Week 14B In-Class: One-on-One Critique & Further Exploration

I met with my professor today to discuss the progress on my website, 5 days away from the final due date.   Below are just a few notes from the meeting, along with a sketch as I look into adding calls-to-action underneath my headline to add more content & entryways to my homepage.

Following the critique, I was asked to look up some examples to defend my decisions to stick with a left side navigation/sidebar, as well as utilizing both the navicon & call-to-action "MENU" to denote the sidebar.

Bad Assembly's left sidebar on desktop view

Grain & Mortar's left sidebar on tablet view

AndCulture's new website utilizes both a left sidebar & the navicon/menu combo

Web Design Ledger uses a left side bar on all views

Static Interactive resorts to a left sidebar on tablet & mobile views

Marmoset also opts for a left sidebar on tablet & mobile

The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage uses both the navicon & "menu" to lead viewers to the site's navigation

Most of the site's containing left sidebars have been made quite recently, but I'd be interested to see if this is going to be a growing trend & whether in the end it will help or hinder, or even add or subtract nothing, to site view rates & the user experience.  With so many design-related websites utilizing this feature, I wonder if there may be some practical reasoning we just haven't heard about yet outside aesthetic & standing out.

On the navicon/menu combo, I did not find any documentation on which is better or if both is overkill.  My personal opinion is that it works for my site as the sidebar works not only for navigation but also for traditionally footer content like social media & copyrights.