Problem: Use Modernist Architectural thinking to architect a website for Starbucks.
In order to understand the Architecture in Information Architecture, my class was challenged to architect a web presence for Starbucks which used the ideals of an architectural movement, instead of contemporary HCI ideals.
My group were the Modernists.
Process: Reasearch Modernisim, then start from scratch
We started by quickly surveying Modernist thought and arriving at a shared understanding of what sort of modernists we would be. I wrote the tweet that served as our group manifesto:
@danklyn Out w/ tradition; 'make it new!' Let form be dictated by function. Hide nothing. Keep it simple.#modernism #Informationarchitecture
— Kat King (@Katalogofchaos) September 20, 2013
From there we continued our research and developed a list of values and design principles we would use to inform our decisions. Once we understood our position as modernists we reduced the current website to its primary functions and figured out how best to achieve them.
Solution: A simple app to find a Starbucks and order coffee
We determined that several of the website’s functions did not best fit in the form of a website. We pulled these functions from the site’s architecture and created an Modernist app to perform them.
In order to align with our chosen manifesto, we decided it was important that the app not hide features, or give the impression of layers, folders or disparate pieces. We achieved this by conceiving of the app as a single layer which the user could move through as though it were a building with wings. A prototype I made which shows this interaction can be seen at http://lhj03y.axshare.com/.