Information architecture (IA) is far more challenging-and necessary-than ever. With the glut of information available today, anything your organization wants to share should be easy to find, navigate, and understand. But the experience you provide has to be familiar and coherent across multiple interaction channels, from the Web to smartphones, smartwatches, and beyond. To guide you through this broad ecosystem, this popular guide-now in its fourth edition-provides essential concepts, methods, and techniques for digital design that have withstood the test of time. UX designers, product managers, developers, and anyone involved in digital design will learn how to create semantic structures that will help people engage with your message. This book includes: An overview of IA and the problems it solves for creating effective digital products and services A deep dive into IA components, including organization, labeling, navigation, search, and metadata Processes and methods that take you from research to strategy, design, and IA implementation

What people are saying about "Search Patterns"

""Search Patterns" is a delight to read -- very thoughtful and thought provoking. It's the most comprehensive survey of designing effective search experiences I've seen." --Irene Au, Director of User Experience, Google

"I love this book Thanks to Peter and Jeffery, I now know that search (yes, boring old yucky who cares search) is one of the coolest ways around of looking at the world." --Dan Roam, author, "The Back of the Napkin" (Portfolio Hardcover)

""Search Patterns" is a playful guide to the practical concerns of search interface design. It contains a bonanza of screenshots and illustrations that capture the best of today's design practices and presents a fresh perspective on the broader role of search and discovery." --Marti Hearst, Professor, UC Berkeley and author, "Search User Interfaces" (Cambridge University Press)

"It's not often I come across a book that asks profound questions about a fundamental human activity, and then proceeds to answer those questions with practical observations and suggestions. "Search Patterns" is an expedition into the heart of the web and human cognition, and for me it was a delightful journey that delivered scores of insights." --Dave Gray, Founder and Chairman, XPLANE

"Search is swiftly transforming everything we know, yet people don't understand how mavens design search: by stacking breadcrumbs, scenting widgets, and keeping eyeballs on the engine. I urge you to put your eyeballs on this unique and important book." --Bruce Sterling, Writer, Futurist, and Co-Founder, The Electronic Frontier Foundation

"As one who searches a lot (and often ends up frustrated), "Search Patterns" is a revelation." --Nigel Holmes, Designer, Theorist, and Principal, Explanation Graphics

""Search Patterns" is a fabulous must-have book Inside, you'll learn the whys and wheres of practically every modern search design trick and technique." --Jared Spool, CEO and Founder, User Interface Engineering

Search is among the most disruptive innovations of our time. It influences what we buy and where we go. It shapes how we learn and what we believe. In this provocative and inspiring book, you'll explore design patterns that apply across the categories of web, ecommerce, enterprise, desktop, mobile, social, and real-time search and discovery. Filled with colorful illustrations and examples, "Search Patterns" brings modern information retrieval to life, covering such diverse topics as relevance, faceted navigation, multi-touch, personalization, visualization, multi-sensory search, and augmented reality.

By drawing on their own experience-as well as best practices and evidence-based research-the authors not only offer a practical guide to help you build effective search applications, they also challenge you to imagine the future of discovery. You'll find "Search Patterns" intriguing and invaluable, whether you're a web practitioner, mobile designer, search entrepreneur, or just interested in the topic.Discover a pattern language for search that embraces user psychology and behavior, information architecture, interaction design, and emerging technologyBoost enterprise efficiency and e-commerce salesEnable mobile users to achieve goals, complete tasks, and find what they needDrive design innovation for search interfaces and applications

How do you find your way in an age of information overload? How can you filter streams of complex information to pull out only what you want? Why does it matter how information is structured when Google seems to magically bring up the right answer to your questions? What does it mean to be 'findable' in this day and age? This eye-opening new book examines the convergence of information and connectivity. Written by Peter Morville, author of the groundbreaking "Information Architecture for the World Wide Web", the book defines our current age as a state of unlimited findability. In other words, anyone can find anything at any time. Complete navigability. Morville discusses the Internet, GIS, and other network technologies that are coming together to make unlimited findability possible. He explores how the melding of these innovations impacts society, since Web access is now a standard requirement for successful people and businesses. But before he does that, Morville looks back at the history of way finding and human evolution, suggesting that our fear of being lost has driven us to create maps, charts, and now, the mobile Internet. The book's central thesis is that information literacy, information architecture, and usability are all critical components of this new world order. Hand in hand with that is the contention that only by planning and designing the best possible software, devices, and Internet, will we be able to maintain this connectivity in the future. Morville's book is highlighted with full color illustrations and rich examples that bring his prose to life. "Ambient Findability" doesn't preach or pretend to know all the answers. Instead, it presents research, stories, and examples in support of its novel ideas. Are we truly at a critical point in our evolution where the quality of our digital networks will dictate how we behave as a species? Is findability indeed the primary key to a successful global marketplace in the 21st century and beyond? Peter Morville takes you on a thought-provoking tour of these themes and more - ideas that will not only fascinate but will stir your creativity in practical ways that you can apply to your work immediately.