05 Jul Hamburger Menu Revolution

Someone needs to go first

Smaller screens for surfing the web seem to be here to stay – at least for the next few years. During this time I’m campaigning for a hamburger revolution.

In the last two months I’ve designed and built three new websites. All hugely different in their design approach and business need. And each one got me thinking about how we’re all following the same mobile patterns without really questioning whether they’re actually the best solutions.

Why I don’t do mobile first

I don’t adopt a mobile-first approach to web design – and the reason for that is that I find it unexciting to do so. Very few mobile websites are exciting. They’re functional but not exciting. And getting clients excited needs to be part of the presentation process.

I prefer to adopt an all-at-once approach. Sell the functionality on a desktop wireframe with support from a simpler mobile wireframe. I find that showing how desktop translates to mobile and vice-versa is a better way of explaining responsiveness and how it works and its benfits Plus, it demonstrates that good design thinking works across all screen sizes rather than starting small and hoping for the best.

The great hamburger debate

There’s so much content on the ‘net sharing research, data, and opinion on mobile UX. The general rule seems to be “do what the majority of others are doing because that’s what people are habitually used to”. But this leads to some odd contradictions.

Take hamburger menus – the eternal question of top left or top right. This discussion rivals the online battle between GIF and JIF (clearly it’s GIF with a hard G). With hamburger menus, I follow the logic that most people are right-handed, so putting it in the top right makes sense for thumb navigation.

But then loads of e-commerce sites put it in the top left. They clearly have backend data to support this decision. Maybe it’s because fewer people shop while walking? Maybe people shop on public transport or sitting down, where they have both hands free?

Then all the other sites put it in the top right! There’s too much confusion around what should be a pretty straightforward usability decision. It makes for some expensive conversations around boardroom tables when everyone’s following different best practices.

What if we’re all wrong?

Here’s the thing that really gets me: if you look at mobile touch heatmaps, the optimal zone for navigation isn’t top-left or top-right – it’s right in the centre. The area most easily reached by both left and right thumbs, regardless of how you hold your device.

So why don’t we do that? Because convention has become more powerful than evidence.

We’re all so focused on following established patterns that we’ve stopped questioning whether those patterns actually serve users best. Someone needs to be brave enough to break with convention and start putting navigation where the data suggests it should go.

The Bigger Question

This isn’t really about hamburger menus though. It’s about whether we’re designing based on logic and user benefit, or just doing what everyone else does because it feels safer. I have fallen into this process on many occasions, specially when the project budget is lean or price lead. But that’s ok because the thousands of sites we use everyday train us to think and behave in a certain way. And capitalising on that behaviour can make things easier for end-users.

However, some of the more successful and fun projects I’ve worked on happened when clients trusted strategic thinking over safe choices.

And here’s something that keeps me wondering: your phone probably knows if you’re left or right-handed by analysing usage patterns, typing behaviour, even how you hold the device. So why can’t we serve up interfaces optimised for individual users? The technology surely exists?

Who’s Going First?

Someone needs to start this hamburger revolution. Someone needs to test centre-positioned navigation at scale and share the results. I’d love to see what happens when we prioritise user experience over industry convention.

Let me know when you do, so I can bravely follow along. After all, the best way to find out if we’re wrong is to try something different and measure what actually happens.

What other mobile UX conventions do you think need questioning? I suspect the hamburger menu is just the tip of the iceberg.