I came across a great overview of the trends that have occurred on the web with respect to navigation menus. What follows are examples of each navigation style as illustrated on the Smashing Magazine article.

Imagine…content and design working in harmony to create information that is both findable and appealing from a design perspective!

Navigation is the most significant element in web design. Since web-layouts don’t have any physical representation a user can stick to, consistent navigation menu is one of the few design elements which provide users with some sense of orientation and guide them through the site. Users should be able to rely on it which is why designers shouldn’t mess around with it.

1. Block navigation

2. Mac Style

3. Visually appealing icons

4. Vertical Tabs

5. Handwriting

6. Experimental

There has been a long held belief that intelligence is defined by the behavior of an individual. This TED video by Jeff Hawkins, back in 2003, illustrates a different idea.

He believes that intelligence should not be defined by one’s own actions, but rather by the ability to predict the actions of others, and future events, based on past experiences.

Experiences allow us to think, “Hey! I’ve been here before and I know what to expect next!” This, in essence, is what professionals in the fields of Information Architecture, User Experience, and Interaction Design strive towards in their own work.

How can we predict, based on data from analytics, or the language used by the end users, how to construct and manage information that aligns with the mental model of those using the web site, system, etc.

Jeff also illustrates that the field of Neuroscience is swimming in data, and much like the presentation I gave at BarCamp Ottawa 3, in order to make sense of all this “noise” we have to ensure we have the proper framework for thinking about things, so we can effectively communicate ideas.

To date, there hasn’t been an overarching theory of how the human brain really works, Jeff Hawkins argues in this compelling talk. That’s because we still haven’t defined intelligence accurately. But one thing’s for sure, he says: The brain isn’t like a powerful computer processor. It’s more like a memory system that records everything we experience and helps us predict, intelligently, what will happen next. Bringing this new brain science to computer devices will enable powerful new applications — and it will happen sooner than you think.

After a lot of hard work and coordination with Christina Wodtke, creator of Boxes and Arrows; Chris Baum, Editor-in-Chief, and John Wiseman from Blogging Squared, the vision for the Boxes and Arrows Podcast has been launched!

All episodes now have a Show Notes page providing an overview of the topics discussed, an iTunes feed, Del.icio.us bookmarking, and the ability to download any or all episodes.

Many thanks to my designer Bohne Forsberg for creating the new BA Podcast logo above, and to his jazz band, Sonic Blue for generously providing the Pod-safe musical introduction for all shows.

I’m looking forward to speaking with more authors of articles on Boxes and Arrows from around the world. As well, John Wiseman will be joining me at the I.A. Summit where Boxes and Arrows will be attempting to record all sessions from Miami.