Information Architecture Audit Skill

What this skill changes vs. default behavior

By default, Claude critiques a structure by eyeballing the category names — it rarely tests whether the organization scheme matches how users actually seek, whether labels carry information scent before the click, whether the hierarchy's breadth/depth ratio forces click-tunneling, or whether users landing mid-site can orient at all. This audit forces four things: every finding names the violated IA principle; labels are tested for scent ("could a user predict the destination?"), consistency, and vocabulary fit; the structure is checked against the seeking modes it must serve, not just the browse-from-homepage path; and findings come severity-rated with concrete fixes — including which research method (card sort, search-log analysis, free listing) would settle a contested call.

This is an evaluative skill: it auto-runs whenever a sitemap, navigation structure, category system, or multi-screen flow is being reviewed — and as a validation step after generative skills that structure content (ux-navigation, ux-menus, ux-search).

Scope discipline. When invoked directly (the user named this audit), review only this concern — don't pull in sibling audits. It runs alongside other lenses only when an orchestrator (ux-design-review) or a generative skill calls it under docs/orchestration-policy.md, where it sits in Tier B — offered. Explicit scope always wins.

The framework — what to check and what a violation looks like

1. Organization scheme matches the user's task

Schemes are exact (alphabetical, chronological, geographical) or subjective (topical, task-oriented, audience, metaphor, hybrid). Exact schemes work only when users know the item's name; subjective schemes serve browsing and discovery. The choice follows from top user tasks, not from what's easiest to build.

Flag when: alphabetical ordering on content users browse by category (a spa listing services A–Z); chronological where users seek by topic; a metaphor scheme requiring users to learn the metaphor; a hybrid mixing many schemes deep in navigation (fine on a homepage, confusing at depth).