World Information Architecture Day celebrates information architecture and shares knowledge and ideas from analogue to digital, from design to development, from students to practitioners, globally and locally on March 8, 2025.
Join us for free online March 8, 2025!
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Program/Schedule
10am — A Brief and Incomplete History of UX Design on the World Wide Web: 1989–2024
Jason Cranford Teague
In the beginning, Tim Berners-Lee created the World Wide Web—what most of us today simply call it "the Web." Before this breakthrough, the internet was a collection of isolated information islands, separated by a seemingly impenetrable digital ocean with no clear path between them. While the internet could theoretically connect all of humanity, it needed an easy-to-use system that people unfamiliar with command line prompts could understand. It needed the World Wide Web.
In this session, Jason traces the development of the WWW and explores how it forever transformed design. Jason will highlight key milestones, from the early days of static pages to the rise of dynamic interfaces, user-centered design practices that prioritize accessibility and engagement. He will also examine the influence of technological advancements, such as mobile responsiveness and interactive design, on the UX landscape.
What attendees will learn:
- The origins of the Web from a scientific curiosity to the dominant human communication platform.
- The early struggles web designers had with web safe colors, table layouts, and the CSS Box Model amongst others.
- How the Dot Com Bubble bursting in 2000 led to technical progress on the web.
- How the iPhone rewrote the book for UX design.
- How marketing terms like “Web3” obscure the history and future of the Web.
11am — How Information Architecture Makes or Breaks Customer Experiences?
Lisa Dance
As companies expand self-service offerings as part of their digital transformation efforts, it is critical for customers to find what they need in self-service environments. Information architecture can make it easy or difficult for customers to successfully complete increasingly complex activities and transactions. Explore how poor information architecture in self-service environments frustrate customers and make them leave.
11:30am — A Day in the Life of A Human, How Information Architecture Can Improve Our Daily Experience with AI
Jenny Sassi
Imagine AI mishaps straight out of Rick and Morty, where poorly structured systems create chaos instead of convenience. Ethical design can prevent these scenarios and help AI make your day smarter and more seamless. By applying Information Architecture (IA) principles, we can optimize daily AI interactions—from organizing morning routines and boosting workplace productivity to offering on-demand emotional support.
Frameworks like LATCH (Location, Alphabet, Time, Category, Hierarchy) and mental models provide the foundation for structuring AI systems that foster transparency, personalization, and accessibility. These tools also address critical challenges such as data bias and content moderation, ensuring that human-AI relationships are not just functional but empowering.
As the world gets closer to the point where artificial intelligence touches nearly every aspect of life, IA offers a roadmap for creating more intuitive and meaningful digital experiences that truly meet human needs.
12pm — Global Keynote: Andrea Resmini
Please welcome Andrea Resmini, an accomplished academic and practitioner in IA. He was a key figure in the establishment of World IA Day in 2012 and continues to be a respected voice in the IA community. He will draw upon his extensive experience and insights to address the evolving challenges and opportunities presented by artificial intelligence and the increasing integration of digital information within physical spaces.
Andrea Resmini is associate professor of experience design and information architecture in the Department of Intelligent Systems and Digital Design at Halmstad University, where he works with the conceptualization and design of blended spaces and blended experiences and researches exploratory and speculative tabletop game making. An architect turned information architect turned educator, Andrea is a two-time past president of the Information Architecture Institute, a founding member of Architecta, the Italian Society for Information Architecture, a co-founder of the World IA Day international conference, the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Information Architecture, and the author of Pervasive Information Architecture (2011), Reframing Information Architecture (2014), and Advances in Information Architecture (2021). Read more about Andrea on his personal website.
Resmini’s keynote will offer attendees a unique exploration of IA through the decades, highlighting pivotal moments that shaped the discipline. He will examine the challenges and opportunities presented by the rise of the web, the advent of mobile technology, and the current wave of artificial intelligence. His talk will emphasize the importance of preserving and building upon the foundational principles of IA while adapting to new technological advancements and evolving user needs.
1pm — Agree or Disagree: Figma is Destroying UX
Riley Gerszewski, Adekunle Oduya, Jason Cranford Teague, TBA
Figma has emerged as the default tool of choice in the UX design community, a required skill on almost every UX job posting. But has Figma’s widespread adoption and designers reliance on it resulted in better or worse user experiences.
Four UX experts debate the motion, "Figma is Destroying UX," and you are invited to participate. Using the Oxford Style debate format, you, the audience, will vote agree, disagree, undecided on the motion before the debate.
The debate has three parts: opening statements from each debater, Open Q&A from the audience for the debaters, and then closing statements from each debater. At the end, the audience votes again, and whichever team changes the most minds is declared the winner.
