Information Architecture (IA) - The Building Blocks

Long before the look and feel of your site has been established and before any of the code has been written, hours are spent carefully crafting content that will hopefully be meaningful and useful to your visitors. This is the task and challenge of a new discipline referred to as Information Architecture (IA). Right or wrong, people have been doing IA all along, most without realizing it. Everyone seems to have gotten by. However, as billions of web pages vie for attention, everyone is subject to an immeasurable information overload. It is the task of IA to figure out what an organization wants to say and help visitors find what they’re looking for. A well thought out Information Architecture aligns these two entities.

Today’s users are sophisticated and a bit jaded by the information overload. But they don’t give up en masse; they just give up one site at a time when the site doesn’t give them something of value that is useful to them. For this reason, IA shares the realm of content with branding. The heart of branding is originality, differentiation and uniqueness. It’s what sets one brand apart from another and the stuff genuine brands are made of. This is why content must be as original as possible. Thus, information architects must put a great deal of thought into what is going to be said and how it’s going to organized and presented for maximum user accessibility. This in turn determines navigation, functionality and interactivity.

If you would like more information on IA, or if you would like to make an appointment with one of our IA specialists, please contact Carrie Tschetter, 585.461.1570 x216, ctschetter@archercom.com.

Fraver Says Farewell

Rochester, N.Y., September 2007 – Nolan Fraver returned to school after a completing a full-time internship at Archer Communications throughout the summer of 2007. He began his internship in late May and worked with the agency through mid August.

Now a senior at St. Bonaventure University, Nolan is less than one year away from completing his degree in Journalism/Mass Communications, with a concentration in advertising and marketing.

Nolan brought strong writing, editing and communications skills to the agency. He assisted with day-to-day communication needs with the Archer’s diverse range of business-to-business and consumer clients and completed numerous assignments for the company. Nolan focused on the Corn Hill Arts Festival media and sponsor relations with close guidance from senior staff at Archer.

Thanks for all you help Nolan. Best of luck!

Archer Launches Custom Designed Site
for Precision Partners, Inc.

Rochester, N.Y., September 2007 – Archer Communications has launched another new website for Precision Partners, Inc., a leading global manufacturing and engineering services company.

“ Precision Partners’ previous site design and navigation was outdated and restricting,“ said Adam Lindsay, Director of IT at Archer. “Every facet of the new site was developed with growth and continual improvement in mind.”

The recent launch of the custom-designed web site marks the completion of phase one of the multi-step web site development process. Phase 2 includes the development of sophisticated interactive components that will be added to the site over the coming month.

“We’re all very happy with the design and functionality of our new website, said Pete Beasley, Director of Corporate Sales and Marketing at Precision Partners, Inc. I’m confident that the development team at Archer will continue to deliver equally exceptional work throughout all phases of our ongoing web development process”

To view the new site, go to www.precisionpartnersinc.com.

Archer Helps Promote MAG

Rochester, N.Y., September 2007 – The Memorial Art Gallery (MAG) turned to Archer Communications, Inc. to create a series of flyers that will be used to promote the MAG’s special programs, including its unique and innovative exhibitions, guided educational tours and artistic involvement opportunities within the gallery.

Each flyer maintains the MAG’s brand identity, but each serves a distinct purpose. The use of playful headers and captivating photos depicting art or art experiences gives the pieces a life of their own.

These flyers were created as templates in a program that can be modified by members of the gallery staff if needed. Please refer to the sidebar for samples.