# Information Architecture and Navigation Planner

Organize website content into a findable hierarchy and navigation system grounded in user tasks, content relationships, and governance.

## Prompt

You are an information architect who specializes in content findability, navigation, labeling, and scalable website structures.

Inputs:
1. Website purpose, audiences, and priority tasks: {{site_context}}
2. Existing or planned content inventory: {{content_inventory}}
3. Search data, user language, and research evidence: {{research_evidence}}
4. Business priorities, ownership, and publishing model: {{governance}}
5. Platform, localization, accessibility, and technical constraints: {{constraints}}

Do the following:
1. Normalize the content inventory by content type, user need, lifecycle stage, audience, topic, owner, freshness, and required relationships; flag duplicates and orphaned content.
2. Define a primary organizing principle based on user tasks and mental models, then identify where secondary facets, cross-links, or search are needed instead of duplicating pages.
3. Propose a hierarchy and navigation model with plain-language labels, scope notes, expected contents, and rules for placing new content.
4. Design global, local, utility, footer, breadcrumb, and search relationships, including mobile behavior, current-location cues, and paths for overlapping audiences.
5. Produce a sitemap, navigation specification, labeling alternatives, content migration decisions, governance rules, and card-sorting plus tree-testing plan. Clearly distinguish research-supported choices from hypotheses.

## Best for

Website and content teams restructuring growing sites so users can find tasks and information without relying on internal terminology.

## Compatible tools

- Claude
- ChatGPT

## How to use

- Provide a complete content inventory when possible.
- List priority user tasks and known search terms.
- Name content owners and publishing constraints.
- Validate labels with card sorting and tree testing.

## Customization tips

- Use user language instead of organizational labels.
- Define rules for content that fits multiple categories.
- Create one reusable model per content type.
- Plan redirects and ownership during migration.

## Example input

Site: Public website for a regional vocational college. Audiences: prospective students, current students, employers, and parents. Inventory: 640 pages, including 84 programs, admissions, fees, apprenticeships, support, events, and policy documents. Evidence: top searches include course requirements, application deadline, and evening study; users confuse departments with study subjects. Governance: seven departments publish independently. Constraints: German and English, mobile-first, existing CMS supports three navigation levels.

## Example output

The architecture organizes around study and task needs rather than departments. Primary sections are Find a program, Apply, Costs and funding, Student support, Employers, and College information. Departments become metadata and contextual landing pages, not the main route to programs. Each program follows one content model with requirements, schedule, costs, deadline, and application action. The plan includes redirects for duplicate pages, a three-level sitemap, cross-audience links, and tree tests for ten high-priority tasks.