Nav Bars: Don't Make 'em a Mystery

Ahh, navigation bars. Something so simple can so easily turn your website into a navigation nightmare.

All too often I come across a website and either

a) I can't find the nav bar
b) there are too many nav bars
c) the layout of the page is generally sloppy so I have to search for the nav bar
d) the nav bar labels are over-the-top "creative", so I have no clue where I'll be going when I click. If I want more information about a company, I look for "About Us" or "Who We Are" on their website. I'm not 100% confident that "Peeps" will take me to that information.

Check out the website below. What's the main issue here? There's no visible nav bar! I had to scroll down quite a bit to find it, and by then, I was bored and booked it off the site.


How about this one? Can you spot any problems?


The nav bar is (I guess) to the left, but is poorly configured and not clear, and there is an additional nav bar type thing at the top. It's jumbled, and there's just too many places to click it makes my eyeballs hurt.

What about this one?


Now that's what I'm talkin' about. The nav bar is smack right in front of you, you can't miss it. It's designed with a touch of class and obvious usability. I'm also particularly fond of the next example.


Though this company has a lot of pages to their website, they've configured it so each nav bar heading has subcategories, which makes it easy for me to find what I'm looking for, and it keeps things clean and simple (the key to any great website).

It's not important what type of navigation bar layout you use (horizontal, vertical, curved, etc); that all depends on your overall website layout. What is important are the following:

• Put your nav bar at the top of the page so your visitors don't need to scroll to find it.
• Make sure it isn't overlapped or crowded by anything else
• Don't use titles only you will understand. Nav bar titles should be clear, and make your visitor feel confident about where they're clicking and where they'll end up.
• If you need to have 2 or more nav bars, make sure you organize the titles appropriately, and that they are separated.
• If you have your logo incorporated into your nav bar, make sure it links to your homepage.
  
• If your site has a lot of pages, use a drop-down nav bar or have subcategories, rather than list every page in your main nav bar.
• Unless your site design demands it, try not to put your nav bar on the right side of the page. Our brains are accustomed to seeing nav bars at the top or left of a webpage. Again, you want to make your visitors comfortable.
• Make sure your navigation bar is consistent. Don't change configuration of your nav bar from page to page - keep it solid!
  
• Always remember, your website is designed for your visitors, not for you! Keep that in mind when labeling your navigation bar titles.

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Cedar Creek Tradesmen Know What's Up

I was just browsing through Ads of the World - it's endless fun looking at the creative genius out there on planet earth.


So I love these ads. A lot. These adverts were created for Cedar Creek Tradesmen - a company specialising in home renovations. Not only is the idea great, but the execution is great too; great tagline, great backgrounds, great photography, and great copy.


I don't know about you, but if I needed some help with a home improvement project, I'd call these guys. I have plenty of sketches on scraps of paper, napkins, and other various flat objects around the house with my "plans", that look very much like the sketches in these ads. They definitely got my attention. Brilliant.

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You gonna like it fool.

As the D2C website illustrates, we do lots more than just design stuff. We're always thinking of fun new workshops to help empower you to grow your business creatively.
Our featured summer workshop, Creative Thinking, is gonna come up quick!

Our Creative Thinking Workshop is being held 31st July from 9:30am-4pm. The only thing better for getting your creative juices flowing is, well, nothing (that we can think of). This won't be your typical, stuffy business workshop. This workshops is just plain fun. No classroom setting here. You even get a yummy lunch. Check out Creative Thinking for more info and to book your seat, and you'll get £20 off if you book early. Oh, and sorry to disappoint, but Mr. T won't be making a guest appearance. We just think he's super cool, so included him in a mock-up advert. For now, I'll leave you with a quick & inexpensive marketing tip.

It's All About the Sweeties.

Who doesn't like sweeties? I don't know a single person in this world who doesn't. A cheap way to make yourself memorable is to include a sweet (wrapped of course) in all of your posted mail. Wouldn't it be a nice surprise to get a mini Milky Bar with your past-due invoice? Or a licorice stick with your recent payment cheque? Including something like this in your mail will make you and your business memorable, which is the ultimate goal.

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