The navigation system is often the most important and complex user interface component of modern websites. In recent years, small screens, responsive website techniques and ever-evolving hardware and software have only added to this complexity. A quick query of “mobile navigation” 1 returns thousands of opinions on navigation patterns, including the “hamburger” menu, front-end plugins, frameworks and plenty of other tools. Despite this changing landscape of tools and design trends, a successful navigation system sends users on the path to the exact content they need at the right time. In this article, we’ll explore the beginnings of the design process, as well as techniques specific to mobile ideation, and a unique idea for building a prototype navigation system in Keynote (yes, Keynote). Establish A Foundation A designer probably wouldn’t be able to know what a navigation could or should look like without first understanding who will be using it and why. Having a foundation of research to draw upon when defining a website’s information architecture will help you make better decisions and gain consensus among stakeholders more quickly. Navigation is such a critical component of a website that when it’s poorly designed, the entirety of the website suffers
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