Web Navigation Design November 25, 2008

This day-long class covers principles of web navigation and methods of navigation design with practical examples and exercises. Participants should have some experience creating or maintaining websites and are looking to deepen their design skills. This includes graphic designers, web masters, usability experts, and beginning to intermediate information architects.

Course Description

The web has changed in the last decade. The notion of Web 2.0, in particular, marks a second phase of the web characterized by user-generated content, collaboration, communities, and broader participation in general. And new technologies, such as Ajax and Flex, point to a more interactive web with highly functional applications.

Amidst this change, the basic problems of creating a good web navigation system remain. In many respects, they only get even more complicated. Business objectives increasingly rely on the assumption that people will be able to find, access, and use the information and services they provide. In other words, in order for web sites to successful, people must be able to navigate effectively. A “cool” site with lots of interactivity and user participation will still be lousy if the navigation doesn’t work.

Navigation plays a key role in our overall web experience. But it’s not just that navigation provides access to information. It’s how navigation provides access that’s important. Navigation provides context and understanding. It can also play a role in expressing a brand by communicating corporate priorities and values through categories, the order of options, and the tone of the labels. More importantly, web navigation can have a financial impact. The cost of finding information is high, and the cost of not finding information perhaps even higher. Remember: people can’t act on information they can’t find.

Web navigation design is the systematic organization of links to provide access to information and to make meaningful associations. But the navigation designer doesn’t just create a row of tabs and links: He or she balances a range of factors into a cohesive system that support the goals of the site and of visitors. Navigation design is a craft that blends skills and talents from different areas.

This workshop offers a fresh look at a fundamental topic in creating web sites: navigation design. It will offer you insight and practical advice for approaching a range of navigation design problems. Through a mix of theory and practical exercises you will become familiar with a range of principles and techniques for optimizing your site’s navigation.
Class Agenda

1. Solving the right problem
The day begins with a discussion of Design and Design Thinking in general. We’ll move quickly into some practical exercises for defining and analyzing the right problem to be solved. We’ll also see how the philosophy, mission, and goals of an organization can be used to guide web design, and you’ll be able to apply an approach for integrating these aspects into your work.
2. Principles of navigation
While it’s critical to understand your specific target groups, it’s also important to understand overarching principles of navigation behavior. We’ll look at transitional volatility, banner blindness, and the scent of information, among other things. This will help you figure out why you need to design navigation the way you do.
3. Navigation mechanisms and types of navigation
Navigational mechanisms are a group of links that behave in a similar way and have a similar appearance. They are the basic building blocks of navigation systems. But not all mechanisms on a site are equal. You must determine the purpose and importance of the navigation mechanisms within your site, bringing similar options together and presenting them as a cohesive unit. This section of the workshop surveys common mechanisms, as well as various functional types of navigation. We’ll look at the pros and cons of each and see how they come together to form a logic to your site’s navigation.
4. Page types and page layout
Navigation type and page type are closely related. A given navigation method may serve two different purposes on two different page types. We’ll look at how common page types set expectations and frame how people interact with your site. We’ll also look at some basic principles of page layout.
5. Cores and Paths
Finally, you’ll apply many of the principles from throughout the day in a technique called Cores and Paths, which was pioneered by Are Halland in Norway. Through practical exercises, you’ll learn how to use this approach and about how different page templates can create a better flow through your site.

After this class, you will be able to…

1. Understand and apply basic principles of web navigation in your work
2. Recognize different mechanisms and types of navigation, as well as different page types
3. Apply current methods of navigation design for page layout and creating a unified navigation system

Official Website: http://smartexperience.org/classes/web-navigation-design/