Blog 4

Site Architecture And Navigation Through Research - Article given in doc sharing

The most important part of designing is doing the research. Before ever picking up a pencil, or going in to Photoshop, it is important to know why I am doing what I am doing. Part of that is by sitting down with my client and know exactly what the purpose of his/her or their site is. It is also important to know what the user wants out of the site as well. If I mix together what the company and user wants, I am beginning to get somewhere. It is important to get an idea of what the user is expecting and give the user just that when arriving.

It is also very importnat to not only know the goals of the client and the user, but to know the product itself. If I am going to be helping the client sell shoes, I am going to need to know about these shoes. The article talks about visiting the shoe store and becoming a shoe expert. Also, it would help to interact with employees to emerse myself in that world. Once all of this is combined, I can then begin to consider constructing the site. 

There are different things to consider when working on the site's structure and navigation. Unless the site is less than 12 pages, I should not have a link to everywhere on my site. A good solution to this is to have collapsable navigation where when I hover over a link, it will give the user more specific options.

It is important to stay consistent. This can be accomplished by using the same colors on every page. The same colors and grid structure helps the user know that her or she is still on the same site. This is also important when it comes to brand. A clean and easy to use navigation will help the users stay away from constantly having to click the back button. It is important in all of this to have continuity so the user can feel comfortable when navigating at all times.