Yes, this is all too too familiar.
When in the early stages of planning our web site, I tried to get
feedback or decisions made about information architecture on the
basis of pencil and paper diagrams and charts, but too many times I
was told to make it into web pages first ... and when prototyping web
pages, too many people paid no attention until some kind of "look and
feel" was overlayed onto them, and then the comments became fixated
on what color the links were, or whether pictures were appropriate.
Naturally, when time after time a launch date was proposed and
approached, major issues with the content were "discovered", issues
that should have been resolved in the initial stages.
Why isn't it Friday yet? I need a drink just thinking about it....
Paul
At 14:21 +0100 09/10/2002, Nicola Rogers wrote:
>Richard,
>
>It sounds like your managers are confusing design with information
>architecture, and you may need to sort out what is most important to them
>before proceeding.
>
>We had exactly the same problem here at Cambridge - web team wanted to
>address information architecture issues, management wanted a pretty home
>page. We tried more than once to get one company to do all. In the end, we
>did the information structuring bit in house and farmed the design out to
>a company, along with a strict tech and content brief.
>
>I think trying to sell information architecture for what it is (substance,
>not looks) is a really difficult thing. Of course, design is important in
>conveying information, but it's not the place to start.
>
>For the record, we tried a contacted a couple of consulting firms about
>the architecture side of things, but as we'll never use them, we'll never
>know. We have also spoken to a company called Digitext about these kind of
>issues - http://www.digitext.co.uk/ so you may want to check them out.
>
>Nicola
>
>Nicola Rogers Tel: 44 (0)1223 766809
>WWW Editorial Officer WWW: http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/
>University of Cambridge Email: [log in to unmask]
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