Portfolio
Creative Capabilities
At Axon, we use the following software:
- Adobe Acrobat Professional
- Adobe Illustrator
- Adobe InDesign
- Adobe Photoshop
- Apple FinalCut Express
- Apple Keynote
- BareBones Software BBEdit
- Filemaker Pro
- Macromedia Flash
- Microsoft Office
- OmniGraffle
- OmniOutliner
- QuarkXpress
The Importance of Good Site Navigation
It happens all too often: you go to a website and become frustrated because you can't find what you're looking for.
Unless it's an entertainment site, users generally don't have the time or patience to learn a navigation system different from the norm. Your navigation menu must intuitively highlight the most important content.
Although there are many different navigation schemes, most fit into one of three categories: left navigation, top navigation and right navigation, so designated because of where the common tools are found in the browser window.
The most popular is the left navigation menu, which follows from the Western cultural norm of reading from left to right. Right navigation is (deservedly) the least popular because it is often the last item that viewers see, but it can work well as a secondary menu that visitors will see after reading the content on the page.
Top navigation is used to open up the area below, and has the advantage of allowing more space for more content. But it's pretty easy to abuse, too - for example, many top-nav sites that open up a new line of links below the primary bar that requires us to carefully trace our mouse pointers down a narrow band to get to the link we want. If you wander so much as a pixel outside, you're toast. Most annoying.
Choosing link names is extremely important. The primary navigation menu links the important parts of the website, so the link names need to be short, descriptive and leave no doubt where they lead. Properly selected link names also make your site more visible to search engines.
From a design perspective, the menu must stand out and remain consistent across the website so that visitors are always able to find it.
Your navigation scheme should be designed so that a visitor can enter your website on any page and be able to see both where they are and where they can go. Make sure everything is easily accessible - nothing should more than 3 clicks deep.
Finally, make sure to test the implementation of your menu! User testing is the best way to find out if your navigation is effective. Have testers try to find specific information throughout the site and report back. You want to find out if they were able to do so easily - or if the site did not lead them accordingly, so that you can re-structure. Take the feedback and make sure to use it!
You want happy visitors who are likely to return, not get overwhelmed and quickly hit the back button like I did here ...
Unless it's an entertainment site, users generally don't have the time or patience to learn a navigation system different from the norm. Your navigation menu must intuitively highlight the most important content.
Although there are many different navigation schemes, most fit into one of three categories: left navigation, top navigation and right navigation, so designated because of where the common tools are found in the browser window.
The most popular is the left navigation menu, which follows from the Western cultural norm of reading from left to right. Right navigation is (deservedly) the least popular because it is often the last item that viewers see, but it can work well as a secondary menu that visitors will see after reading the content on the page.
Top navigation is used to open up the area below, and has the advantage of allowing more space for more content. But it's pretty easy to abuse, too - for example, many top-nav sites that open up a new line of links below the primary bar that requires us to carefully trace our mouse pointers down a narrow band to get to the link we want. If you wander so much as a pixel outside, you're toast. Most annoying.
Choosing link names is extremely important. The primary navigation menu links the important parts of the website, so the link names need to be short, descriptive and leave no doubt where they lead. Properly selected link names also make your site more visible to search engines.
From a design perspective, the menu must stand out and remain consistent across the website so that visitors are always able to find it.
Your navigation scheme should be designed so that a visitor can enter your website on any page and be able to see both where they are and where they can go. Make sure everything is easily accessible - nothing should more than 3 clicks deep.
Finally, make sure to test the implementation of your menu! User testing is the best way to find out if your navigation is effective. Have testers try to find specific information throughout the site and report back. You want to find out if they were able to do so easily - or if the site did not lead them accordingly, so that you can re-structure. Take the feedback and make sure to use it!
You want happy visitors who are likely to return, not get overwhelmed and quickly hit the back button like I did here ...
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