When people can't find what they need on your site, they gather the town's people with pitchforks and torches. As designers and information architects we are faced with the challenge that designing a good navigation system can often times be difficult. We have to factor the usability, business strategies, category revenue, ROI, SEO, etc. At times we are working with less than perfect information and short timelines, yet most people see a good navigation as a minimum requirement to having a good experience on your site. During this talk, we will cover setting goals for your website's navigation and share practices, strategies and experiences you can use. This talk is for students, new designers or practicing designers and information architects working on or interested in working on large content and e-commerce sites.

1. A MAKE IT or BREAK IT
Navigation
Aaron Quinn
Founder / Creative Director at eHouse Studio
@aaronquinn

2. Let me get to know you.

4. I AM OBSESSED WITH
Surfing
https://flic.kr/p/eJrmLv

5. IF YOU DON’T BARF YOUR NOT WORKING
Hard Enough
https://flic.kr/p/eUFAAM

6. https://flic.kr/p/75KtS9

7. GUIDE THEM ALONG
Their Way
01

8. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBxobHGniB4

9. – Converting Search into Navigation: http://www.nngroup.com/articles/search-navigation/
“probability of success drops
from 64% to 28% when we go
from an easy to a difficult
search problem”

10. https://flic.kr/p/aKM3k2https://flic.kr/p/btDtvW
ROADSIGNS vs. BILLBOARDS

11. FLAT
DEEP
vs

12. http://bit.ly/1hI5OdPhttps://flic.kr/p/av4iPT
AGAIN WITH the ROADSIGNS

13. GIFT FINDERS ARE BASED on MENTAL MODELS

17. IMAGES CAN HELP IDENTIFY LABELS and CATEGORIES

20. LABELS & GROUPINGS
Good
02

21. LESS COMMON SENSE and MORE
Consensus
http://bit.ly/1qp3ivr

22. SYSTEM 1
Cognitive ease
SYSTEM 2
Cognitive strain
Thinking, Fast and Slow, Nobel Prize–winning economist Daniel Kahneman - http://amzn.to/1uAEtdC

24. USER CLASSIFICATION SCHEMES by CARD SORTING
https://flic.kr/p/66skhi

25. IT WEIRDS PEOPLE OUT and CAUSES
Confusion

26. Ritz Camera

27. Ritz Camera

28. TASK 1
Find Men’s Board Shorts
!
1. Home
2. Clothing
3. Men Clothing
4. Swimwear
5. Swimsuit Bottoms
6. Filter: Styles: Board Shorts
TASK 2
Find Men’s Rain Coat
!
1. Home
2. Clothing
3. Men Clothing
4. Coats & Outerwear
5. Filter: Type: Rain Coats
TASK 3
Find Men’s Vans Shoes
!
1. Home
2. Shoes
3. Men’s
4. Sneaker & Athletic Shoes
5. Filter: Brand: Vans

31. NAVIGATION INFLUENCED by SEARCH &
Search as Navigation
03

35. 1. Make unambiguous paths
2. Use user classification schemes
3. Let navigation be influenced by search & use
search as navigation

36. If we can marry a user's thought
process to a navigation, they can focus
more on the content presented and
less on how to find things.

37. @aaronquinn
Thank You
Illustrations by Rhiannon Bode