[Sigia-l] Building an Information Architecture Team

[Todd R.Warfel]

There area few occasions where we've experienced multiple IAs on a 
single project:
1) Really large projects (e.g. large and complex eCommerce designs)
2) A project that is of significant size, but has a somewhat 
unrealistic deadline (e.g. full eCommerce design in under 8 weeks)
3) And of course, the unfortunate circumstance when the two happen at 
the same time.

In the cases where any of the above happen, then typically the multiple 
IAs are there to divide and conquer. Much like a typical design team, 
there is usually a lead and one or more associate IAs.

What is more common is what Ziya suggests: a UX (User Experience) team 
that encompasses a mix of the following (if you're lucky, you'll get 
them all, but that's rare, unfortunately):
• User Experience Researcher
• Information Architect
• Interaction Designer
• Usability Specialist (sometimes called a Usability Engineer)

In addition, it's important to involve visual design and engineering in 
the process as early on as possible. Sometimes a visual designer is 
part of the UX team, sometimes not. And sometimes, you'll see some of 
the above roles collapsed. What's common is to see UXR (user experience 
research) and usability collapsed into one and IA and interaction 
design collapsed into one.

On Dec 9, 2003, at 2:29 AM, Listera wrote:

> Since the definition of IA is very contentious for a variety of 
> reasons,
> it's also difficult to pin down who would be included in an IA team if 
> you
> could realistically form one.
>
> A business analyst, a database architect, a librarian, a statistician, 
> an
> interface designer, a usability 'engineer' or those with even fancier 
> titles
> such as user experience or interaction designers would normally 
> contribute
> in one fashion or another to the general architecture of a site. BUT 
> they
> would hardly be pleased to be included in what you call an "information
> architecture team." They all have their titles and fiefdoms to 
> cultivate.

Cheers!

Todd R. Warfel
User Experience Architect
MessageFirst | making products easier to use
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email: 	twarfel at messagefirst.com
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In theory, theory and practice are the same.
In practice, they are not.
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