Information architecture worksheet

Why a worksheet first

Structure decisions depend on a few facts that a team can assume it shares and then discover it does not. Who is the site mainly for? What do those people come to do? What kinds of content will the site hold? What cannot change? Writing the answers down before any sitemap is drawn saves arguments later, because disagreements surface while they are still cheap to resolve.

The worksheet asks for the minimum: the site's name and at least one visitor task. Everything else is optional, and the brief marks unanswered sections so you can see the gaps.

The questions, and why they matter

What is the website for? One or two sentences. A site that exists to sell courses is structured differently from one that exists to answer members' questions, even if the pages look similar.

Main audiences. List them in order of importance. If two audiences need very different things, the structure may need a clear split near the top, or audience-specific entry pages.

Top tasks. Write each one as a verb: "renew a membership", "compare course fees", "report a fault". Tasks are, in our view, the most useful input to a structure, because sections can be built around groups of related tasks. The Digital Transformation Agency's Digital Service Standard puts "Know your user" second among its ten criteria, and task lists are a practical way to apply it even outside government.

Content types. Service pages, guides, news, events, profiles, forms, downloads. Each type has different needs for templates, metadata and navigation.

Problems seen today. Tick the ones that apply. They help a reader of the brief understand why the work is happening.

Constraints. The content system, deadlines, approval steps and any budget range. Constraints shape the plan as much as goals do.

Where task lists come from

If you are not sure what your visitors' top tasks are, look at:

• Site search logs. What people type when the menu fails them.
• Support enquiries. Questions staff answer by phone or email that the website could answer.
• Analytics. The pages people visit in the largest numbers, and the paths that lead to them.
• Staff who deal with the public. They hear the questions first.
• Short surveys. One question on the site, such as "What did you come here to do today?", can collect a useful list in a few weeks.

What to do with the brief

• Share it internally to confirm everyone agrees on audiences and tasks.
• Attach it to a request for quotes, so every supplier starts from the same facts and quotes can be compared fairly.
• Use it to plan a card sort. Digital NSW suggests limiting a card sort to 30 to 40 cards; your task list and content types are a good source for them.
• Feed it into the sitemap builder by turning groups of related tasks into sections.

Doing it without the tool

Copy the headings above into a document and answer them under each heading. The brief the tool produces is plain text with the same headings, so a hand-written version works just as well.

What happens to your answers

The worksheet runs in your browser. Your answers are never sent to us, and nothing is stored once you leave the page. To share the brief with us, save the file and send it by email, or copy its text into the contact form.

A worked illustration

From brief to plan

If your brief shows a site with several audiences, a long task list or a lot of existing content, a sitemap plan or an audit is the natural next step. The pricing page explains how we estimate the work from a brief like this one.