Graphic Greats: Production Graphics with Wendy Peck at webreference.com | 26

Graphic Greats: Navigation Graphics

Large Menus

MyComputer.com
This site has the front page entirely as a navigation system – a slick way to present masses of information. I struggled for a while wondering if it really qualified as a menu, and came to the conclusion that ... well, I am still not sure. What I do know is that this page presents all the important features that this company offers, on one page, without a scroll and in an easy to understand format. If that is not a navigation system, I don't really know what could bear that label.

In the lower image shown here (close-up view of listings), how the icon as well as the layout helps to direct the reader to the important places on this page.

If you find that your clients require great numbers of navigational items, you should look to this site as an example of superb information presentation.

This entry page covers a very wide range of information in an easy to follow pattern.

Close-up of the circular menu shows some interesting graphic touches, from slight dropped shadows (helps to bring text up from a striped background) to a shaped photo and two menu choices outside the boundaries.

www.com
Organizing this site must have been a really tough job. There is so much information on the entry page that just fitting it in would be a challenge. The notable feature of this page is that the designer not only fit it all in, they also made it look good.

www.com has several customer groups. It is an Internet broadcasting site first and foremost, providing a multitude of musical choices from hard rock, to alternative, to Christian music. In addition, a large part of the site addresses business to business topics, since Web developers can provide this service on their own sites.

The style chosen is perfect. It is not too conservative, since this is music after all, yet it is not too funky, which could pull the serious business development into question. The navigation is actually spread throughout the page, but the major topics are all covered in the circle at the top left of the page. Through the circle, you can get to the music, find out about music news or get more information about including the service on your site. Quite brilliantly laid out, with color nicely separating the four main sections. Also note the Log On and Tune In options on the outside edge of the menu circle.(While you are at this site, check out the variety of music available ... they certainly have most genres covered.)

Very well done – just thinking about how they got it all to work makes my head hurt a little.

Search by Media
This is another entertainment based site that presents a huge amount of information on the front page. In this case, the method is slightly different. The left and right columns contain somewhat traditional menus, with some nice graphic work to separate menu items yet pack many entries into a small space. Graduated fills are always quite effective for this purpose, as they define a shape, but do not weigh much visually as they fade out.

Warning: If you are going to go to this site, it is quite noisy. Normally I am not a big fan of noise on the Web, but you must stop to think of the target audience for this site ... I suspect this group would be quite at home with the popping sound effects and blaring music. Just be warned before you go.

Make sure that you pay attention to how much information is listed here, including ads, menu items, news, etc. It is very impressive by any standard. Although the entry page is full, I would not call it overwhelming – very well done.

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Graphic Greats Index

Navigation Graphics Start/Graphic Direction
Large Menus
Simple Graphic Navigation
3D Graphic Navigation
Artistic Navigation