What is intuitive to one person is not necessarily intuitive to another. Better put, where I might look for information amongst navigation menu headings on a site is not necessarily where another would look.

For example, there’s a lot of companies that use catchy phrases to describe their human resources intranet or section such as:

·     My Work

·     @Work

·     You and (insert company name)

Quite frankly, I think these labels are crap. It’s akin to shaker sweaters, stirrup pants, Atkins diets and other passing fads and pop influences. My preference? Just call it “Human Resources” or “HR”. But that’s just my opinion...

Are those other labels wrong? Not necessarily. “@Work” may resonate as more intuitive at one company that has a completely different culture and type of employee then another organization.

In other words, I would prefer to see “HR” but another employee may prefer “@Work.” Based upon my exposure and work with dozens of corporate intranet clients the number one employee complaint of the intranet remains the same: “I can’t find anything!”

Australian-based Iain Barker, a user experience specialist with Step Two Designs, says that users follow preferred paths guided by intuitive information scents.

“Most research into the way users navigate a site reveals that people follow one path and then, when that doesn't provide the information they require, they retrace their steps using the back button, until they find another suitable path to follow,” says Barker. “Users can find this process frustrating and after following a couple of unsuccessful attempts, give up on a site.”

Information scent

Information scent describes how users choose categories or options when they seek information on a site.

Information scent therefore is the intuitive linkage and relation of related content. Strong information scents offers content with context – meaning and definition (literally or by association). Weak information scents confuse and lose users with little or no context.

“When presented with a list of options users will choose the option that gives them the clearest indication (or strongest scent) that it will step them closer to the information they require,” says Barker. “Navigation headings offer surprisingly weak information scent. Navigation headings are typically limited to one or two words, which often isn't enough to clearly distinguish one heading from another and give a clear indication of the content offered in that section of the site.”

While many people will opt to navigate the sites architecture and various categories, others will use search or the site map. A strong site map is recommended. Some sites however will use the site map approach to the home page. A good consumer site example is Walmart’s corporate site which groups like information by links right on in the main content window:

Robertson offers three tips to making a stronger information scent:

·     Identify the pages where users require more information to aid their decision.

·     Typically this is the homepage and section pages.

·     Devote part of the content area on each of these pages to giving more context to the navigation options the user has.

Some users will always default to the search engine (maybe 15-30% for intranets depending the organization and the strength of the information architecture), some the site map (10 – 20%), however most will navigate the sections and categories of your information architecture. To keep them happy, best have a strong information scent.