Internal Architecture of the Information Architect

Elyse Sanchez, Tuesday, October 17, 2006 @ 2:01 pm

In a recent Adaptive Path e-newsletter, Jesse James Garrett made the following appeal:

I'm trying to get one or more photos of my Elements diagram "in the wild"--that is, pinned to cubicle walls. I could stage one, I guess, but I'd much rather have the real thing. Can anybody help me out?

I first noted Garrett's interesting--and possibly revealing--association of cubicles with the untamed and uncultivated badlands--as IAs, we are capable of wreaking havoc, but generally maintain a somewhat civilized environment, as minimum standards go.

But, as a group, I do believe that we are creators and collectors of the artifacts of our craft, and indeed, I often find myself a meta-architect of my work: the taskflows, wireframes, and visual designs of each  project are constructed, iteration by iteration, level by level on the foundation we refer to as "The Wall." We trace backwards through the project lifecycle in a paper-based archaeological "dig," peeling away the finished product to re-discover the initial pencil sketches and Post-it notes.

As for my own current, cubicle-bound "wild kingdom," personal real estate prevents a personal reproduction of Garrett's (patently architectural) Elements diagram, but I have used it as a visual reference in earlier days. Now, in the space I have, I've built a small thatch of project ephemera, office procedures, and an ever-changing set of Guiding Principles scribbled on scraps of paper.

Sorry, Jesse.

Related posts:

1. The Hand-Off Between Information Architecture and Visual Design
2. The Art of the Thumbnail
3. Reducing Costs: The Power of Sketches
4. Fresh paint or new drywall? The cost of changing IA or design mid-project
5. 2 approaches to design…

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