Consistency

Consistency in the use, behavior, appearance, and layout of the elements within a digital information space or user interface improves its usability and learnability. When similar elements and interactions are consistent across a digital information space, cross-channel user experience, or user interface, people can easily transfer their knowledge and skills from one context to another.

Universal Principles of Design describes four types of consistency:

1. Aesthetic, or visual, consistency—Consistency in style and appearance—for example, the consistent use of color and typography—helps people to recognize similar contexts and
2. Functional, or behavioral, consistency—Consistency in function and behavior communicates a user-interface element’s functionality and behavior and can impart meaning.
3. Internal consistency—The aesthetic and functional consistency of similar elements within a system engenders trust.
4. External consistency—Consistency with similar elements outside the system or common design standards leverages people’s expectations from prior experience with other user interfaces or information spaces. [2]

Consistency in the organization of content across an information space makes it easier for people to find the content they need. The consistent use of wayfinding information across an entire digital information space or a section of such a space facilitates people’s navigation of a space.

Findability

Findability is the essential characteristic of any digital information space and ensures that people can find the information they need. In his book, Ambient Findability, Peter Morville defines findability as follows:

1. “The quality of being locatable or
2. The degree to which a particular object is easy to discover or
3. The degree to which a system or environment supports navigation and ” [3]

As Peter Morville and Lou Rosenfeld say in their book Information Architecture for the World Wide Web, “Findability is a critical success factor for overall usability. If users can’t find what they need through some combination of browsing, searching, and asking, then the site fails. … Users need to be able to find content before they can use it—findability precedes usability.” [4]

Ensuring the findability of content within a digital information space requires the effective application of all the user-centered, wayfinding design principles that I’ll cover later in this chapter.

Metaphors

Graphic user interfaces (GUIs) often employ real-world metaphors. The use of metaphors can make a software user interface feel more familiar and natural to people and thereby increase their comfort in using it. Employing clear, concrete metaphors to convey concepts and suggest the use of the features of a user interface can leverage people’s existing knowledge of the world. People can take advantage of their learnings and expectations from their prior experiences in interpreting a digital environment. Animations and aural cues can sometimes be useful in communicating a metaphor clearly. Avoid extending a metaphor beyond its salient characteristics or making it too literal.

The metaphor of wayfinding is obviously applicable in information architecture. I’ll explore wayfinding in depth later in this chapter.

Recognition over recall

People’s ability to recall information from memory depends on how recently they’ve recalled that memory, how often they’ve recalled—or rehearsed—that memory in the past, and their current context, which may provide environmental cues that aid recall.

However, seeking information and using software need not be so cognitively demanding. People should be able to rely simply on recognizing elements of digital information spaces and user interfaces that they’ve experienced before rather than having to recall them from memory. When designing a digital information space, provide visual and textual cues that aid people’s memory and, thus, help them to navigate the space and recognize the information they need.

Reducing cognitive load

Cognitive load refers to the amount of short-term memory, or working memory, a person is currently using for reasoning and decision-making in regard to accomplishing a task. Users’ reliance on recognition rather than recall when using direct-manipulation interfaces—such as digital information spaces’ navigation and search user interfaces—reduces cognitive load, improves performance, and reduces errors. To minimize cognitive load, do the following:

• Make available navigation options highly
• Eliminate unnecessary elements and information from a page or user
• Chunk content logically to make it easier to

Simplicity

An essential characteristic of a usable software user interface or digital information space is simplicity. Both must be easy to learn and easy to use. People should easily be able to discover and learn all of an information space’s functionality and find the information they need. Simple, coherent design solutions include only essential elements and features that serve the needs of users.

Achieving simplicity requires focusing on meeting users’ needs and resisting pressures from business colleagues to either add features that don’t serve their needs or differentiate their brand by creating flashy designs that users would find distracting. As Sarah Horton and Whitney Quesenbery say in their book, A Web for Everyone, “Simplicity can be a great differentiator where important elements stand out….” [5]

One way of managing complexity—and thus, gaining greater simplicity—is by supporting progressive disclosure. Logically chunk functionality or information, hide whatever functionality or information users do not initially or currently need, and allow users to reveal more when they need it.

User control

In most situations, users should have the ability to initiate and control interactions and software systems should respond to them. Giving users control keeps them engaged and helps them to learn. Provide users with the functionality they need to accomplish their tasks, then give them broad freedom of action so they can decide what they want to do and when.

Software systems should not be overprotective of users, take control, and thereby, restrict what users can do. While there are circumstances in which it can be helpful to provide a wizard to guide users through a difficult process, also provide analogous functionality that supports users’ independent action. This approach supports users with different levels of proficiency in using the software, offering users more control as they gain expertise.

Nevertheless, there are a few circumstances in which the system should initiate action, by doing the following:

• Provide notifications to users when they’ve requested updated information or urgently need to take action.
• Caution users about and, thus, prevent user errors that would destroy data, but still allow users to proceed by confirming that destroying data is their intent.

In both cases, users still remain in control of what they ultimately choose to do.

Now that you’re familiar with some basic principles for designing information-architecture solutions to support human capabilities, let’s consider the wayfinding design principles that are foundational to information architecture.

Designing digital spaces for wayfinding

Information architects have adapted many design principles from the mature practice of wayfinding design for built environments and have adopted the term wayfinding to describe the parallel concerns of information seeking, navigation, and user orientation within digital information spaces. [6]

What is wayfinding? People find their way within digital information spaces and seek the information they need by making a series of interrelated decisions on the basis of personal preferences, environmental factors, and the availability of information. The first decision they make is to begin an information-seeking activity—often to find a particular item or category of information. Second, they decide what strategy to employ in seeking that information, starting with where to look for the information and choosing tactics and behaviors that would enable them to find it. Since all of the elements of an information-seeking strategy can evolve over time, this usually involves making a series of decisions. Third, they decide what path to take in seeking that information, which also involves making a series of decisions that depend on their personal preferences, what they already know, and both the wayfinding aids and the usefulness of the information they encounter within an information environment. [7]

Digital wayfinding stages

Let’s briefly consider the stages for wayfinding in digital information spaces, the information users need to make wayfinding decisions at each stage, and the interactions that enable users to advance to the next stage. There are three types of wayfinding information, which correspond to the three stages of a wayfinding journey within a digital information space, as shown in Table 3.1.

A retrospective on wayfinding in physical spaces

In his book, The Image of the City, renowned urban planner Kevin Lynch coined the term wayfinding to describe people’s “consistent use and organization of definite sensory cues from the external environment” in navigating physical spaces. [9]

Romedi Passini and his colleagues provide a detailed definition:

“Wayfinding is the ability to reach desired destinations in the natural and built environment. Defined in terms of spatial problem solving, wayfinding is composed of three interrelated processes:

1. Decision-making and the development of a plan of action,
2. Decision [execution]—transforming the plan into action and behaviors at the right place and time, and Information gathering and treatment [that] sustains the two decision-related ” [10]

In 1948, psychologist Edward C. Tolman hypothesized that people find their way by building “a mental representation of the spatial layout of the environment,” or “a mental spatial model,” for which he coined the term a cognitive map. [11] However, subsequent research has disagreed about the area of the brain in which such a map might exist, questioned the ability of people to generate or use such a map, and posited simpler explanations for how people navigate spatially complex environments.

For example, behavioral psychologists have studied the effect of stimulus control—the way in which the reinforcement of a prior stimulus within a complex spatial environment affects the probability that a person would repeat the same behavior in response to the same stimulus. People respond differently to different types of visual-spatial stimuli—for example, looking at a map of a physical space or using landmarks to navigate through an actual physical space or a virtual depiction of that space. While the stimulus control of visual-spatial stimuli predominates, other sensory inputs also assist in people’s successful movement through complex spaces.

Some researchers find considering the process of cognitive mapping a much more useful approach than hypothesizing about an unobservable, cognitive map. [12] According to Roger M. Downs and David Stea:

“Cognitive mapping is a process composed of a series of psychological transformations by which an individual acquires, codes, stores, recalls, and decodes information about the relative locations and attributes of phenomena in his everyday spatial environment.” [13]

“The typical wayfinding individual is using the environment itself more for recognition than recall and attending to only the minimum information necessary,” says Andrew Hinton, in his book, Understanding Context. “The environment itself serves as an external map of physical and semantic information cues, most of [them] beyond our conscious awareness. … The environment that makes up [people’s] context is inseparable from their ability to understand, learn, and navigate that environment.” [14] The environment is the map, so there is no need to build a map in one’s head.

Now that you have a general understanding of digital wayfinding and have learned a little about wayfinding in physical spaces—the study of which has provided the foundation for the design of digital wayfinding—let’s consider some design principles that contribute to successful wayfinding in digital information spaces.

Design principles for wayfinding

Note—In adapting wayfinding design principles for physical spaces to the design of digital information spaces, I’ve taken great inspiration from Paul Arthur and Romedi Passini—who are the authors of the seminal work, Wayfinding: People, Signs, and Architecture, [15, 16] which is regrettably out of print— and Mark Foltz’s Bachelor’s thesis, [17], which provides an excellent collection of design principles for wayfinding in physical spaces.

Now, let’s explore wayfinding design principles that support users’ successful wayfinding within digital information spaces such as Web sites, intranets, extranets, and information-rich applications, including the following types of principles:

• Placemaking principles
• Orientation principles
• Navigation principles
• Labeling principles
• Search principles

Placemaking principles

What makes people return to the same digital information spaces again and again? People build long-lasting relationships with information spaces that clearly convey a sense of place, communicate their trustworthiness, and provide the reliable information people need.

As Jorge Arango says in his book, Living in Information, “When [people] inhabit … an environment, use it for its intended purpose, and interact with other people there, it becomes part of [their] mental model of the world. … When … there, [they] feel, think, and act in ways that are particular to that environment. We call such environments places…. Our effectiveness as individuals and societies greatly depends on how well these places serve the roles we intend for them… Approaching software design as a placemaking activity—with a focus on intended outcomes and behavior…—results in systems that can serve our needs better in the long term.” [18]

Placemaking defines the contexts within which people seek information and, thus, reduces information seeker’s feelings of disorientation and encourages them to build relationships with digital information spaces. Now, let’s look at some design principles that support placemaking.

Give each digital information space a unique visual identity that distinguishes it from all other digital information spaces.

To clearly convey a sense of place and ensure that people know where they are:

• Prominently display an organization’s logo, which functions as a landmark for an entire information space.
• Use common page elements such as headers, organizational logos, navigation bars, and footers across all pages.
• Make the use of color within a digital information space consistent with an organization’s

Clearly establishing a sense of place for a digital information space ensures that people know where they are and can quickly recognize that information space when they return to it, which is especially important to ensure coherence across the multiple channels of a cross-channel information ecosystem.

Visually distinguish the various sections of a large-scale digital information space.

To convey a sense of place for each individual section of a digital information space, enable people to distinguish the different sections of an information space, and ensure that people know what section they’re currently in, do the following:

• Ensure that the layout of a section’s pages prioritizes features or information that emphasize the section’s unique purpose or content.
• Consider using unique color coding to identify each This both unifies the pages in a section and separates each section from the others. However, be aware that people with color-deficient vision won’t perceive these colors as you intend.
• Prominently display the title of each section on all the pages within that section to ensure that users know they’re currently in that section.

Clearly distinguishing each of the sections within a digital information space ensures that users know they’re in a section and can quickly recognize a section when they return to it. Doing so also communicates the organizational structure of an information space.

Orientation principles

For people to be able to successfully navigate a digital information space, they must first orient themselves to that space and their current location within it. Thus, providing users with effective means of orienting themselves is key to their wayfinding success. Now, let’s consider some design principles whose implementation facilitates users’ ability to orient themselves so they can confidently and successfully move through a digital information space.

Make the purpose of an information space clear so people can easily ascertain whether they’re in the right place to find the information they need.

When people visit an information space for the first time, they need to orient themselves to that information space and determine whether it might offer the information they need. If an information space adequately supports these goals, visitors can learn about its purpose by looking over the links on its primary and any secondary navigation bar. Its navigation system should comprehend the full scope of the information that is available on that space. Visitors should also be able to learn more about the information that is available on a space by skimming the content on its home page.

Once visitors have determined that an information space might be able to meet their information needs, they must next decide what path to follow in seeking that information. Visitors’ ability to make wayfinding decisions successfully depends both on how well an information space is organized and the strength of the information scent that its content and navigation system provide.

To ensure that people visiting an information space for the first time can readily orient themselves to that space and find the information they need, use familiar organization schemes, navigation design patterns, and labels. Designing the wayfinding information for an information space with the needs of first-time visitors in mind results in a navigation system that works well for everyone.

Provide previews of some of the content within a digital information space.

To communicate the purpose of a digital information space—or a section within it—and thus, orient people to that information space, give them an overview of the larger space by showing representative examples of its content on the home page. Providing previews of content that resides deep within an information space, but might be of interest to people encourages them to explore a space or section more deeply.

While previews can take a variety of forms, they usually attract people’s attention through images and very meaningful text, comprising concise headlines and perhaps brief descriptive text or excerpts. Unfortunately, many such images are what I refer to as decorative images because they convey no useful information.

Previews provide entry points into an information space or section that let people go directly to content that might be of interest to them and determine whether it actually is. By enabling information seekers to sample content, previews can draw them more deeply into an information space. Previews are especially helpful to first-time visitors who are unfamiliar with an information space, infrequent visitors who don’t know a space well, and people seeking new or updated content—in the latter case, especially if those previews are personalized to satisfy the needs of individuals.

Create context to ensure a navigable digital information space.

As Andrew Hinton says in his book, “Whenever we’re trying to figure out what one thing means in relation to something else, … we’re trying to understand its context. … We need context to be clear and to make sense.” [19]

When people are seeking information within a navigable digital information space, their surrounding context provides such wayfinding aids as a well-designed navigation bar and descriptive page titles, enabling people to easily determine their current location, orient themselves to the broader information space, and successfully perform wayfinding tasks. The use of imagery and color—at least for people who do not have severe forms of color-deficient vision—can make different contexts readily distinguishable from one another. Once people know exactly where they are, understand their current context, and know where they can go from there, they can successfully engage in what Paul Arthur and Romedi Passini refer to as spatial problem-solving in their book, Wayfinding: People, Signs, and Architecture— that is, people can make the right navigation decisions to take them by the most direct route to the information they need. [20]

Designing an effective information architecture is essential to creating a navigable digital information space that facilitates wayfinding.

Establish visually prominent, memorable landmarks.

Landmarks help people to orient themselves within the context of a digital information space and often correlate to decision points at which people must choose which path to follow. In his Bachelor’s thesis on wayfinding, Mark Foltz—now a software engineer and technical lead at Google—wrote, “A system of landmarks helps to organize and define an information space.” [21] Do the following to orient people using landmarks:

• Convey important location information using visual elements on
• Use global landmarks such as page headers, organizational logos, navigation bars, and footers to ensure that people know they’re on a particular information space.
• Use local landmarks such as highlighted links on navigation bars and page title bars to ensure that people know where they are within an information space.
• Prominently display the title of each page on a digital information space to ensure that people know exactly where they are within that space.
• On the Web, use Accessible Rich Internet Application (ARIA) landmarks, which specify role attributes that enable people to navigate the key areas of a Web page—including the header, navigation bar, main content, and footer—using a screen reader. [22]

Within a digital information space, most landmarks manifest the organizational structure of the space, and they demarcate the paths that people follow when seeking information.

Navigation principles

Navigability refers to people’s ability to make their way successfully through a digital information space and depends in large part on the usefulness and usability of its navigation system and other wayfinding aids—the features that enable people to move from place to place within that space. The design of these features provides essential support to people’s wayfinding process. We’ll now look at some principles that support the design of effective navigation systems.

Provide the appropriate navigation options at each wayfinding decision point.

Within a digital information space, the labels of navigation links are analogous to signposts in the physical world. At wayfinding decision points, people determine how to proceed on their wayfinding journey by choosing navigation options—whether they decide to explore further along their current path, choose a different path, or reverse direction and backtrack to an earlier decision point.

The labels of navigation links should clearly communicate what people would find at their destination. Depending on a person’s current level within a navigation hierarchy, a link destination might be either a section of an information space, a general category of information, or specific content at the link’s destination.

Providing the appropriate navigation options for a given context requires including all necessary links, but no more. Be sure to include both links that meet people’s key needs, as well as links that make it easy for people to find information that supports an organization’s key objectives. To avoid overloading the primary, or global, navigation bar, determine what links would be most useful within a particular context and, thus, belong at a lower level in the navigation system—for example, in a secondary-navigation sidebar or embedded within the content on a page.

To prevent people from choosing a less-than-optimal path at a decision point, ensure that the appropriate navigation options are available where people need them, that the links are clearly labeled, and that navigation options are easily distinguishable from one another—and, thus, unambiguous.

An information space’s wayfinding signposts—coupled with other sources of information scent that people pick up from their environment along the way—ensure that people can find the information they need. When a digital information space provides effective wayfinding, people’s exploration of that space becomes safe.

Avoid presenting too many navigation options to people at once.

To ease the wayfinding decisions that people make, limit the number of navigation links at any wayfinding juncture to only those that are essential at that point. The links on a primary or any secondary navigation bar should provide access to all of the available information—either within an entire digital information space or a section of that space—without overwhelming people with too many choices. Accomplishing both of these goals at the same time requires balancing the breadth and depth of the information architecture that underlies an information space’s navigation system.

When there are more navigation options than people could easily manage at once, limit the number of navigation options that people see at the same time by employing progressive disclosure. Logically group navigation links—giving the groups clear labels that provide good information scent—and initially hide the links within those groups. Users can then reveal the links within groups when they need them. For example, provide a navigation system that comprises both primary and secondary navigation, then when the user clicks or taps a link on the primary navigation bar, display subordinate links on a secondary navigation bar or drop-down menu.

Navigation options should be quite limited in cases where the goal is either to guide people down a particular path, as in a tour, or even to constrain them to a path, as when following a procedure using a step-by-step wizard. For a tour, while it might be desirable to allow some flexibility in what people view next or to provide some branches off the main path, it is important to ensure that they see the information in an order that makes sense—and that makes its meaning clear. It is also important to encourage people to view all of the available information by clearly indicating what they have and have not yet seen. In contrast, wizards typically restrict people to either choosing the next option or retracing their previous steps. Both tours and wizards provide an overview of a predetermined path, show a person’s current location on that path, and show how much distance remains to the ultimate destination.

Simplify navigation systems by grouping related links.

To help people more quickly make sense of an information space’s navigation system, group related links together. Groupings define the relationships that exist between certain links and distinguish related links from unrelated links.

The logical grouping of links serves the needs of people who have different purposes for visiting an information space and are looking for different types of information. Providing logical groups of links simplifies information seeking for people by making it easier for them to either recognize information scent or reject entire groups of links that are not of interest to them.

Make sure that each of the links in a group of links is clearly distinguishable from the others.

It is important to choose words or phrases for link labels that are clearly distinguishable from one another. Using distinctly different labels for all of the links in a group of links ensures that people can easily distinguish the links from one another. It is particularly important to avoid repeating the same words at the beginning of the labels for each of the links in a series of links. The text of each link label should be unique to avoid confusing people about which link they should click or tap.

Ensure that wayfinding information is clear and consistent across an entire digital information space.

The clarity and consistency of wayfinding information are essential to engendering people’s confidence and trust in a digital information space. Nobody wants to experience becoming lost in hyperspace. Clear, consistent wayfinding aids can prevent people from becoming confused.

Therefore, the use of visual and textual wayfinding information should be consistent across an entire digital information space or section, as well as at each stage of a user’s particular wayfinding journey. As Andrew Hinton says in his book, Understanding Context, “Consistency isn’t about just the details, but really about the coherence of meaning from one context to the next.” [23]

Wayfinding information should also be consistent with familiar design standards, so people seeking information within a particular information space can apply their learnings from their experiences with other information spaces.

Within an information space, it is usually possible to navigate to a single destination via multiple paths. These paths might take people through disparate sections or parts of an information space. The user experience should be consistent regardless of the path someone takes.

Consider providing an overview of a digital information space.

An overview of a digital information space can be a valuable navigation aid, helping people to understand the scope and organization of the content within that space, the relationships between collections of content and individual content elements, the available destinations, what’s nearby, and possible routes to those destinations. [24] Such an overview might take the form of a site map, a directory, an alphabetical index, or a list of topics, and provide a fairly comprehensive collection of links—making it an exception to the previous principle.

Of course, within any digital information space, the primary navigation bar and any secondary navigation bar already provide a high-level overview of the entire space, as well as information about the user’s current location within that space.

Location breadcrumbs can serve a similar function, by showing the position of the current page within an information hierarchy. Path breadcrumbs show users how they got where they currently are and provide an easy way to get back to where they’ve been. Attribute breadcrumbs comprise product or other attributes and are common on ecommerce Web sites and apps. [25]

Back in 2008, UIE’s Jared Spool advised that product teams would do better to invest in improving their information architecture and redesigning their navigation system to provide stronger information scent rather than in the implementation of either a site map or breadcrumbs. [26, 27] While Jared certainly had his priorities right, that doesn’t mean implementing site maps and breadcrumbs offers no value.

At about the same time, Jakob Nielsen of the Nielsen Norman Group (NN/g) wrote about the usefulness of site maps as a supplement to primary navigation because they “offer a visual representation of the information space, [helping] users understand where they can go.” Site maps can be especially helpful in navigating large, complex information spaces. Jakob recommends implementing site maps even though people rarely use them. [28] Still, for some digital information spaces, especially those of limited scope, a site map is unnecessary.

Jakob and NN/g have consistently advocated the use of location breadcrumbs as a supplementary navigation aid—but not path breadcrumbs. Location breadcrumbs are especially helpful when users click or tap an external link that takes them to a page that is deep within a destination information space because they provide a means for users to “visualize the current page’s location” within its information hierarchy. [29, 30]

Labeling principles

In Chapter 2, How People Seek Information, I described how people follow information scent when they’re foraging for information. Creating clear, meaningful labels for navigation links, site-section titles, page titles, and section subheadings within pages is essential to providing information scent. In this chapter, I’ve already discussed the importance of labeling in helping people orient themselves to digital information spaces and how labels function as signposts in navigation systems.

Now, in this section, I’ll provide some design principles for creating effective labels—especially labels for the most tangible elements of an information architecture: the wayfinding elements. These elements include labels for navigation links, site-section titles, page titles, and section subheadings within pages.

Create clear, easy-to-differentiate link labels.

To make people’s navigation choices clear, the labels of navigation links should be easy to differentiate from one another. Therefore, in creating link labels, you should use words or phrases that are distinct from one another. It is especially important to avoid repeating the same words at the beginning of a series of link labels, which would make perusing links less efficient. The text of each link label should be unique. Otherwise, people might accidentally click or tap the wrong link.

Create link labels that clearly convey what information is at their destination.

The labels of navigation links must clearly and concisely communicate what people should expect to find at their destination. Labels that provide strong information scent encourage people to click or tap links because they feel confident they’ll find the information they need at their destination.

Clearly identify destination pages.

Depending on whether the destination of a navigation link is a directory page for a site section or a content page, the site-section title or page title, respectively, for that destination page must clearly identify that destination, using similar terminology to that of the label for the navigation link that led to it. People should be able to immediately discern whether they’re in the right place: a destination page that provides the information they were seeking.

Use familiar terminology in all labels.

In creating labels for navigation systems, site-section titles, page titles, section subheadings within pages, and embedded links, use simple words and phrases that most people who belong to your target audience understand. Using the same language as your users ensures that they can avail themselves of the content your digital information space provides.

Organizations working in the same business domain typically use similar terminology, so most people belonging to their audience would probably be familiar with that terminology. However, in designing digital information spaces for use by the general public, never use esoteric business jargon in labels for wayfinding elements.

Create consistent labeling systems.

One key to the success of a labeling system for a digital information space is consistency in its use of terminology across all wayfinding elements. As I mentioned earlier, consistency makes an information space more usable and easier to learn. Consistency in word choice, syntax, and the use of style, typography, and color all give users the impression that labels are part of a coherent system.

In labeling systems, the specificity of links should be similar. Labeling systems should also be comprehensive and cover the full scope of a digital information space.

Search principles

When people are seeking information within a digital information space of significant scope, they appreciate having alternative means of wayfinding and may choose to either browse or search for the information they need. Ensuring findability requires that such an information space should support both of these modes of information seeking effectively. Earlier in this chapter, I covered navigation-design principles that support successful browsing. Now, let’s look at some design principles for effective search systems.

Provide search to support wayfinding for people with disabilities.

For many people who have disabilities, navigation is too slow and laborious, so searching is their preferred means of wayfinding. [31] Create a search system that adequately meets their needs.

Place the search box in a consistent location on all pages of an information space.

People shouldn’t have to go looking for this essential wayfinding tool.

Adapt the design of search systems to their context.

There are many permutations of search systems. Depending on the type of information space, anything from a simple search box and results page to a complex, faceted search system might be appropriate.

Check the spelling of words in search queries.

Users should never receive no results at all because of a typo in a query.

Ignore irrelevant information in search queries.

When interpreting a search query, a search engine should ignore letter case and, in some cases, predefined stop words—which usually include words such as articles and prepositions—and punctuation characters.

Support users’ ability to revise their search queries.

If users don’t initially get useful search results, they might want to revise their current query rather than typing a completely new one. To ensure users can do so without navigating to another page, display the current query in a search box on the search results page.

Display the best results first on the search results page.

People often satisfice when seeking information, so they may consider only the first few search results. Therefore, it is imperative that those first few results be the best results an information space can deliver—that is, they must be the most relevant results.

Display the number of search results for a query.

This information helps users to know whether they should broaden or narrow their search query. It also communicates the scope of the information space.

Provide a solution for situations where there are no results.

If a search query produces no results at all, display a search results page that clearly indicates there are no results, suggests that the user might broaden the search query, and lets the user immediately revise the query.

Ensure that search results provide sufficient information scent.

Each search result should include sufficient information to provide good information scent so people can determine whether a search result is relevant. The most salient information in a search result is the link, whose link text should be the title of the link’s destination page. Summary information or a brief excerpt also provide a strong information scent. Highlight terms in the search results that match the user’s query.

Depending on the context, including other information in the search results might be helpful. For example, for a Web magazine, an article’s publication date and author are also important information. The information that you include in search results for a particular type of information should be consistent.

Quick reference: Wayfinding design principles

Now that we’ve explored these wayfinding design principles in depth, here is a summary of the principles for your reference.

• Placemaking principles:
  
  • Give each digital information space a unique visual identity that distinguishes it from all other digital information spaces.
  • Visually distinguish the various sections of a large-scale digital information
• Orientation principles:
  
  • Make the purpose of an information space clear so people can easily ascertain whether they’re in the right place to find the information they need.
  • Provide previews of some of the content within a digital information
  • Create context to ensure a navigable digital information
  • Establish visually prominent, memorable
• Navigation principles:
  
  • Provide the appropriate navigation options at each wayfinding decision
  • Avoid presenting too many navigation options to users at
  • Ensure that wayfinding information is clear and consistent across an entire digital information space.
  • Simplify navigation systems by grouping related
  • Make sure that each of the links in a group of links is clearly distinguishable from the
  • Consider providing an overview of a digital information
• Labeling principles:
  
  • Create clear, easy-to-differentiate link
  • Create link labels that clearly convey what information is at their
  • Clearly identify destination
  • Use familiar terminology in all
  • Create consistent labeling
• Search principles:
  
  • Provide search to support wayfinding for people with
  • Place the search box in a consistent location on all pages of an information
  • Adapt the design of search systems to their
  • Check the spelling of words in search
  • Ignore irrelevant information in search
  • Support users’ ability to revise their search
  • Display the best results first on the search results
  • Display the number of search results for a
  • Provide a solution for situations where there are no
  • Ensure that search results provide sufficient information

Summary

Every information architect should have a solid grounding in UX design principles, which have their basis in our understanding of human capabilities. Learning design principles teaches you to think like a designer. Once you learn them, design principles provide a sound foundation for every design decision you make.

In this chapter, you first learned some design principles that support human capabilities and, thus, user-centered design (UCD). Then, we explored design principles for wayfinding in depth—including placemaking, orientation, navigation, labeling, and search principles.