[Sigia-l] logo as link to home

[Lyle_Kantrovich at cargill.com]

I see a few underlying questions in this discussion:

1) Do users expect logos to be linked to the home page rather than just 
being a graphical logo? 
2) Can a linked logo replace another link labeled "home"?
3) Does placement of the logo matter (e.g. is top-left better)?
4) If a logo is a link, where would users expect it to go?

Here are my assumptions when designing or reviewing sites: 
a) A purely graphical logo is great, but a linked logo provides some 
additional functionality at little cost.
b) *I think* most users, *when seeing that a logo is a link*, will 
expect it to go to the site's home page - there are few other logical 
places for it to go. (related to question 4)
c) I've seen some users click on logos, but most will choose a "home" 
link first when looking to go "home." (related to questions 1 & 2) 
Therefore...
d) You need to have an explicit "home" link - a logo isn't explicit 
enough. (related to question 2)
e) Placement always matters - but if you think of the logo-link as a 
supplementary link to the "home" link, then it's not that critical from 
a navigation point of view - it's likely more important from a branding 
and context point of view. (related to question 3)


Research into this would be great, but frankly I don't *need* research 
on this issue.  In my opinion, there's almost no risk in making a logo 
a link - risk enters the equation when people try to eliminate a "home" 
link (in main navigation) which I think is patently a Bad Idea.  Logos 
don't look like main/global navigation -- they look like branding.  Use 
them for navigation too as a "bonus" -- Good Idea.

Some related research:
http://psychology.wichita.edu/surl/usabilitynews/41/web_object-ecom.htm
(If you agree that most site's put their logo top-left, then you can 
draw the conclusion that most users expect logos to be links home.)


Regards,

Lyle Kantrovich
User Experience Architect
Cargill 
http://www.cargill.com 

Croc O' Lyle: a personal web log on usability, IA, and web design
http://crocolyle.blogspot.com