Single Session Workshop (Virtual)

This workshop is sold out.

More of our lives are happening online every day. We interact and transact through digital systems on a growing variety of devices. More understandable and coherent systems = better experiences. As a result, information architecture (IA) is more important than ever.

In this fast-paced workshop, you will:

• Understand the primary goals of information architecture
• Learn how people find and understand information
• Learn to define conceptual models
• Master necessary IA components
• Identify essential IA collaboration skills
• Learn how to communicate IA concepts
• Discover how architectures evolve over time

Structure

This workshop has been a staple of the IA Conference for the past three years. Now, it’s been wholly restructured for effective remote instruction.

The online workshop consists of three components:

• Pre-recorded video lectures, which you can view on your own before real-time group activities
• Real-time hands-on group exercises via Zoom
• Asynchronous Q&A sessions via Discord

Lectures consist of our parts:

1. Introduction to information architecture
2. Conceptual modeling
3. Basic IA components
4. Basic IA skills

This new structure maximizes learning by making the most of our time together and makes it easier for distributed teams with busy schedules to participate.

As a digital designer, you must think beyond the user interface to the underlying structures that give your systems coherence. These structures should serve the needs of your users, your organization, and society. To do so, you must understand your organization’s strategic directions. This fast-paced workshop introduces strategic thinking for designers.

Now more than ever, we are seeing how the systems underlying society affect the people living within them. As designers, we have an opportunity to impact positive change. Learn to see the big picture and tackle big, messy problems by cultivating a systems thinking lens into your UX and IA practices. What is systems thinking? Why is it important? Engage in practical hands-on activities that you can bring back to your projects and learn how to create change through design by uncovering relevant relationships beyond what is on the surface.

Hear from and share with colleagues barriers, opportunities, and ideas for activating change.