] A
HIERARCHICAL CLASSIFICATION
SYSTEM [AND] ANY MEANS OF
ORGANIZING CONCEPTS OF
KNOWLEDGE.”
–Heather Hedden,
The Accidental Taxonomist

34. TAXONOMY & NAVIGATION
Design taxonomies, categories, and classification
schemes to make the organization of content
intelligible to users.
Design navigation and interaction to make using that
content context appropriate.

35. TAXONOMY & NAVIGATION
The tools we use for web bring with them assumptions
that can be hard to shake

36. TAXONOMY & NAVIGATION
Cleanly capture the organization and structure of your
content to keep it free from context-specific constraints

37. TAXONOMY & NAVIGATION
Design navigation to fit a device-specific context

38. LEARN PATTERNS

39. EVERNOTE

40. EVERNOTE

41. DELIBERATE DESIGN
Facilitates architectural parity across multiple
contexts
Leverages device specific “knowledge in the head”
Leverages device and context specific capabilities
Is future friendly
Fits naturally into device ecosystems

42. Doesn’t this make for
more work?

43. EXPERIENCE HAPPENS WHEN
CONTENT AND INTERACTION MEET
IN THE MIND OF THE USER

44. DESIGN TASKS
Content Analysis
Competitive Analysis
User Research
Traffic Analysis
Personas
Use Cases
Taxonomy &
Metadata

45. DESIGN TASKS
Content Analysis Navigation
Competitive Analysis Labeling
User Research Wireframing
Traffic Analysis Interaction Design
Personas Usability Testing
Use Cases Visual Design
Taxonomy & Implementation
Metadata Oversight

46. DESIGN TASKS
Content Out Context In
Content Analysis Navigation
Competitive Analysis Labeling
User Research Wireframing
Traffic Analysis Interaction Design
Personas Usability Testing
Use Cases Visual Design
Taxonomy & Implementation
Metadata Oversight

47. KEEPING CONTENT &
CONTEXT DISTINCT
Create clarity of purpose upon which to make and
support sound user experience decisions
Guard against falling into default patterns
Build a future-friendly and re-useable foundation

48. Recap

49. IA FOR MOBILE
Mobile is growing fast and gaining momentum
You can leverage “knowledge in the head” to keep
pace with mobile’s rate of expansion
Mobile friendly design:
puts content first
designs for taxonomy & navigation deliberately
uses patterns to bridge device differences
Deliberate decisions allow you to better defend
design choices and to create future-friendly
foundations

50. Q&A

51. THANK YOU!
Presented by ANDY FITZGERALD