A Case For Designing Information Architecture Around Business Goals & Strategies

Abstract

Enterprises that have a presence on the web can approach the user in a variety of ways.  However, beyond a flashy splash page, a site needs to provide the e-commerce user with an experience that is meaningful and successful with regard to completing the user’s intended mission. At the same time, a site needs to fulfill the business requirements of the company by providing a profitable center for transacting business. To illustrate the correlation between what the user sees and the structure that propels that vision forward, Morville’s iceberg analogy parallels real life in suggesting that the tip is the part that people tend to deal with (Morville 2002); the user interface and the graphics with which it is comprised. Largely ignored is the support below the surface that is the immense skeletal structure of the beast; the Information Architecture and wireframes that will support the branding and web positioning.  This structure, which when done successfully, is invisible to the user and ultimately plays an important role in providing the road map to each of the participant’s end needs.