What We Talk About When We Talk About Navigation

Much of what information architecture practice is expected to figure out is “the navigation.” But what if we’ve been oversimplifying the way we discuss, design, and deliver navigation — and what if that’s been the source of later pain for users and organizations for a really long time? This short talk makes the case that we’ve been conflating too many things into the rubric of “navigation”, explains how this bad habit has come to pass, and the challenges that have resulted. But fear not! We’ll also look at practical ways to overcome the problem in our own day to day work, as well as with stakeholders and team members.