Information architecture patterns

Presented at: IA Summit 2010
Presentation date: April 4, 2010
We have patterns for buildings, patterns for interaction design, and patterns for software development. But are there patterns for information architecture? Of course there are – patterns emerge from use, and there certainly are enough information architectures around to identify a set of patterns. This presentation will describe a wide range of commonly-used information architecture patterns, including hierarchies small and large, different types of database structure, hypertext, subsite models, sites with multiple entry points and ways of combining these (and more that I discover before April). For each I will describe the core elements of the pattern, discuss the most appropriate uses and show real-world examples. Understanding the different patterns will help attendees to select the most appropriate structures for their content.