Information Architecture for the World Wide Web, Second Edition

Who’s Qualified to Practice Information Architecture?

Unlike medicine and law, the field of information architecture has no official certification process. There are no universities or boards or exams that can prevent you from practicing information architecture. As we explain in Chapter 13, a number of university programs are emerging to serve the needs of prospective information architects, but for now very few people have a degree in information architecture.

Disciplinary Backgrounds

Because the field is so new, you can’t just post a job description and expect a flock of competent and experienced candidates to show up on your doorstep. Instead, you’ll need to actively recruit, outsource, or perhaps become the information architect for your organization. If you are looking for someone else to fill this role, you might consider the following disciplines as sources for information architects. If you’re on your own, it might not be a bad thing to learn a little bit about each of these disciplines yourself. In either case, remember that no single discipline is the obvious source for information architects. Each presents its own strengths and weaknesses.

Graphic design and information design

Many of the people who have written about and practice information architecture are graphic designers by training. This is not surprising, as both graphic design and information design involve much more than creating pretty pictures. These professions are geared more toward creating relationships ...