Information Architecture for the World Wide Web, Second Edition

The End of the Beginning

As information architects, we can also use invisibility to our advantage. There is no question that our discipline suffers from the iceberg problem, as illustrated in Figure 18-8. Most of our clients and colleagues focus on the interface, without appreciating the underlying structure and semantics.

Figure 18-8. The information architecture iceberg

Savvy designers know to look beneath the water line, understanding the importance of blueprints and wireframes to site development. But few people, even within the web design community, realize the critical role the lower layers play in building a successful user experience. This ignorance of deep information architecture results in short, superficial, and often doomed projects.

Those who recognize the need to build structures from the bottom up have an immediate advantage over those who skim along the surface. And because this structural design is hidden from the outside world, these early adopters get a big head start. Once competitors see what the Episcopalians call “the outward and visible signs of inward and spiritual grace,” it’s often too late. By the time Borders Books & Music realized the power of Amazon’s user experience, they were already years behind.

But invisibility doesn’t automatically confer sustainable advantage. In today’s fast and fluid economy, easily duplicated best practices spread like wildfire. ...