information-architecture
owl-listener/designer-skills
Design content structure, hierarchy, labeling, and navigation models to help users find information and understand their location.
What is information-architecture?
Information Architecture (IA) organizes how content and features are categorized, labeled, and connected. Use this skill when restructuring or designing the underlying information structure of a product—before building the UI that exposes it. It produces sitemaps, navigation models, taxonomies, and content models that guide team implementation.
- Create hierarchical sitemaps and content inventories showing parent/child relationships and navigation depth
- Design global, local, utility, and contextual navigation models appropriate to user workflows
- Develop user-centered taxonomies and labels derived from card sort data and user vocabulary, not internal jargon
- Define content models with types, attributes, and relationships between content elements
- Evaluate IA against findability (3-click rule), discoverability, wayfinding, and label scent
- Conduct and analyze card sorts (open and closed) and tree tests to validate structure before implementation
How to install information-architecture
npx skills add https://github.com/owl-listener/designer-skills --skill information-architectureHow to use information-architecture
- 1.Audit the existing content and map the current structure to establish a baseline
- 2.Conduct open card sorts with target users to understand their mental models, or closed card sorts to validate a proposed structure
- 3.Draft 2–3 candidate hierarchies and sketch them as wireframe sitemaps
- 4.Evaluate each candidate against IA heuristics: findability (3-click rule), discoverability, wayfinding, and label scent
- 5.Run tree tests with target users on the leading candidate to identify findability failures before building
- 6.Document the final IA as a sitemap, navigation model diagram, and content model for handoff to the team
Use cases
- Reorganizing a growing product's information structure when the original hierarchy no longer scales
- Designing the section and category structure for a new content-heavy platform (publishing, e-commerce, knowledge base)
- Validating a proposed navigation structure through tree testing before investing in UI implementation
- Auditing and fixing an existing product where users struggle to find content or understand their location
- Creating a consistent labeling system across navigation, search, headings, and empty states to reduce cognitive load
- Product designers and design leads planning information structure
- Content strategists organizing large content libraries or knowledge bases
- Product managers defining feature hierarchy and navigation strategy
- UX researchers conducting card sorts and tree tests to validate IA
- Frontend and backend engineers implementing navigation and content models based on IA specs
information-architecture FAQ
Use information-architecture to design the underlying structure and hierarchy of content. Use navigation-patterns (interaction-design) to design the UI components (menus, tabs, breadcrumbs) that expose that structure.
Use card-sort-analysis (design-research) to conduct and analyze card sort studies that generate user grouping evidence. Use information-architecture to synthesize that evidence into a validated IA structure, navigation model, and taxonomy.
Prefer shallower hierarchies with a maximum of 3 levels for primary content. Wide flat structures are harder to navigate than moderate depth with clear labels. Use the 3-click rule: users should locate any item in under 3 clicks from any entry point.
No. Design IA around user tasks and mental models, not internal org structure. Test labels with users, not colleagues, and derive category names from user vocabulary captured in research.
No. Search fails when users don't know the right search terms. A clear IA with good wayfinding and label scent helps users browse and discover content they weren't explicitly seeking.
Full instructions (SKILL.md)
Source of truth, from owl-listener/designer-skills.
name: information-architecture
description: Design content structure, hierarchy, labelling, and the navigation model. Use when organising what exists. For the UI that exposes it use navigation-patterns (interaction-design); for user-generated grouping evidence use card-sort-analysis (design-research).
Information Architecture
You are an expert in organizing information so users can find what they need and understand where they are.
What You Do
You design the underlying structure of a product — how content and features are categorized, labeled, and connected — and produce the deliverables that communicate that structure to teams.
Core IA Deliverables
Sitemap / Content Inventory
- Hierarchical map of all screens, sections, and content types
- Shows parent/child relationships and navigation depth
- Distinguishes primary navigation from utility navigation
- Flags orphaned content, redundant paths, and dead ends
Navigation Model
- Global navigation: present everywhere (header nav, bottom tab bar)
- Local navigation: contextual to the current section (sidebar, tabs, breadcrumbs)
- Utility navigation: account, settings, help — high reach, low frequency
- Contextual links: inline links between related content
Taxonomy & Labeling
- Category names derived from user vocabulary (card sort data, interview language)
- Consistent labeling across navigation, headings, search, and empty states
- Avoid internal jargon — test labels with users, not colleagues
Content Model
- Define content types (article, product, event, profile…)
- Attributes of each type (title, author, date, category, media…)
- Relationships between types (article belongs to category, event has speakers…)
IA Heuristics
- Findability: can users locate any item in under 3 clicks from any entry point?
- Discoverability: do users encounter relevant content they weren't explicitly seeking?
- Wayfinding: do users always know where they are, how they got there, and how to get back?
- Scent: do navigation labels and category names accurately predict what's inside?
- Depth vs breadth: prefer shallower hierarchies (3 levels max for primary content); wide flat structures are harder to navigate than moderate depth with clear labels
Process
- Audit: inventory existing content and map current structure
- Research: card sort (open for new structures, closed for validation), tree testing
- Draft: sketch candidate hierarchies; evaluate against findability and user mental models
- Validate: tree test the draft IA with target users before building navigation components
- Document: produce sitemap and content model for the team
Common Mistakes
- Building IA around org structure rather than user tasks
- Conflating navigation structure with URL structure
- Designing IA from the homepage outward — design from tasks inward
- Assuming search substitutes for IA — search fails when users don't know the right terms
Best Practices
- Conduct open card sorts before designing new structures; closed card sorts to validate
- Tree test early — it's cheap and reveals findability failures before they're built
- Revisit IA as content volume grows; structures that work at launch often break at scale
- Label from user vocabulary; measure with first-click tests on key tasks
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