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Author: Grace G Lau

Grace is an Information Architect at Perficient's Experience Design agency, Perficient Digital in drought-ridden, sun-baked Southern California. She received her MLIS from UCLA, where her graduate portfolio focused on information-seeking behavior in online communities, gaming, and communities of practice. Since then, she has 9 years experience working in-house and as a consultant doing both strategic and tactical design. She has worked on large intranets and websites, eCommerce and search systems, a content management system, and a mobile app. When she's not working, she's organizing clothes, sorting Lego bricks, and working on a controlled vocabulary on Asian dramas. Find her on LinkedIn and twitter @lauggh.

Keep the Kitchen Cabinets from Overflowing

by: Grace G Lau  |  Posted on September 26, 2017September 26, 2017

Don’t laugh. I’m sure you’ve done this before. At the office, there’s a refrigerator cleanup every two weeks. At least I think it happens every two weeks. The office administrator sends out an email or posts a note on the fridge, warning you that things will be dumped if they’re not labeled. You’ve seen these long-forgotten food containers of who-knows-when science experiments pushed up against the back of the fridge. Same with those things that start growing in your pantry…. Don’t ask. I won’t continue. Please don’t tell my mother I had so many potatoes left.

When it comes to explaining governance, the one in the kitchen is the best example to illustrate exactly what happens when you take a taxonomy for granted. Not only do you see it, you smell it. You’ll feel it if you consume the foods way past its best by or expiration date. You’ll taste the food quality deteriorate if the ingredients used are not as fresh as they could be. What better way to illustrate ROT analysis than the five senses? This kitchen analogy doesn’t stop at organization.

Continue reading Keep the Kitchen Cabinets from Overflowing

Categories Findability, Search and Metadata2 Comments on Keep the Kitchen Cabinets from Overflowing
Could You Hand Me the Dry Rub Please?

Could You Hand Me the Dry Rub Please?

by: Grace G Lau  |  Posted on November 29, 2016February 9, 2020

Tree testing is an effective technique for evaluating navigation and taxonomy. In an environment devoid of visual design and cues, tree tests are useful for assessing existing site navigation and proposed site structure changes. Using my kitchen, I devised a plan to test the findability of my kitchen’s spices and pantries.

Continue reading Could You Hand Me the Dry Rub Please?

Categories Findability, Search and Metadata1 Comment on Could You Hand Me the Dry Rub Please?
Card Sorting a Kitchen Taxonomy

Card Sorting a Kitchen Taxonomy

by: Grace G Lau  |  Posted on June 14, 2016February 9, 2020

This is the fourth in a series of real-life examples of taxonomies found in my kitchen. Part 4 of “Taxonomy of Spices and Pantries” looks at how card sorting studies can inform a taxonomy.

  1. Building the business case for taxonomy
  2. Planning a taxonomy
  3. The many facets of taxonomy
  4. Card sorting a kitchen taxonomy
  5. Tree testing
  6. Taxonomy governance
  7. Best practices of enterprise taxonomies
The son raiding the refrigerator. Credit: Grace G Lau
The son raiding the refrigerator. Credit: Grace G Lau

Continue reading Card Sorting a Kitchen Taxonomy

Categories Findability, Search and Metadata
The Many Facets of Taxonomy

The Many Facets of Taxonomy

by: Grace G Lau  |  Posted on February 2, 2016February 9, 2020

This is the third in a series that has become real-life examples of taxonomies found in my kitchen. Part 3 of “Taxonomy of Spices and Pantries” looks at where and how facets can be used as multiple categories for content.

  1. Building the business case for taxonomy
  2. Planning a taxonomy
  3. The many facets of taxonomy
  4. Card sorting a kitchen taxonomy
  5. Tree testing
  6. Taxonomy governance
  7. Best practices of enterprise taxonomies

Using my disorganized kitchen as an analogy, I outlined in part 1 the business reasons why a kitchen redesign needed to focus on taxonomy. I’ve moved often and content migration gets pretty ugly in the pantry. After a while, content creators are quick to stuff things into the nearest crammable crevice (until we move again and the IA is called upon to reorganize).

In part 2, I started planning and outlining the scope of this kitchen taxonomy project. Who are its users and core stakeholders? How do they move around the kitchen? What content in this domain would be covered in this taxonomy and where do we draw the line?

However, a simple list of pantry and spice categories is not enough to demonstrate the potential of taxonomies. A neatly organized spice drawer doesn’t represent a sound taxonomy unless there lies some underlying understanding of how the spices are used and in what context.

Continue reading The Many Facets of Taxonomy

Categories Findability, Search and Metadata2 Comments on The Many Facets of Taxonomy
Planning a Taxonomy Project

Planning a Taxonomy Project

by: Grace G Lau  |  Posted on October 20, 2015September 26, 2017

This is part 2 of “Taxonomy of Spices and Pantries,” in which I will be exploring the what, why, and how of taxonomy planning, design, and implementation:

  1. Building the business case for taxonomy
  2. Planning a taxonomy
  3. The many facets of taxonomy
  4. Card sorting
  5. Tree testing
  6. Taxonomy governance
  7. Best practices of enterprise taxonomies

In part 1, I enumerated the business reasons for a taxonomy focus in a site redesign and gave a fun way to explain taxonomy. The kitchen isn’t going to organize itself, so the analogy continues.

I’ve moved every couple of years and it shows in the kitchen. Half-used containers of ground pepper. Scattered bags of star anise. Multiple bags of ground and whole cumin. After a while, people are quick to stuff things into the nearest crammable crevice (until we move again and the IA is called upon to organize the kitchen).

Planning a taxonomy covers the same questions as planning any UX project. Understanding the users and their tasks and needs is a foundation for all things UX.  This article will go through the questions you should consider when planning a kitchen, er, um…, a taxonomy project.

Continue reading Planning a Taxonomy Project

Categories Findability, Search and Metadata

Building the Business Case for Taxonomy

by: Grace G Lau  |  Posted on September 1, 2015September 26, 2017

XKCD comic strip about not being able to name all seven dwarfs from Snow White.

How often have you found yourself on an ill-defined site redesign project? You know, the ones that you end up redesigning and restructuring every few years as you add new content. Or perhaps you spin up a new microsite because the new product/solution doesn’t fit in with the current structure, not because you want to create a new experience around it. Maybe your site has vaguely labelled navigation buckets like “More Magic”—which is essentially your junk drawer, your “everything else.”

Your top concerns on such projects are:

  • You can’t find anything.
  • Your users can’t find anything.
  • The navigation isn’t consistent.
  • You have too much content.

Your hopeful answer to everything is to rely on an external search engine, not the one that’s on your site. Google will find everything for you.

A typical site redesign project might include refreshing the visual design, considering the best interaction practices, and conducting usability testing. But what’s missing? Creating the taxonomy.

“Taxonomy is just tagging, right? Sharepoint/AEM has it—we’re covered!”

In the coming months, I will be exploring the what, why, and how of taxonomy planning, design, and implementation:

  1. Building the business case for taxonomy
  2. Planning a taxonomy
  3. The many facets of taxonomy
  4. Card sorting
  5. Tree testing
  6. Taxonomy governance
  7. Best practices of enterprise taxonomies

Are you ready?

Continue reading Building the Business Case for Taxonomy

Categories Findability, Search and Metadata9 Comments on Building the Business Case for Taxonomy

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