1. Dezirae N. Brown, Information Architect I
November 5, 2015
PROPOSAL FOR EGROCERIES
WEBSITE DESIGN
An e-commerce company
This report contains the information architecture research plan
overview, website information environment and user strategy, and
bottom-up website organization strategy.

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IA RESEARCH PLAN OVERVIEW
Research is the initial phase for every project in which you review and become aware of
existing background materials as well as conduct meetings with your strategy team. A
particular research framework for information architecture (IA) exists which I will
reference throughout this report for the purpose of enlightening the team on how to
maintain a balanced approach for successful research practices. This framework consists of
three intertwined domains: Context, Content, and Users.
The Context domain focuses on the organization itself. It involves learning and
comprehending business goals, funding, politics, culture, technology, and human resources.
The Content domain focuses on the information within a website, including its condition
and development. This content includes documents and other data types, content objects,
metadata, volume, and existing structure. The Users domain involves understanding your
intended audience and their tasks, needs, information seeking behavior, experience, and
vocabularies. Each of these factors influence information architecture strategy and design.
The following research techniques are components of this research framework: stakeholder
interviews, content inventory, competitive analysis, card sorting, and user usability testing.
Stakeholder Interviews
Stakeholders are anyone invested in the mission and success of your company as well as its
website. For this technique, interviews are arranged with executives, managers, and
stakeholders from a variety of business units within a business. The purpose is to gather
opinions, ideas, and potential resources for the project. Open-ended questions are used to
stimulate informal discussions about their assessments of the current information
environment plus their vision for the organization and its website plus the role of the
website in the organization along with any priorities and expectations. This research falls
under the Context domain.
Content Inventory
Varying structured and unstructured content exist on a single website. Inventory of these
items must take place in order to determine the condition of this information, which content
users are primarily retrieving, necessary improvements, and so forth. For this technique,
one directly clicks through every web page and records what he or she finds. Findings may
list major web page sections, links, link IDs, document types, owners/maintainers of web
page, keywords, issues, and redundant, outdated or trivial information. This research falls
under the Content domain.
Competitive Analysis
Borrowing IA features from competitors is valuable, however it must be done carefully. This
technique involves the systematic identification, evaluation, and comparison of IA features
of competitor websites; data may be qualitative or quantitative. We want to avoid
misdirected copycatting (false assumptions) from your competitors’ website. With this

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technique, new ideas are brought to the table, a transition from broad generalizations to
specific, actionable definitions are encouraged, and a point of reference for measuring speed
of improvement is created. In my two previous reports, I utilized this analysis technique for
one of your competitors. This research falls under the Content domain.
Card Sorting
Gaining insight into your users’ mental models is vital for developing successful
architecture of a website. This technique involves the following procedures assigned to
users: 1) Users categorize index cards labeled with headings from categories, subcategories,
and content within your website. 2) Users sort this pack of index cards into piles that make
sense to them. 3) Users label the content of each pile. This is the quickest and most
inexpensive research technique. We can easily gather input on both preferred labeling
systems and hierarchical taxonomy for the site. This research falls under the Users domain.
User Usability Testing
Usability can be defined by five quality attributes: learnability, efficiency, memorability,
errors, and satisfaction. Each of these attributes impact the evaluation of exactly how easy
your user interface is to use. The bottom line is does the website do what users need it to
do? Users want to be able to accomplish their own tasks within a reasonable amount of time
to their expectations. This technique involves observing natural behaviors of users and
listening to their comments about your website. A mixture of audience types who are
familiar and unfamiliar with your website should be present, however the importance of
recruiting representative users is overrated. Users try to perform pre-defined tasks on a
website or application while a facilitator observes and asks questions to understand users’
behaviors; focus groups are not usability tests. Best practice is to conduct this research as
early as possible and frequently; testing one user early in the project is better than testing
50 near the end. Observations and recordings from these sessions can be used to strategize
and prioritize redesign and to test redesign ideas along the way; the more versions and
interface ideas tested, the better. This research falls under the Users domain.
There are multiple ways to execute usability testing based on your budget and resources.
Large budgets are more likely to afford traditional usability testing in which a professional
is hired, recruitment is done more carefully, usability lab facilities are utilized, and complex
metrics are used to report more detailed usability results. Mid-sized budgets may find
Jacob Nielson’s discount usability testing more useful as it involves less lengthy and formal
recruitment and testing. Tight budgets may consult Steve Krug’s do-it-yourself usability
testing which involves loose recruiting and frequent informal testing in an office or
conference room once a month, non-professional facilitator, and debriefing over lunch.

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WEBSITE INFORMATION ENVIRONMENT AND USER STRATEGY
Acknowledging the information ecology of the Context, Content, and Users domains sets
the foundation for practicing effective information architecture design. The vocabulary and
structure of your website and your intranet. if applicable, is a major component of the
evolving conversation between your business and your customers and employees. The
following sections demonstrate this ecology.
Website Business Context
CTJ Enterprise has hired Dezirae Brown to design a website for eGroceries, their new e-
commerce platform for facilitating physically disabled customers, audio impaired
customers, and elderly customers buying groceries in the convenience of their home. The
mission of CTJ Enterprise is to provide safe and convenient spaces for residents who have
officially been diagnosed with having at least one of the disabilities highlighted in the
Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA).
Website Content
The primary type of content customers seek from eGroceries are perishable and non-
perishable foods, delivery service, payment methods, customer hotline, order history, and
discounts. Mostly this content refers to the process of grocery shopping virtually and the
relevant information customers need to know in order to complete this task. Subject
matters include food items, delivery areas, payment, customer account, coupons/specials,
and contact us. Resource types include informational web pages, product descriptions, event
descriptions, and video files. Product descriptions will be predominant as specific federal
guidelines for food descriptions from the Food and Drug Administration must be followed.
Video files would be the next most important format as this e-commerce platform serves
customers with varying disabilities, including audio impairments. These video files would
mostly be tutorials on how to use the different services offered on this site. Digital file types
consist of HTML web pages, JPEGs, and .avi files.
Website Users and User Model
A user model represents a collection of personal data associated with a specific user which
is then categorized based on similarities. Its goal is to customize and adapt systems to
user’s specific needs. Primary User Groups depict the most important users to the
organization; they are usually the neediest in terms of website design. Secondary User
Groups are less needy and of lesser importance whereas Complementary User Groups are
atypical or infrequent users but still valuable. Below is a list of pertinent user groups for
the design of eGroceries website.
Primary Users
 Disabled Customers (according to disability descriptions within ADA)
 Elderly Customers/Senior Citizens

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Secondary Users
 Caregivers of Customer
 Home Care Nurses of Customer
 Employees – Delivery Service
Complimentary Users
 Family Members
 Job Seekers
User Personas
Effective user personas express and focus on the major goals of the most important user
groups, provide clarity of user expectations, and how they are likely to use the site. They
personalize user types for IA designers by making them more relatable. Below are 2 user
personas that reflect one of your primary and secondary user groups. These are fictional
personifications that represent all members of each particular user group.
User Persona #1 Beatrice Jordan: Disabled Customer (hearing impaired)
Age: 56
Gender: Female
Relationship/Family Status: Widow with 6 adult children
Location: Des Moines, Iowa
Occupation: Retired
Technical/Web know-how: Reads Kindle and checks emails
weekly; children buy her gadgets and demonstrates how to
use them
Technology Owned: Smartphone, Desktop, and Kindle
E-commerce knowledge: Moderate (shops every now and
then online for clothing and holiday gifts)
Personal Background
Beatrice is a well-known advocate of her community. She volunteers regularly at different non-
profit and church events. She retired after 30 years of teaching middle school students in a
parochial school. She developed an audio impairment 6 years ago and now uses a hearing aid
among other care services.
Goals
 Purchase food items online.
 Get groceries delivered to home.
 Read information on payment types.
 Create an account to view previous orders and gain access to other tools.
 Call customer hotline for tech support and other inquiries.
 View weekly specials and discounts.
 Receive and use coupons.

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User Persona #2 Benita Rice: Home Care Nurse of Customer
Age: 33
Gender: Female
Relationship/Family Status: Single mother of 2
Location: Pewaukee, Wisconsin
Occupation: Home Care Nurse
Technical/Web know-how: Actively uses online medical
databases for research, multiple social media networks,
and online shopping sites
Technology Owned: iPhone 4, Apple Laptop, and Kindle
E-commerce knowledge: High
Personal Background
Benita is a full-time Home Care Nurse, working 50+ hours a week for 3 clients. Her job consists of
running typical errands and fulfilling self-care tasks that her clients are incapable of doing for
themselves. She is active in her children’s extracurricular activities and loves to jog early in the
morning.
Goals
 Purchase food items online for clients that abide by their recommended diets.
 Pick up groceries or use delivery service upon request of her client.
 Help client setup account if first time user.
 View weekly specials and discounts.
 Use coupons upon request of her client.
BOTTOM-UP WEBSITE ORGANIZATION STRATEGY
Metadata is the bottom-up approach and structure for database-driven websites. It
presents structured, machine-processable data about information content. This gives users
an overview of content and connects them via browsing and searching.
Metadata Scheme and Controlled Vocabulary Matrix Table
The metadata scheme documents the master template for the metadata records that are
created for specific content items. The scheme is abstract and governs the elements and
values used in each metadata record. Controlled vocabularies are often the allowable values
in metadata fields; this eliminates ambiguity, controls synonyms, and establishes
relationships among terms. Below is the metadata scheme specifically for grocery products.
Element Name Allowable Value Repeatable? Explanatory Notes
Food Type Food Type Term
List
No A term must be selected from the Food
Type list

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Image URL Constrained
Format
No Enter entire URL of JPEG
beginning with http://
Title of Product Free Text No Title of product on packaging
Brand Free Text No Enter name of manufacturer or
distributor as noted by supply chain log
Subject Subject
Thesaurus
Yes Assign one or more terms from the
Subject Thesaurus to distinguish
product.
Pack Constrained
Format
No If applicable, enter number of items
in pack in this format: 00
Weight Free Text No Enter appropriate number and unit of
weight
Price Constrained
Format
No Enter price in this format:
$000000.00. Preceding zeros can be
erased if dollar amount does not
extend that far
Expiration Date Constrained
Format
No Enter date in this format MM-DD-
YYYY
Ingredients Free Text No Enter all ingredients mentioned in
product contents
Nutrition Facts Free Text No Enter entire nutrition chart and
values on packaging.
Language ISO 639-1
International
Language Code List
Yes Use a 2-character code from the ISO
639-1 international list at
https://www.loc.gov/standards/iso639-
2/php/code_list.php
Controlled Vocabulary List
Below is a flat list regarding food product types; it is just a simple, limited set of controlled
terms at an equal level.
Food Type Term List:
 Baking
 Bread
 Canned Goods
 Condiments
 Dairy
 Desserts
 Drinks
 Produce
Metadata Record Example
An individual metadata record represents a concrete object or other content unit. Below is
an example of a metadata record using the metadata scheme and flat list described in the
previous two sections.
Element Value
Food Type Baking

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Image URL http://www.livingrichwithcoupons.com/wp-
content/uploads/6123_Large.png
Title of Product JIFFY Corn Muffin Mix
Brand JIFFY Mix
Subject muffins
Subject pancakes
Subject waffles
Subject Corn bread
Pack 00
Weight 8.5 oz
Price $0.75
Expiration Date 08/20/2016
Ingredients wheat flour, degerminated yellow corn meal,
sugar, animal shortening (contains one or more
of the following: lard, hydrogenated lard,
partially hydrogenated lard), contains less than
2% of each of the following: baking soda, sodium
acid pyrophosphate, monocalcium phosphate,
salt, wheat starch, niacin, reduced iron, bht
preservative, tocopherol preservative, citric acid
preservative, bha preservative, tricalcium
phosphate, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin,
folic acid, and silicon dioxide
Nutrition Facts
Language en