information architecture class6 02 12

LabelingSI 658 Information Architecture

Marti Gukeisen

2/12/2013

Organization

Related Readings

Information Architecture for the World Wide Web 3rd

Edition (The Polar Bear Book) Peter Morville & Louis Rosenfeld

ISBN 978-0-596-52734-1

Ch 6 Labeling Systems

1/23/2013

SI658 Information Architecture2

the ‘L’ wordLabel. I mean label.

we aren’t watching

showtime reruns.

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labels are goal-oriented language

the goal of a label is to communicate information

efficiently

Conserve:

Page space

Cognitive Space

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Labels are one-way communications

More like radio than telephone

Broadcasting a brand’s representation of itself

(you guys still know what radio is, right?)

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Non-verbal Communication

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Non-verbal

communication

what you

have to work

with as an IAgestures

signals

personal space

posture

tone

appearance

expression

eye contact

mostly words

icons

pictures

voice

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Labels should

help users quickly identify familiar

concepts

educate users about new concepts

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Your momma was wrong

labels do matterlike any other form of professional communication

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Labels…

tell users how to think about what the site

(business / organization) has to offer

convey much more than just what is there

personality

what’s important to the brand

what’s available

(maybe) how they should feel about it

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Labels can be

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Textuallike this. this is text. I am

writing it with letters and

words.

Iconiclike Billy Idol or Kurt

Cobain or Elvis or a

bathroom sign.

AIRPORT

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varieties of labels

Contextual links

Headings

Navigation Items

Index Terms

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Poor U-HAUL of 2002

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jargony

aren’t representative

don’t differentiate

lose users, lose money

not impressive

And now

it’s history.

Hitches are

so passé.

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Labels make an Impression

The way you say or represent information in your site

says a lot about you, your organization, and its

brand. If you’ve ever read an airline magazine, you’re familiar

with those ads for some educational cassette series that

develops your vocabulary. “The words you use can

make or break your business deals” or something

like that. The same is true with a web site’s labeling—poor,

unprofessional labeling can destroy a user’s

confidence in that organization.

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Why can a blogger have mysterious link

labels but not fidelity?

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Writers write the writing

which means IAs don’t often control contextual links.

RULES

internal links:

match linked text to the resulting page heading

click here is the worst link label ever. Foreboden.

external links:

you gotta specify.

www.123.com OR the 123 website

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Headings

some rules

RULE FOR DESIGNERS:

Static headings CANNOT be styled exactly the

same as dynamic hypertext.

RULE FOR IAs:

Headings in menus (or other navigation areas) that

are not clickable are NOT OKAY.

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Orientation within a Process

Progress Indicator (% done)

Total number of steps / screens

Label for each step

Example labels for a checkout process

Personal Information

Delivery Address

Payment Information

Confirm Order

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consistency is king

Thank you, thank you very much…

for always referring to the same page / product /

tool using the same label.

Linked labels are NOT the place to mix it up, get

creative, use synonyms, or get bland (find it here).

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Scope NotesA bit of extra text for additional

understanding. Just like this. Deep.

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Rollovers for scope notes? Who do you

think you are, XKCD?

[photo of brilliant XKCD rollover]

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META META META

It’s the workaround for the imperfection of labeling.

You can’t call it 8 things on the page.

But you can in the META.

Synonym Mappings: what should be in the meta.

Do IAs do this?

Sometimes.

OR writers, SEO experts, content strategists…

This is a border task.

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Icons

the good

use minimal space

good when icon is

highly recognizable

useful when text might

be an issue

good for REPEAT users

the bad

rely on METAPHOR

can be a win or NOT

often bad for NEW

users

too many overwhelm

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so what are these?

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mobile influence on iconic labels

battle between clarity and space

less space = get creative

the less options there are,

the less ambiguity is a problem

(One option? Try that.)

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social icons

Learnability & popularity:

1st twitter bird—what? Oh.

Millionth twitter bird—yup, I got it.

What about pinterest? digg? google+?

if it doesn’t convey meaning,

that isn’t your target audience for that link

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why you will never get it perfect

language is ambiguous

language is FLUID, evolving

context will change

audience will change

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Guidelines

Focus

narrow your topic goals

narrow your target audience goals

aim for the specific, not the general

Plan labeling systems, don’t just pick labels

consistency = predictability = learnability

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Consistency in:

Style

Presentation

Syntax

Granularity

Comprehensiveness

Audience

Tone / Voice

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Evaluating Existing Labeling

Content Inventory (labeling table)

link label(s)

resulting page heading

Competitive Review

How is everyone else doing it?

Note: the answer might be badly.

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Controlled Vocabulary

Most applicable to highly technical or regulated

subject areas.

Medical

Financial

‘professional’ level audience

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Developing Labels

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content analysis

authors

experts

competitors

card sorting

free listing

search log analysis

tag analysis

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Tweak for

consistency

no cop-outs

And have a management plan.

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Presentation

Timethe part where you teach

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33 SI658 Information Architecture

Wrap UpMore stuff for you to do.

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34 SI658 Information Architecture

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For next week

Due TUES Feb 20th at 11 pm.

50-300 words responding to the following:

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Polar Bear

Ch 7 Navigation Systems

LatersQuestions?

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information architecture class6 02 12

Internet