How to Make Sense of Any Mess: Information Architecture for Everybody

Scale is the relative size of your diagrammatic work.The

Scope is your clearly stated purpose for the diagram.

When architecting information, focus on your own unique objectives. You can learn from and borrow from other people. But it's best to look at their decisions through the lens of your intended outcome.

What channels do your users prefer? What context are they likely in when encountering what you're making? How are they feeling? Are they in a hurry? Are they on slow Wi-Fi? Are they there for entertainment or to accomplish a task?

But to make sense of real-world problems, you need to understand how users, channels, and context relate to each other.

As users, our context is the situation we're in, including where we are, what we're trying to do, how we're feeling, and anything else that shapes our experience. Our context is always unique to us and can't be relied upon to hold steady.

Current users: People who interact with whatever you're making. Potential users: People you hope to reach. Stakeholders: People who care about the outcome of what you're making. Competitors: People who share your current or potential users. Distractors: People that could take attention away from your intent.

Maybe we fear light being shined our way. Confronting your fears and knowing what is real is an important part of making sense of a mess.

How could we communicate our message? How much time and effort will it take? How could the solution look and feel? How will this be produced? How will this be maintained? How will this be measured? How will we know if we've succeeded?