Sign-posting the web

Romedi Passini in Jacobson's Information Design shows that the objective for sign-posting is not about designing signs, instead it is about helping "people move efficiently to their chosen destinations". This is also applicable to web design, as sign-posting is employed to aid visitors in finding their desired information.
We are constantly inundated with data. Television, radio, Internet, mail, billboards, smartphones, GPS systems, etc. all attempt to provide us with information. However, until we are ready to process that information into knowledge, it blurs together to become background noise.

The act of processing information is driven by a need in the moment for specific knowledge.  This is typically brought about by an event for which there is not a ready precident. To clarify, let's compare two situations involving car travel.

The first is the morning commute to work.  I get up, get ready and head out.  Many times I arrive at work having not even consciously recognized all that I have passed.  My brain is basically on autopilot, only focusing on the unexpected, after all I know where I am going, I have been going there for years, and hopefully will continue for years to come.

Now, compare that to taking a trip to a new destination, like Disneyworld in Florida.  Now I have a number of decisions to make - what route will I follow, where will I stay on the way down, how often will I need to stop?  All of these become secondary decision to the primary decision to visit Disney world.  All require a higher order of awareness to the surroundings to ensure a safe arrival. Effectively finding the proper route or wayfinding becomes an active process.

Specific knowledge is required at each decision point.  Information designers understand this and create targeted signage to aid us in making those decisions. These same information design principles can be applied to the Internet, providing clear signposts to aid in finding our way through the maze of data.

One key point to remember is that standardization of sign posts greatly aids in rapidly processing them.  Think for a moment if stop signs varied in color and shape - would it add to confusion and possibly accidents as people failed to correctly process the signage? These same standardizations can assist website visitors in finding their way.  Mark Griffen, managing director of  Ranking Quest, makes the point that simple clear sign posting aids web vistors in finding the information they seek and enhances their overall experience.

These basic principles are at work on this site.  Starting with four  icons representing the basic types of links - internal, external, secure, and eMail - I have worked to incorporate current usage conventions into this site.  Take for example the two external links in the paragraph above.  The external icon following the link clearly signposts that a visitor will be leaving this site.

On the home page, you might have noticed the short article discriptions followed by a sign post inviting you to read more. These short descriptions, refered to as teasers, function like a directory in a building lobby, helping visitors find what they are seeking.

Read about: Adding teasers to Blogger.

The key is to keep the volume of information manageable with clear and consistant signposts to aid in navigating the site.  A visitor can then follow the marked route to gain the additional information they seek. 

Sometimes it can be as important to know where you have been as to know where you are going.  The fairytale Hansel & Gretel has the children leaving a trail of breadcrumbs to find their way back.  A similar sign-posting technology under the same name exists on the web.  If you look to the top of this page, you can find a trail of breadcrumbs leading your way back to to the homepage.

A final element of signposting is font choices. Today the web offers many additional free font types. Used judiciously, font types can draw the web visitor's eye towards key items. In the case of my blog, I use specific fonts for the teaser headlines and the labels in my "Cloud of thoughts" widget. The size of the font in headlines will typically be the first place a visitor will scan. If none of these are relevant to what they seek, the thought cloud will be the next to draw their attention. In this way I help facilitate a visitor's decision process. Like road signs along the highway, these visual clues help my visitors wayfind their path towards the knowledge they seek.

Works cited:
Jacobson, Robert E. Information Design. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 2000. Print.\