Summary: IA is the information backbone of the site; navigation refers to those elements in the UI that allow users to reach specific information on the site.

Practitioners sometimes merge the concepts of information architecture (IA) and navigation design. While it’s true that these concepts are related and that information architecture informs website navigation design, IA and navigation are not the same. In fact, information architecture spans well beyond website navigation. Nathaniel Davis refers to web navigation as the tip of the iceberg that sits atop the information architecture of the site.

The Difference Between Information Architecture (IA) and Navigation