Concepts by Peter Morville - www.semanticstudios.com
Information architecture involves the design of organization, labeling, navigation, and searching systems to help people find and manage information more successfully. Since IA defines the stucture of the site and basically determines its content, it has to be done at the very early stages.
Organization systems are the ways content can be grouped. Labeling systems are essentially what you call those content groups. Navigation systems, like navigation bars and site maps, help you move around and browse through the content. Searching systems help you formulate queries that can be matched with relevant documents.
Information Architecture Example
The USA Table Tennis site redesign serves as a
good information architecture example
that outlines the process that was used to produce: list
-> grouping -> labels -> navigation
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Benefits of Information Architecture
Information Architecture makes the invisible visible through your deliverables. If your site looks professionally designed, people assume you know what you’re talking about. … Findability can influence credibility.