Chapter 4. The Anatomy of an Information Architecture

What we'll cover:

Why it's important (and difficult) to make an information architecture as tangible as possible

Examples that help you visualize an information architecture from both the top down and the bottom up

Ways of categorizing the components of an information architecture so you can better understand and explain IA

In the preceding chapters, we discussed information architecture from a conceptual perspective. This chapter presents a more concrete view of what information architecture actually is to help you recognize it when you see it. We also introduce the components of an architecture; these are important to understand because they make up the information architect's palette. We'll cover them in greater detail in Chapters 59.