How can you design and implement an effective navigation and wayfinding system for CMS and IA?

1 Understand your users and content

The first step in designing a navigation and wayfinding system is to understand your users and content. You need to know who your target audience is, what their goals and tasks are, how they search and browse for information, and what their expectations and preferences are. You also need to know what content you have, how it is structured, organized, and labeled, and how it relates to your users' needs and context. You can use techniques such as user research, personas, scenarios, content audits, inventories, and maps to gain insights into your users and content.

2 Define your navigation and wayfinding strategy

The next step is to define your navigation and wayfinding strategy, which is the overall approach and logic for guiding your users through your content. You need to decide what types of navigation and wayfinding elements you will use, such as menus, tabs, breadcrumbs, search, filters, facets, links, icons, labels, etc. You also need to determine how you will group and categorize your content, what level of granularity and hierarchy you will use, and how you will name and describe your content. You can use techniques such as card sorting, tree testing, sitemaps, wireframes, and prototypes to test and refine your navigation and wayfinding strategy.

3 Implement your navigation and wayfinding system

The final step is to implement your navigation and wayfinding system using your CMS and IA tools. You need to choose a CMS that supports your navigation and wayfinding strategy, such as one that allows you to create custom content types, taxonomies, metadata, menus, etc. You also need to use IA tools that help you create, manage, and update your navigation and wayfinding elements, such as plugins, modules, extensions, widgets, etc. You can use techniques such as code snippets, templates, style guides, and documentation to ensure consistency and quality of your navigation and wayfinding system.

4 Evaluate and optimize your navigation and wayfinding system

The last step is to evaluate and optimize your navigation and wayfinding system based on user feedback and performance metrics. You need to measure how well your navigation and wayfinding system helps your users find and access the content they need, how satisfied they are with their experience, and how they interact with your navigation and wayfinding elements. You also need to identify any issues or gaps in your navigation and wayfinding system, such as broken links, unclear labels, missing content, etc. You can use techniques such as usability testing, analytics, surveys, interviews, etc. to collect and analyze data and make improvements to your navigation and wayfinding system.

5 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?