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This is all about knowing what you want your visitors to do, and making it easy for them to do it.
Knowing what you want them to do is usually directly influenced by The Why of the site, and
it may even be word for word, if the main purpose of your site is to get people to accomplish a certain task.
To really get this done right, it involves really getting into the head of your visitors (see
cognition and thoughtstream engineering for more on this). Play the part of a
detective - create profiles of your "suspects," reason out how they think and act, factor in your desired end point,
and then create navigational pathways for such people.
If you have the resources, do user testing. Conduct focus groups with the type of people who are your target, and ask
them questions that will drive your design. Find out what would bring them to a site like yours, what they would expect
to find, what would drive them away, etc. This is all invaluable data.
At its best, interaction design is an iterative process, as your goals for the visitors may change, and your initial
implementation may have unforeseen flaws. After building the site, invest in a good user tracking/statistical analysis
package (or build your own), and see if people are doing what you thought they would do. If they aren't, take the new
data, and restructure your approach.
The key to interaction design is that you do it. Don't leave it out of your process. Keep in mind the paths you want
your user to take, and though you may
not get it perfect, you won't stray too far.
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