It’s been said that good Information Architecture goes un-noticed (by Rosenfeld and Morville I think), which is something I agree with. So this got me thinking how to explain to my bosses why we should spend money on something that nobody sees. Of course the converse is that poor IA is noticed.

To explain it I went through the following thought exercise:

Imagine that you’ve walked into a large public building like a theatre or something similar that you have never been in before and you are busting to use the toilet. One of two things could happen:

  • You quickly glance at where you think the toilet shoud be, see a sign and make you way their (relieved).
  • You look around, can’t see the toilet, walk around the foyer looking, still can’t see it so you try to find the ticket desk to ask them. When you do find it they explain that if you go up the stairs, turn left, go to the end of the corridor and the men’s is the third door (or is it the fourth?).

In the first case it’s where it should be: where you look (intuitive is the term often bandied about). In the second, the building was designed poorly and while helpful, the ticket staff had to give you a very complex set of instructions.

And so it is with IA. If it’s good, your stakeholders are happy. If it’s poor, your stakholders mess your floor.