The Future of IA

Press 1 to check your balance, press 2 to pay your bill, press 3 to update contact information, press 4 …

Menus, when spoken, areboring at best, rage-inducing at worst.

Information architecture (IA) aims to minimize that frustration by giving clear options, and organizing them in such a way that the majority of people get to push 1, 1, 1, 1 and have finished their task.

However, it rarely goes so smoothly.

Oftentimes we are stuck on the phone, waiting for number 9 just to realize that number 2 was…