Updated Information Architecture Schematic
SOLUTION: The updated schematic diagram has been modelled with the users in mind, implementing feedback from our initial user interviews, as well as our card sort study and content analysis results.
New features included in this schema, apart from the ambiguous name changes, are âQuickâ links. Quick links are a bottom-up element present on the bottom-right side of every page and are classified as a part of the websiteâs utility navigation. The reason we added quick links are to address the primary users, MI students, by providing an interaction structure that allows them to easily fulfill one of their main tasks of contacting MISC. The quick links also provide the experienced MISC members with an interaction structure that fits their goals of reviewing meeting minutes, or other important documents found in âKey Documentsâ. Furthermore, when initially interviewed, faculty members and student council members said that the âMeetings & Minutesâ, as well as âKey Documentsâ pages, were very important to them, which is also validation for the addition of quick links.
The new structure is visibly more shallow along with the global navigation menu than the original layout. Since the MISC website contains distinct, recognizable categories, a flat hierarchy and shallow global navigation makes sense because users don't have to click through as many levels or guess at which label their desired page would be under. In addition to the visualized schema, metadata and keyword searches by topic have both been suggested to improve the underlying mechanics of the website and help users to find content easily. The MISC website acts as one of the main forms of communication between the council members and the students, overall, all of these changes come together to form a user-centric solution that acts as a first step to improving the MI student experience.
