Navigation Through Signifiers and Discoverability

How do you get from opening an app to the place you want to be? This is a challenging question that many designers face every day, especially considering the range of users with varying skill levels. How can you clearly explain to new users how to navigate to their desired location while not slowing down proficient users who know the app like the back of their hand?

I believe the answer lies in discoverability, specifically the desicoverability of advanced features and shortcuts. In order to give the advanced users access to shortcuts while not alienating newer users, designers need to provide meaningful signifiers they can identify. Below is the landing page I've designed with small signifiers such as the accounts and portfolio titles above the bottom buttons bar. The goals of these titles is to signal to the user that there is another page they can access by swiping, this can also be achieved by tapping the titles. Further as the users discover they can swipe to access these 2 pages, they may find they can access the menu or side bar by swiping again to the left.

These types of shortcuts allow seasoned users to fly through the app viewing all the information they are after while not isolating newer or slower users as they can clearly use the signifiers as buttons themselves.

Shifting our focus now helping users when things go wrong, and giving every user a way home without destroying their progress is one of the most important things a designer should pay attention too. I have attached the side bar from the current CommBank app, the layout is clear and the symbols attached to the options are very clear to me. Side arrow implying a new screen in the app and upwards arrow taking you to a website outside of the app.

Regardless the issues lie in the inability for the user to get home from this side bar as this is the bar the user can access from any time throughout the app. The small changes I made should give the user a way home if they ever get stuck in a situation where they don't know what has happened or how to fix it. Additionally the inclusion of the Log off button grants users the ability to leave the app easily from any position in the app.

Lastly, as in my sketches I have included the CommBank logo giving users the option to use the CommBank logo as a button to return to the landing page allows for more industry consistency. This is a staple feature found in most of the biggest websites from YouTube to Facebook. In closing giving users small signals on how they can master the app is important for both teaching and engagment from the users. Further users should never feel trapped in any app so they need a way home when things go wrong.