5 reasons why all planners should learn (at the least the basics of) Information Architecture

#1: The consumer experience that increasingly matters most is a digital experience

#2: Digital experiences are generating new kinds of consumer expectations for all their brand experiences (in terms of access, variety, service, etc) both online and off.

#3: I.A.’s do tangibly what most planners do conceptually: define the ideal range of consumer responses to a specific stimulus.

#4) I.A.’s know how to map the flow. They make really good maps of complex consumer behavior that you can use as inspiration for making better and more accurate maps of how consumers behave offline.

#5) These days brand equity comes as much (or more) from usability and functionality (what Benjamin Palmer of the Barbarian Group has called “brand utility”) rather than image, attitude and identification. The I.A. discipline provides a deep perspective on how to make digital experiences more functional and more satisfying.