[Sigia-l] What we do, How we do it, etc.

[Jonathan Baker-Bates]

 > -----Original Message-----
> From: sigia-l-bounces at asis.org 
> [mailto:sigia-l-bounces at asis.org] On Behalf Of Kenneth Bryson
> Sent: 02 November 2006 15:18
> To: sigia-l at asis.org
> Subject: Re: [Sigia-l] What we do, How we do it, etc.
> 
> My feeling is that the whole "who we are, what we do" 
> approach is a failed experiment, albeit one that I, too, 
> championed just 5 long years ago.
> 
> As Victor points out, they are generic labels that are used 
> across industries.  And that's exactly the problem with them  
> They impart no information to the user about what type of 
> site or company they are visiting.  
> 
> Comparing CapGemini with, say Accenture (www.accenture.com), 
> you can see right away thay Accenture offers Services and 
> Research related to "consulting, technology, outsourcing."  
> With CapGemini, you have to delve into the content or click 
> around to get a sense of what they do. 
> 
> This may not be a bad thing for people who want to spend the 
> time to "get to know me".  But why take that risk when you 
> don't have to?

One of the things about a nav bar is that it can (and often should) act
as a subliminal strap line. This is a case in point. The user needs to
see the logo, roll their eyes across the nav bar and get an overview of
what the company gets up to. 

The "nav bar as strap line" idea sometimes conflicts with strict site
taxonomy though - for example, if the nav says "Sun" "Ski" "Last Minute
Deals" and "Flights" then you might say that a "Last Minute Deal" could
be a Sun or a Ski holiday, so the site's taxonomy is screwy.  But what
of it? The nav bar is not just to hang a taxonomy from - it's more
important than that. And taxonomy is not the end-all of information
design.

Incidentally, in the case of the above travel site example, I would
think it hard to argue for an "about us" on the main nav since it should
be plain what a travel company does: sell holidays. Perhaps some
specific stuff in the footer nav like "awards" or "company information"
(with business announcements, etc.) would be in order though.

Jonathan

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