Essentials of UI Design XXVIII: How Information Architecture Impacts UI Design
When building your digital product, it’s essential to understand how information architecture (IA) impacts UI design. In this article, you’ll learn how to combine information architecture principles to build user interfaces that work for users.
3 Ways IA Bolsters UI Design
Here are 3 proven ways using information architecture can help make your product interfaces user-centric:
1 – Robust visual hierarchies
A visual hierarchy arranges visual elements in a way that emphasizes their importance. A great visual hierarchy can help users focus on the most crucial information within a UI, and using IA is one path to achieve this.
Your IA indicates which elements are important and must be prioritized.
Moreover, because information architecture derives from user research, it’s easier to guarantee that your subsequent visual hierarchies will fulfil the needs of most users. Therefore, as a UI designer, it’s advisable to engage IA before designing the product’s visual hierarchy.
2 – Better Design Responsiveness
A UI designer must consider how their app or website user interface will look on different devices and across screen sizes. This is known as responsive design. Having a solid IA allows you to identify the features, elements, and content that deserve priority over others.
A strong IA enables you to adapt your UIs as needed without sacrificing the level of the user experience.
3 – User-focused consistency
Even though responsive design helps, it doesn’t assure an exceptional user experience across board. That’s another useful application of IA. Robust IAs prioritize consistency, using similar typographic elements, colors, buttons, icons, and other visual elements.
Visual consistency nurtures user familiarity, which is crucial for intuitive navigation. Your IA can help you establish solid visual consistency no matter what device the user owns.
Get Design Inspiration with UILand
Here’s some honest advice: learn everything you can about information architecture. This will ensure that your digital product ships with a user-centric structure. UILand can help you approach IA intuitively.
UILand is the internet repository for more than 150,000 application screens. Click here to see how our curated resources address all aspects of the user journey, including user onboarding, making purchases, funds transfer, and so forth.
