World Information Architecture Day 2026

Join us virtually for World Information Architecture Day — our annual collab with Government Digital Service (GDS)! 🥼👑

This year is about design for meaning — what does it take to structure information people can actually understand and... trust?

Design for meaning
Information architecture has always been about more than navigation and labels. It's about whether people can make sense of what they're looking at — and whether the systems we build serve human purposes or just generate noise.

This year's theme puts that question at the centre. We organise content so people can understand it. We build structures that connect people to information that matters. We work in the space between intent and reality — and that work has never been more important.

Why now?
Generative AI is producing content faster than ever. But speed isn't meaning. As the systems we work with get more complex, the distinctly human skills of IA — structuring for clarity, designing for inclusion, building for trust — become more critical, not less.

Who's it for?
Practioners who cares about how information is organised and understood. If information is part of your UCD work, you belong here.
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🎙️ TALKS
WIAD is for those who...

• think that more information isn't the same as more meaning, especially in the age of AI
• need to research experiences that users and machines can understand and... trust
• want to learn more about content design beyond webpages
• care about how people make sense of information

SPEAKERS

• Jenny Brooker, Chief Data Architect, GDS
• Jody Parker, Head of Government Knowledge Information Management, GDS
• Rafaëla Ellensburg, Founder, Content Engineering Agency
• Duncan Stephen, Lead Content Designer, Scottish Government
• Larry Swanson, Content architect, podcast host, community event organiser

Expect lively perspectives, contrasting views, and practical stories that get to the heart of working with infomation in UCD.

SPONSORS
This 'for practitioners, by practitioners' user research event, is sponsored by Zebra People.

ORGANISERS
Connect with us to speak, suggest a topic or to feedback:

• Caroline Morton, Lead Researcher at Trainline
• Anja Maerz, Senior User Research Manager at Gen Digital
• Rik Williams, Senior Information Architect at Government Digital Service (GDS)
• Swetha Sethu-Jones, Lead Customer Researcher at Just Eat Takeaway