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Navigation scheme

Design a navigation concept that specifies a logical flow between screens

A navigation scheme illustrates the possible navigation paths between all required screens in the form of a diagram. This scheme preferably forms a part of the conceptual user interface design since it functions as a kind of design checklist and verification model for the robustness of the user interface concept.

navigation scheme

Different formalisms are applied to design a navigation scheme. The simplest form is a block diagram with associations. Each block represents a screen or a page. The associations represent the navigation path and indicate how one can navigate from one screen to another. This indication optionally holds the name of the button or link to be selected, conditions to be fulfilled, event to be triggered., etc.

A navigation scheme can already indicate the contained data (e.g. files, mails, requests, products…) and enabled actions for each screen (e.g. add new, modify, delete, save…). Including data and actions in a navigation model is useful to discuss the complete work-flow early in the design process, without having to draw all screens in detail.

Designing a navigation scheme early in the design process enables validating

  • the robustness of navigation concepts: are the navigation concepts workable in all circumstances?
  • the usability and efficiency of the navigation flow: is the navigation simple enough, doesn’t the application contain too many screens?
  • the completeness of the user interface design: have we designed all required screens?
Effort: 

The effort spent in modeling a navigation scheme remains relatively small and mainly depends on

  • the number of screens to be built
  • the desired richness of the scheme

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