” If you cry ‘Forward!’, you must be sure to
make clear the direction in “‘Which to go,”
exclaimed Anton Chekhov. Timeless
advice, particularly appropriate for
today’s Information Age businesses.
Lebanese companies, from start-ups to
established multinationals, are beginning
to treat information as a chief asset.
Success of external communication with
clients, suppliers, and allied partners – as
well as internal communication among
managers and employees – depends on
the ability to create and use systematic
principles in organizing corporate
information.
In many cases, however, Lebanese
companies distribute information in print
or over the Internet with little regard for
whether its organization and content
make sense to target audiences. Even
worse, many corporate communications
are altogether disconnected from
business strategy.
The Emerging 21•1 Century Profession
The overriding goat of information
architecture, sometimes referred to as
information design, is to promote clarity
and human understanding. Quite
naturally, its origins have expanded from
architecture to integrated corporate
communications and marketing.
Professionals now realize that
systematically ordered information
reinforces and extends a company’s
image, vision, and goats. At the same
time, target readers readily find the
information most important to their
needs.
Examine the most basic corporate
information, your showcased corporate
mission statement. A simple, though
extreme, example of an actual case
demonstrates how one company reveals
nothing – albeit verbosely – about its
services:
“X Company provides a wide range of
fully-functional solutions to a broad
spectrum of forward -looking
organizations, to allow them to integrate
today’s dazzling opportunities with their
situational paradigms, while addressing
the needs of informed consumers
worldwide. “
This company could benefit from the
advice of Joseph Pulitzer, well quoted as
saying, “Put it before them briefly so they
will read it, clearly so they will appreciate
it, picturesquely so they will remember it
and, above all, accurately so they will be
guided by its light.”
Even so, it is not that simple. The
constant development of new
technologies enables Lebanese
companies to increasingly reach the
global market as easily as the local. The
process of designing information
architectures interrelates closely with –
and oftentimes exposes gaps in – basic
business strategy.
“Designing an information architecture –
defining what an organization is, what it
wants to communicate and to whom … is
ultimately about strategy,” writes expert
Lou Rosenfeld. Lasting competitive edge
is not found in the superficiality of
glamorous brochures or highly-animated
web sites but in content welt targeted to
users in specific contexts.
Business Strategy and
Internet (Non)Sense
The Internet is a relatively new business
context for corporate and marketing
communicators. International companies
have quickly taken advantage of the
borderless electronic marketplace to
extend business strategy in ways they
could not have foreseen. Opportunities
abound for creating innovative business
alliances, marketing and selling products
and services, and generating online
business-to-business and other
communities with attractive spending
capacities.
Fewer Lebanese companies today are
jumping on the Internet bandwagon with
the sole motivation of making an
impression. Further, the days of providing
web design agencies with disconnected
pieces of corporate information and
focusing solely on high-tech graphics and
animation are dwindling.
Through pain and considerable expense,
local companies which have paid recently
for massive redesigns of their sites have
learned a lesson of the age. A web site
can play an important role in defining a
company’s relationships with clients,
investors, and suppliers.
Justifying Your Internet Investment
In the process of redesign, companies are
forced to confront difficult questions they
likely avoided the first time:
“What is our purpose? What are our
short and long-term site goals? Who
are our audiences, and why will they
come to our site? What are our
competitors doing?”
“What categories of content must we
include in the site? And how do they
relate to functional requirements?”
“What is the best structure to
communicate these categories and
functionalities? What type(s) of
navigation systems will allow our
visitors to quickly access information
or online services?”
In asking these questions, the interactive
– symbiotic – relationship between
information architects and business
strategists emerges. Each influences the
other through .debate and healthy
feedback.
Perhaps more convincing to management
is an information architect’s long-term
savings of time and money. With properly
developed information · architecture
documents, managers can literally grasp
the foundation of their investment.
Information Architecture Workshop
Eyelearn’s Information Architecture Workshop refines the talents and capabilities of
marketing and public relations specialists, copywriters, and graphic designers
responsible for developing corporate communications.
This workshop focuses on the initial step of development or redesign of a corporate
web site: documenting the site’s strategic foundation through detailed specification
and design documents. The skills gained in this workshop can also be used to develop
offline corporate communications.
Corporate Web Site Specification Document
ESTABLISH SITE GOALS
DEFINE THE USER EXPERIENCE
• DEFINE CONTENT CATEGORIES
DEFINE FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS
Corporate Web Site Document
rporate Web Design DocumenCorporate Web Design Document
SET OUT THE SITE STRUCTURE
FINALIZE SITE TEXT
GENERATE ALTERNATIVE NAVIGATION
SCHEMES
CREATE BASIC LAYOUT GRIDS
Sponsored By: EYELEARN
Abou Jaoudeh Street
200 Feghali Center
Bauchrieh, Beirut, Lebanon
Phone/ Fax: +961.1.879530
E-mail: [email protected]
Written By: The Write Choice
