GleanUX on YouTube · Open on YouTube
Core skills: the UX process · Advanced beginner · Lesson 22 of 99 · 11 min video, then about 2 hours of practice
Information architecture and navigation
After this you can structure content into a sitemap and navigation scheme, and validate it with a card sort rather than defending your own mental model.
Why it matters
IA is why people can or cannot find things, and it is invisible when it works. Learn sitemaps, the trade-off between flat and deep hierarchies, labelling (the words matter more than the structure), and card sorting to test whether your categories match users' mental models rather than your org chart. This is one of the most under-practised junior skills and it shows up directly in whiteboard interviews. Trap: naming categories in internal jargon.
How to use this resource
Builds a sitemap from nothing, step by step. Recent and practical rather than theoretical.