5 Questions to Tomy Lorsch
Tomy Lorsch (UX Zeitgeist) is well known in the IA scene, with lot of international experience in Information Architecture, SEO and SEM. Recently he became partner and Content Director at Eventos OME, Spain’s leading interactive marketing event producer. He took some time to answer my following five questions...
(Interview in deutsch)
1. Tomy, you are the EuroIA Country Ambassador for Spain - how would you describe the Information Architecture movement in Spain, right now?
First of all, thanks for having me sharing your Strudel with your readers :) IA in Spain has blossom in the last couple of years. There are number of sites and events covering the discipline. The CADIUS community has many members and they meet on regular basis for some cocktails.
I have seen an increasing number of job opportunities seeking for experienced IAs.
2. The EuroIA 2007 Motto is Translating Information Architecture. Regarding your Experience in the field of Consulting, what would you say is the hardest part in translating Information Architecture?
It is very common to see poorly translated websites. Even for sites serving foreign markets. It used to be really hard to get clients to pay for a professional translator.
Interestingly enough, the need to rank well in the search engine results is turning the translation problem upside down. If the client wants to rank well, he'll need a good SEO job and this of course means choosing the right keywords in any language. But that is only the beginning of the story. How well does a foreign client convert, if he comes to a poorly translated website? At the end of the day, it is all about conversions. We got the arguments. What else can we say?
3. Tomy, you are very involved in the SEO business. If you regard a basic web development workflow, when would you say a person in charge has to start thinking about Search Engine Optimization? Is it before IA kicks in? Is it something an IA has to consider?
It depends though. It makes a huge difference whether your question is related to a new project starting from scratch or if it is about a redesign. It also differ from market to market. There are different strategy needs for a travel site than for a newspaper website.
In my experience SEO is about defining goals. How many keywords do I want to target? This may define if SEO comes before or after IA. Ideally, the IA project manager role should be leading the SEO too. But this is not always the case. There is no doubt that any IA methodology and know-how helps a lot when it comes to optimizing a website for the search engines.
4. Barcelona, Gaudi, Art Nouveau (or Modernisme as they say in Spain) - is there something IAs can learn from the organic, floral and plant-inspired elements of Art Nouveau?
Wow. This is probable the toughest question I have ever been asked! :) My guess here is that Gaudi and Art Nouveau will never expire, he will be never outdated. It would be really nice if IAs could design information architecture able to survive the pass of the time.
5. Can you tell us, whether there will be a Pre-Conference Happy Hour kind of Get Together on the evening before the EuroIA? You live in Madrid actually, but what would you say is the best area for after-conference evening events?
I love Barcelona even though I live in Madrid. People in Spain tend to be a bit more spontaneous than in the rest of Europe, which is good! I am sure we are having a Pre-Conference Happy Hour. Where? We'll see!! :) Probably Ariel Guersenzvaig can help us choose the location. He has been living in Barcelona for over 5 years now.
