Take the guesswork out of Information Architecture
Content is complicated. But it doesn’t need to be.
You’re a UX or content whiz. You’ve designed a billion and three websites. But when it comes to Information Architecture, your knowledge runs a bit shallow.
Sure, you can run a card sort with the best of them. And you understand best practice when it comes to navigation.
But…
You often feel that you’re guessing—especially when faced with larger, more complex sites.
And you don’t want to be guessing. You want to confidently articulate your decisions to clients and stakeholders. You want to have the knowledge to guide them towards the best choice. After all, you’re the expert.
Or maybe you’re a content designer and know you could be thinking more strategically about your internal search and content tagging. You want to deliver the best value to your clients or team—and you want to be able to back up your actions and recommendations with facts.
All of this is possible.
IA is a common blindspot for designers and researchers. And for good reason—it’s generally glossed over in UX courses. Many graduates think IA = navigation (tip: this is not true).
And most of the online courses that are offered only coast along the surface of IA, offering hints at the depths of the subject—but not giving you the knowledge and confidence to make sound decisions around content structure and findability.
Of course, you could research the subject on your own, but it can be hard to know what’s important—not to mention the amount of time you’ll spend searching, finding and sifting through all of the information you find. Because you don’t just want to know the theories—you want to know how to put them into action. You want to guide your customers or stakeholders to the best decision for both users and the business.
And that is a problem. Because no one likes to guess, especially in their field of expertise.
Luckily, there’s an answer to your IA conundrum.
“Your course demystifies IA and provides practical ways to organise any type of website. Beginners and experts will get something out of it.”
— Gerald Bowie
Hi! I’m Mags. And I’ve been doing UX since before UX was a thing. My speciality? Information Architecture.
I know Information Architecture may not seem as sexy as interaction design or prototype creation, but it’s my thing—and one I love sharing.
And one thing that I’ve noticed while working with senior practitioners on my Senior-to-Leader program is that most of them understand only a small fraction of IA—generally card sorting and basic navigation design.
Their work, and education, have focused on research or interaction design and prototype creation—not structuring and describing content to support findability. And in a world full of content, this is a vital skill set to have.
No one—especially not senior designers who are experts in their field—wants to have to guess at their work. You want to know why and how to structure and design your content, and you want to be able to confidently explain your decisions to stakeholders and clients.
I get it. And I can help.
Since establishing the IA practice at the BBC in the early 00’s, I have developed navigation and search systems for companies like JB Hi-Fi, Debenhams and Time Out. I’ve also worked as a consultant for companies small, medium and large, helping them to improve their content structure and findability.
I understand not just what needs to be done and why, but how to communicate it to your stakeholders or clients to achieve the best results and keep everyone happy.
Oh, and I’ve got a MA in Librarianship. I really love this stuff.
Ready to get started? Sign up for the Masterclass here.
“A thorough grounding in IA delivered by a master in the field”
— Matt Fenwick, founder of True North Content
The IA Masterclass
Here’s what you can expect when you sign up for the masterclass.
4 x 4 hour sessions, each tackling a different facet of IA:
Navigation: we’ll look at the tools, techniques and examples you need to design navigation that provides easy access to products and content for users and meets the needs of the business
Users’ mental models and interaction styles
Navigation in-depth
Testing navigation
Designing navigation
Classification: learn to design classification schemes that describe content the way that users think—increasing findability and search success
Organisational structures and schemes
Metadata
User research and usability testing for classification
Designing classification
Content: IA is nothing without content—you need something to organise! In this class, you’ll gain a thorough understanding of the different types of content you need to think about when designing search and navigation
Structured vs unstructured content
APIs
Tags vs controlled vocabularies
Content modelling
SEO
Search: in the last session, we bring everything we’ve covered so far together and learn how to design search systems
Search interfaces, engines, inputs, results and ranking
Users’ intent and search behaviours
The best research methods to use during each stage of search
The use of facets
All of the sessions are live, not pre-recorded. You’ll be able to ask all the questions you want, and I’ll provide real-world examples to make abstract concepts tangible.
There are lots of hands-on exercises to make sure that concepts you’re learning, stick.
The course is fully online. So you can join from anywhere in the world.
The masterclass is limited to 30 attendees to ensure that we can have an interactive experience and that you get your questions answered.
All of the sessions are recorded, and you’ll have access to them, as well as the slides and any other documentation I might share, for as long as I run this course.
What previous attendees have said:
“The scope and complexity of my new role were daunting – these courses calmed my nerves.”
“Not only was I able to use it to make clearer sites, I am confidently able to articulate to clients why we organise things a certain way and get more buy-in.”
“It provided an overall view of the different parts of IA that needed to be considered when working on IA and pitfalls to be aware of. I still use and refer my colleagues to the recordings and slides.”
“The Masterclass expanded my IA knowledge and toolset. It gave me the confidence to explore other approaches I have not previously used, eg, card sorting, free listing and search term analysis.”
“I'm able to articulate better when discussing IA, whether it's Content, Classification, Navigation, or Search.”
“I've gained more confidence when approaching projects and tell my stakeholders what the IA issues are within the design issues. In short, knowing IA helps me to design better.”
“It gave me a comprehensive approach, including explorative research and lots of working with data.”
“An in-depth look at taxonomies, classifications, search, IA, and its impact on content design”
“What was surprising was the amount of content that was covered in the course. I wasn't expecting that much and it really went beyond my expectations.”
Investment
IA Masterclass: $1996
4 x 4 hour Masterclass sessions which will provide participants with the full suite of IA skills including:
Navigation: we’ll look at the tools, techniques and examples you need to design navigation that provides easy access to products and content for users and meets the needs of the business
Classification: learn to design classification schemes that describe content the way that users think—increasing findability and search success
Content: gain a thorough understanding of the different types of content you need to think about when designing search and navigation
Search: we bring everything we’ve covered so far together and learn how to design search systems including interfaces, results, relevancy and ranking
Single Masterclass session: $499
Warning! I do not recommend taking Search on its own, unless you have extensive knowledge in the preceding classes (Navigation, Classification and Content). Search brings all we learn in those earlier sessions together. Proceed at your own risk.
“What was surprising was the amount of content that was covered in the course. I wasn't expecting that much and it really went beyond my expectations”
— Johan Pang
FAQs
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Yes! This course has something for beginners through to experts. I’ll give real-world examples to help bring the theories to life for every participant—regardless of where you are on your IA path.
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All of the sessions are recorded, and you’ll have access to them (as well as the slides and any other documentation I share) for as long as I continue offering the Masterclass.
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Absolutely not. Each of the 4 classes is hands-on and interactive, catering to the mix of attendees.
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No, you can sign up for any of them individually (although I highly recommend not doing so for Search unless you are fairly well-versed in IA, as it builds on everything we’ve learned in the other 3 sessions).
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We do, from an IA perspective. This means we look at the touchpoints for Stakeholder engagement, how to ensure you get the information you need from the right people and the right time, as well as helping to guide stakeholders towards the best outcome for users and the business.
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This course is highly detailed—no surface-coasting here. We’ll dive deep into the four topics and ensure that you leave the Masterclass with the full-suite of IA skills you need to succeed. I often find that my students have already tried one of those shorter, less-detailed IA courses and realised that they needed a more comprehensive course.
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This is not a surface-level course. We’ll dive deep into Navigation, Classification, Content and Search. There are no available alternatives that I’m aware of that come close to offering this level of Information Architecture education.
It is hands-on and live—no prerecorded sessions here. You can bring questions from your actual projects and work and we’ll discuss them in class. Each class is catered to the mix of attendees.
This is not my first rodeo. I’ve been doing UX since before UX was a thing. That’s over 25 years of working in digital. I created the IA practice at the BBC in the early 00’s, and have worked with numerous large, global companies to help them define their search and navigation.
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Ah yes, this old chestnut.
Here’s a few bullet points for why your boss should care about IA, and why you should take this course in particular:
Increase your revenue: It doesn’t matter how good your product or content is if no one can find it. And in order to make that happen, you need to have a clear strategy around your information architecture.
Improve your sales funnel: This is not just theory—having a strategic and sensible IA will improve your sales funnel by improving the percentage of people who can find what they’re looking for before giving up.
Excellent value: an hour of coaching with Mags would normally cost you $500.
This course offers you 16 hours access to her expertise for a fraction of the cost.
Proven expertise: Mags is an expert in this space, having worked in UX for over
25 years. Information Architecture is her speciality.
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The next round of classes starts on 30 May 2023.
The schedule is:
Navigation - 30 May 2023
Classification - 6 June 2023
Content - 13 June 2023
Search - 20 June 2023
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The classes are between 8.30 am - 12.30 pm AEST. That translates to:
3.30 - 7.30 pm - PDT
6.30 - 10.30 pm EDT
11.30 pm - 3 am UK (!)
If there is enough interest for a European cohort, I will put one on.