subject: Amadeus Consulting Discusses User Experience Design: Defining Critical Paths [print this page] Amadeus Consulting Discusses User Experience Design: Defining Critical Paths
Defining critical paths to enhance user experience design sounds quite serious because well, it is. It's one of the elements that can really give you a great framework and go-to reminder for designing a website, custom application etc.
What is a critical path?
The critical path of an application is the most important function/purpose in the application/website. Therefore, the navigation to those portions of the application should be the easiest to get to. The critical path should be among the first things to define when sitting down with your user interface development company.
Think about the critical path as the best way of satisfying two questions:
Where does your user ultimately want to end up?
Where do you want your user to ultimately end up?
The user's ultimate goal will likely be to satisfy a need/want, while your goal is business driven.
What are the critical paths of many websites/applications?
E-commerce website -> Final Purchase
Databases -> Finding Critical Information
Social Networking -> Referencing/contributing in-the-moment information
Surveys -> Finishing Meaningful Feedback
Marketing Sites -> Finding/Providing key information to make decision
Mobile Applications (Games) -> Playing the game
Mobile Applications (Other) -> Performing mini-tasks within larger web-based applications
There are many more websites and application types to go over, but we thought those were in the top occurring right now.
How -To's of Critical Path Implementation
Remember: a user should be able to get to a critical path within two clicks
Information architecture/site-mapping: determining what your websites pathways are, demonstrating the flow and seeing the pages before they are created, what needs to be added/culled-down/reprioritized
In-line links: linking from all pages to your critical path (in many cases a Contact Us' page)
Calls-to-action: using the in-line links to suggest further action (Learn More, Contact Us, etc.)
Situational testing: learning by watching your user find what they need
Our user interface design team has helped many clients with their critical path definitions, which assist them in the main focus of their site, and creating the site to support their business goals.
