benchmark and take a seat

Prior to the IA ritual it is vital to set a few benchmarks that will be your guide throughout the process of laying out the user interaction design, which will then serve as a blueprint for the visual interactive designer to paint it perfect. This will ensure that the website will not only work, but will work effectively (akin to the concept of 'beauty and brains'). Once you have identified your benchmarks it's time to sit down, think and create. And you will be sitting for quite some time until you have filled up your empty canvas and are ready to send it to the dogs (a.k.a clients) for confirmation.

Consider the following benchmarks:

Findability

• Lessen time spent looking for information directly relevant to the user
• Decrease the number of clicks to get to the desired information
• Provide alternate routes to related information such as contextual links, call-outs or lead-ins within content pages that will give users more than one way of finding out more information.

Usability

• Introduce interactive elements that will keep users engaged by providing options to spark their interest
• Allow users to customize their space, giving them the ability to choose only the information they want, and generate or upload their own content
• Use web 2.0 (includes AJAX, CSS, RSS, XML, XHTML, wiki or forum software) technology to ensure user-friendly sites that are easy to use, easy to manage and easy to load on all browsers.
  

Maintenance

• Ensure dynamic content that is regularly updated by a content management system to ensure user retention
• Maintain ‘sticky sites’ through polls, forums, blogs, competitions, user subscriptions, tagging, tactical banners, interactive maps, games, galleries or virtual tours, premium content, etc.
• Create a website built on technology that is accessible to the target audience but preferably to all types of users, hence connection speeds, common browsers and screen resolutions should be considered.

Education

• Reference related information consistently within the site ensuring a continuous journey of educational discovery.
• Consider social networking and user-generated content as a rich knowledge base with the highest level of user interaction and a source of multimedia content.
• Use language that is understandable at plain sight and render instructional content that will support the ease of use of the site.

Brand Value

• Account for brand positioning and identity within the site, which remains prominent on all sub-level pages, to instill the brand in the user.
• Use of a consistent tone of voice and content quality throughout the site, which will support credibility of the information imparted by the brand owners.
• Consider cross-selling brand subsidiaries and cross-linking to related sites within the same corporate umbrella.