What is Comic Arts

Information architecture is the structural design of shared information environments, optimizing users' interaction with that content and their context. Comic arts may be considered in light of information architecture in that it uses sequential frames, text, and their “containers,” and design conventions as information architectural “tools” to represent information and engage the user in interacting with it. This chapter explains information architecture, focusing on comic arts' features for representing and structuring knowledge. Then it details information design theory and information behaviors relative to this format, also noting visual literacy. Next, applications of comic arts in education are listed. With this background, several research methods that combine information design and comic arts are explained, followed by a concrete research example. It also recommends strategies for addressing information architecture explicitly for knowledge acquisition and communication.