Information Architecture Strategies - Quiz Explanation

The answers you selected are indicated below, along with text that explains the correct answers.
1. Which of the following is not a good primary strategy for directly involving users as you develop information architecture?
Please select the best answer.
  A. Take into account the local contextual issues that indicate how users interpret the site architecture.
  B. Run testing on your site during the Development phase to have end users validate the navigational and architectural elements of the site.
  C. Solicit input from clients and end users for the design of navigational and architectural elements.
  D. Run a focus group in the early phase of design to ask for collaborative consumer ideas for iconographic artwork.
 

The correct answer is D.

Answers A, B and C are incorrect because they are all excellent strategies for integrating user input into the development of information architecture. Answer D is the correct answer because it is not a good strategy for involving users. The average consumer does not have the design or artwork background for developing ideas from scratch for your site's icons.

2. Which of the following is not a guideline of HCI for designing information architecture?
Please select the best answer.
  A. Use signs, words, icons, and symbols that users know or can easily grasp.
  B. Provide users with alternatives: alternative navigation options; alternative paths through information; and more than one kind of sign to direct them.
  C. Remember that design requires a process of exchange with the client; it is not an artistic expression on behalf of the designer.
  D. Organize and present information from the client organization's point of view.
 

The correct answer is D.

The client organization's point of view should be considered, but it is the end user's point of view that should be primary in designing information architecture. The end user may not be familiar with relationships between content that are obvious to the client organization. Answers A, B and C are incorrect because they are all true statements about how HCI should guide your design.

3. If HCI guidelines are not followed, there are many risks of negative outcomes. Which of the following is not a potential negative outcome if you ignore HCI standards?
Please select the best answer.
  A. Users get lost, confused, or can't find the information they desire.
  B. Features on the site don't work well and don't serve their intended function.
  C. Users contact the customer service call center number listed on the index page.
  D. The site is perceived as overly complex.
 

The correct answer is C.

Phone contacts to the customer service number will result from a contact number being listed in a prominent place, which it should be, according to HCI standards.
Certainly, if the site is inefficient and difficult to use, customers may make phone calls to get information they could be getting on the site. However, that is a secondary result, and negative only that it may be an inefficient use of the company's resources. Answers A, B and C are incorrect because they are all true statements about the risks of HCI negligence.