The Commercial Benefits of Optimised Website Information Architecture - Part 3

In Part 2 we discussed optimising navigation and website structure to get the most out of your information architecture. In this part we will discuss issues relating to information retrieval and how computers and humans absorb your messaging and the way you present your data.

Information Architecture & Information Retrieval

Before we start discussing website navigation and structure it is important to touch on information retrieval as a driving force behind good information architecture design.

Information retrieval is the science of searching for documents, for information within documents and for metadata about documents; it is the academic subject that search engine engineers study e.g. Brin & Page, Google’s founders, read Information Retrieval at Stanford University; and it is all about matching relevant documents or data to a search query.

Information retrieval is about seeking, analysing and comprehending data. In other words getting data.

Conversely information architecture is about how you structure, shape and logically display data; in other words IA is about presenting data.

Therefore, to design a decent IA (presenting data) you need to first have some idea how information is going to be retrieved (getting data). This means understanding the two main information retrieval “systems” your data will be interacting with:-

1. Machine based systems - automated software systems such as search engines
2. Humans - sentient carbon-based lifeforms

Let’s take a quick look at these two “systems”.

Machine Based Information Retrieval

Search engines are the current leading information retrieval systems in public use (defence intelligence ontological analysis systems eavesdropping data-communications and “chatter” could arguably be seen to be more sophisticated but little is known about them for obvious reasons).

Search engines presently use mathematical algorithms to calculate “relevance” using a series of equations and routines.  This is based on analysis of data from websites, web pages and documents they have “crawled” with an automated programme or script called a spider/robot/crawler.

The automated spider goes out across the web following links (hyperlinks) to find and retrieve data for the search engine’s data centre. This data is then crunched in the algorithm against the context of the “document set” - in this case the web itself - comparing the documents and web pages against each other for any given search query a human has requested.

“Search engines can only retrieve what we give them” - Strange

Rather than getting too concerned just yet about the detail of what the search engines are looking for, it is first really important to explain the basic concept that search algorithms are “dumb”; they have no way of reading between the lines; anything they infer or guess is not really inferred or guessed - it is based on some crumb of data  - in  other words an algorithm can only ever output the product of data it has received.

Once you grasp that search engines can only ever return the data we give them - it makes designing IA for information retrieval much simpler.

In essence we must shape the data to provide contextual meaning, semantic definition and topic scope so the search engine can figure out what things are, what we consider to be important, what the relationship between things are etc. etc.

This means from a machine based information retrieval perspective we have quite a scientific solution - a check-list of elements we need to ensure have data that can then be interpreted by the search engine - for example this might be the HTML page title schema providing an indication of taxonomical hierarchy so we know what categories things are in, or simply ensuring metadata is provided to a basic standard (e.g. Dublin Core) . The point is these are not difficult/complex things so do - there are just lots of things to do - and check have been done right.

Human Based Information Retrieval

“We humans are full of unpredictable emotions that logic alone cannot solve.”  - Captain James T. Kirk

So for machines we have a scientific check-list solution, ticking off criteria we know the search engines will be looking for.

With the humans, unfortunately “logical” behaviour does not always occur. However, just because it is not as logical, human behaviour and interactions with websites can be predicted in many ways based on our understanding of cognition and psychology.

This field of knowledge is still in its infancy (behavioural economics) and therefore, we often have to based decision on empirical data and experience.

This greying of certainty is where the art (heuristics) rather than the science of IA design comes in. The good news is there are some things humans do universally which we can count on when designing IA but each market or target audience also behaves in slightly different ways in other areas; which is why experience, knowledge and judgement need to be applied rather than blithely executing the psycho-sales play-book.

Predicable Human Behaviour

Uncertainty is at the heart of much of the online human decision making process and therefore,  information architects need to be mindful of this.

You might like to  read through James Kalbach’s paper “On Uncertainty in Information Architecture” which addresses decision making and IA and explains how uncertainty affects all aspects of the user journey. His discussion of breadth vs. depth and information scent are most useful.

Because we often don’t know exactly what we are looking for we have doubts; and this lack of confidence and assurance has some direct impact on the way we need to help users find what they are looking for (or what we want them to find in some cases).

“All our final decisions are made in a state of mind that is not going to last.” -  Marcel Proust

However, uncertainty and our reaction to it is somewhat predictable. Within the realm of IA and uncertainty one needs to understand when different stimuli will work, how layout can help or hinder user journeys, and how to overcome certain cognitive baggage that affect decision making  (e.g. post-sale cognitive dissonance means we tend to justify poor decision even when clearly dubious).

The brain is a complex old thing - and when we say old, we mean it - millions of years of the Darwinian stuff means we have decision making systems that date back to our days in the primordial swamp!

The brain has three areas/functional response mechanism that we are interested in with our look at designing navigation and website structure; the reptilian/amphibian brain (found in the brain stem); the Limbic brain found in the inner region of the Cerebrum; and three lobes of the Cerebrum (Frontal, Parietal & Temporal Lobes).

Reptilian Brain & Limbic Brains - the Lowest Common Denominators!

As man/woman evolved and pulled ourselves out of the primordial swamp, losing the scales and web fingers, we grew some hair and learnt to stand upright and use tools.

All very Darwinian and logical. The thing is, through natural selection we retained the parts of our brain that worked protecting us from threats, finding food, hunting, sensing danger etc. etc. ; so deep within the fancy-pants enlightened human brain is the stem with elements left over from the Mk1 reptilian/amphibian brain and limbic brain on top of this which ran our marsupial/rodent type fore-bearers.

So what you say? Well lets just see how these can impact directly on the way we present information.

“Instinct is the nose of the mind” - Delphine de Girardin

Ever wondered why humans find moving images compelling? Why we like bling? What make us look at the TV without really “watching” it? Why is red more threatening that green? Why does someone standing on your left or right periphery prove so distracting?

Well, it is your little reptilian brain stem, transfixed by the shiny-flashy-movement type things that represent the type of threats/lunch opportunities it might have faced back in the primordial swamp.

The limbic brain, like the reptilian brain, has some core survival functions - the freeze, flight or fight mechanic (often misrepresented as fight or flight) and is a hugely powerful subconscious driver of human behaviour.

Non-verbal communication which governs about 80% of what we say is controlled here (which is understandable give our recent ascent from primate society in which our neurolinguistic highpoint might have been a growl, hoop or cackle.

The Limbic brain is also thought to control neuropharmacological reward/pleasure response levels (dopaminergic system) and plays a role in problem solving and sexual arousal.

“Hey I want to design IA not do neuroscience 101″ - hold your horses!

Let’s look at some practical examples of things to consider; we’ll call it the lowest common denominator check-list as they tend to pander to the most primitive parts of your brain that drive your instincts:-

Trust

Does your design look trustworthy? Fewer people are going to feel like getting their credit card out if your design looks cheap or does not look like someone cares about the website!

Tone

Aesthetic qualities such as taste and demeanour play an important part in talking to the subconscious mind (limbic brain). If you use gopping (awful) colours,  random/irregular layouts or awkward typography it needs to “work” or else you’ll alienate your audience before they have even “thought” about it. Gladwell’s “blink response“!

Resonance

Your website is a communications platform directed at an audience - so you must know the personas that make up the audience and ensure that your website fits their needs and expectations so it talks to them visually, emotionally and eventually - consciously.

Imagery

Often viewed purely as part of the “creative” solution images actually are crucial within information architecture. The oft quoted “A picture paints a thousand words” whilst trite is nevertheless still an axiom to hold dear when considering marketing communications.

Although the parietal lobe handles image processing in the brain - your limbic system is going to be where you emotionally respond to it (and your initial response is not reasoned but hard-wired).

• A pretty girl on a shiny car is going to make men “look”
• A smiling helpless baby is going to make women “look”

These are hard-wired responses; we may not like them exploited in marketing communications, but they are there.

From a marketing communications perspective we need to consider the wider picture - we don’t need to use sexist or exploitative imagery to utilise the power of the limbic brain.

A smile, any genuine human smile engenders feelings of happiness. An images of a sunny day makes us feel positive; an image of a sombre day makes us feel melancholic.

Whilst these examples are somewhat over simplified - the point holds true - images set the emotional tone of your marketing communications.

The quality of imagery will also reinforce a sense of quality - meaning investment in your images leads to credibility and trust. In short great photography equals trust!

As well as emotional visual communication, images are also going to provide oodles of contextual information to users.

Layout

Spatial demarcation of elements is really important - the more clutter there is the less the brain is able to “see”.

We want users to be aware that there is some stuff here or there without them having to know what it is.

Step back from your website design - 2 to 3 meters from the screen and squint your eyes - you ideally should be seeing topic and function areas distinct from one another.

Recent studies eye tracking studies bear out the Gestalt Laws of Perceptual Organization - specifically:-

The Law of Proximity: Stimulus elements that are closed together tend to be perceived as a group

Grouping related things together helps users work out what things are -  it is what users’ brains do naturally, so your job is not to confuse it and keep things clearly grouped and distinct from one another.

This is what we mean by spatial demarcation.

Visual Cues

Make things obvious - Steve Krug was certainly on the money with “Don’t make me think” - if you want users to react in certain ways or know certain things then you need to signal it to your users.

We write with punctuation to allow the author to convey meaning and intent; punctuation hopefully provides clarity as to the exact meaning intended, the intended rhythm, metre, timbre and tone. In short, punctuation allows the author to express himself more precisely.

Visual cues are equivalent to punctuation - they let you signal to the user what things are and what they do - they’re visual punctuation.

Visual cues are commonly used in typography:-

• Headings (scaled)
• Quotes
• Indents
• Lists
• Bold
• Italics

Visual cues are also used in interactive functional elements

• Buttons
• Navigation
• Widgets
• Tabs

Visual cues are also used in design elements

• Icons
• Panels
• Headers / footers

There are two keys to making visual cues work:-

cue must stand out - it must looked “designed” i.e. the user must automatically infer that you meant something with the element and thus made it distinct

cue must be consistent - so if you use a primary call-to-action button style on one page, then this style must also be used on other pages - to signal it does the same thing.

Clarity

“Is it clear”

As stated information architecture is about presenting data to make information retrieval as easy as possible. So with clarity we have an over-arching principle that must be applied to everything you do - is it clear?

Language

Accessibility requirements mean we should be proposing that you simplify your language and lower the reading age. Plain English etc etc.

This is great advice if you want a vanilla, characterless website that talks to everyone but speaks to no one.

But if you’re marketing to an audience then you need to talk to them in an appropriate style. It doesn’t matter what the style is - as long as it is appropriate to the audience and resonates with them.

Building an online business and brand is about injecting character and differentiation into the website; so to a degree you need to do your own thing and not worry about “the rules”.

As long as you always write with your audience in mind and have their needs at the top of your list then they should be able to get what they need out of  your website; and this will make them want to engage with your business.

Simplify Choice

By reducing options and choices we help people decide!

Don’t give users too many choices - start getting nervous when you offer 7 or more choices. People find it difficult to cope with too many choices (so make none). By reducing options and choices we help people decide!

If you’d like to learn a bit more about decision making and choice I’d recommend Sheena Iyengar’s The Art of Choosing, Dan Ariely’s Predictably Irrational and Barry Schwartz’s The Paradox of Choice - all are very readable and entertaining as well as insightful.

Some basic tips for simplifying choice:-

• Use silos or a taxonomy within your IA to break choices down into more manageable sizes
• Keep forms simple and use steps to break up long daunting forms
• Provide filters and sort functions on search and category listings
• Provide paging view options for the number of items to be listed on search results or categories
• Use cumulative positive and negative facets in your faceted search (green or blue but not yellow)

Test, Test, Test!

Every market and audience coupled with your offering will produce slightly different behaviour characteristics; there is always something to be learned from testing. So whilst the factors discussed above will help improve information retrieval through better IA, you cannot assume your website is optimised until you test it.

If you’re unsure how to go about planning and executing testing for your website then read Steve Krug’s Rocket Surgery Made Easy which will give you a step-by-step guide.

Well planned and conducted user testing and MVT will provide you with both insight and significant improvements in conversion rates for whatever your website is geared to do.

Not matter how much you know about retailing, behavioural economic and human decision making I guarantee you you’ll learn something you did not know before about your market/audience once you run a test - and those insights are golden.