Menus
menus in the visitor's language
How do I design menus that help visitors find what they need — using language they understand, organized the way they think?
You don't have a design problem.
You have a clarity problem.
You stuff everything into the main menu because it all feels important — a nav bar with fifteen items that overwhelms visitors and makes the most important destinations invisible. Sound familiar?
You copy a competitor's menu. You borrow layout from a peer site whose audience, offer, and mix are different from yours — so it organizes around their journeys, not your visitors'.
You cram top-nav without tiers. Every page surfaces as a primary link because nobody decided what's primary versus secondary versus utility — so nothing reads as important.
You label with internal jargon. "Hub," "Launchpad," and "Resources" feel obvious to you and fail prediction tests with first-time visitors who don't share your vocabulary.
You run a kitchen-sink footer everywhere. The same footer on a checkout page, a content page, and a lead-magnet page — no distinction between what each page type actually needs.
From a crowded menu to a menu visitors read
"I put everything in the main menu because I didn't know what to cut, and visitors keep asking me how to find the pricing page even though it's right there."
"I have a three-tier assignment for every page on my site, evidence-based groupings from a card sort with real visitors, and validated labels that pass first-click accuracy testing — and my directory menu now switches views cleanly between seekers and logged-in members."
The shift: navigation clarity isn't a design problem you solve with a prettier menu. It's an architecture problem — you solve it by earning every slot, grouping by mental model, and labeling in visitor language.
You don't just watch lessons.
You leave with 12 real artifacts.
Working documents you actually use — not a visual refresh. By the end they add up to a tiered menu, evidence-based groupings, and validated labels.
Menu Tier Assignment
A scored page inventory with tier placements plus a per-page-type footer variant spec.
Action Placement Map
Persistent, contextual, utility, and emergency actions placed by position.
Edge Case Scorecard
Ambiguous items scored, tier-assigned, and rationale-documented.
Directory Menu Architecture
Dual-audience design: seeker view, member view, shared secondary, category nav.
Mental Model Clustering
Open and closed sort results, consensus groups, and group names.
Priority Ordering
Frequency- and value-ranked item sequences per group.
Cognitive Load Audit
Group sizes constrained, scannability tested, Miller-number compliance.
Directory Category Navigation
Approach selection, design specs, edge-category handling, and test results.
Visitor Language Audit
Prediction scores, jargon flags, competitor comparison, and click-accuracy data.
Label Rewrite
Original labels, revised labels, rules applied, and rationale.
Label Validation
Tree-test paths, first-click accuracy, five-second recall, and a revision log.
Directory Terminology Guide
Six terminology decisions, niche mappings, before/after labels, and validation results.
Three moves: decide what belongs → group by intent → label in their language
Layout
What earns a slotWhich pages and actions belong in primary, secondary, and footer navigation.
- Categorize Assign three tiers and four footer variants
- Include Place persistent, contextual, utility, emergency actions
- Resolve Score the borderline items
- Apply Build your directory / niche menu architecture
Logic
Group by intentGrouping and ordering items based on user intent, not internal structure.
- Group Cluster by mental model with a card sort
- Sequence Order by frequency, value, and serial position
- Constrain Limit group size, count, and nesting depth
- Apply Build your directory / niche category navigation
Labels
Their wordsNaming menu items in language your visitors use, not your internal jargon.
- Translate Audit your labels against visitor language
- Rename Rewrite with five clarity-first rules
- Test Validate with tree, first-click, five-second tests
- Apply Build your directory / niche terminology guide
More than videos —
a learning system
Every lesson lives in a platform built to help you actually absorb, apply, and return to the work.
AI Chat per lesson
Ask questions and pull key points, action items, and reflections from any lesson.
Searchable transcripts
The full text of every video — search it, scan it, jump straight to the part you need.
Highlights
Mark the passages that matter and filter the transcript down to just your highlights.
Bookmarks
Save the exact moments you'll want to come back to and reopen them in a click.
Notes
Keep personal notes saved right inside each lesson, exactly where you wrote them.
Playlists
Build custom collections of lessons and sequence the path that fits you.
Certificate
Auto-issued the moment you complete every lesson in the course.
Podcast mode
Listen to the course as audio in any podcast app — learn on the move.
Video controls
Closed captions, speed controls, picture-in-picture, and theatre mode — watch your way.
Favorites
Heart any lesson to pin it to your favorites for quick access later.
History & resume
Pick up exactly where you left off — your place is always saved.
Threaded comments
Discuss each lesson with other students in threaded conversations.
Is this course your right next step?
This is for you if…
- You're building your directory site and want to design the navigation correctly before launch instead of fixing it after.
- You have a live site with visitors who can't find what they're looking for or a primary nav that's grown to 10+ items.
- You want a framework for every menu decision — what earns a slot, how items group, what they get called.
- You're ready to test your labels with real visitors before shipping rather than assuming they're clear.
- You want to produce real artifacts — a tier assignment, a clustering, a terminology guide — not just consume content.
This is NOT for you if…
- You want someone to design your menu for you without doing the tier assignment and testing work yourself.
- Your navigation already performs well and visitors consistently find what they need without friction.
- You're looking for platform-specific CSS or code to implement the menu — this covers architecture, not implementation.
- You want a quick answer like "just put these five items in the top nav" without the decision framework.
Be one of the first to tell your story
These courses are brand new. Once you've done the work, tell us how it changed your thinking — your words could be the first testimonial featured right here.
"Here's how this course changed the way I…"
your story here
"The part that surprised me most was…"
your story here
Three ways to go deeper
This course is one piece of a bigger system. Here's the whole map — and where you are on it.
University
Learn at your own paceThis course — full University access is $80 on its own.
Launchpad
Get the tools to execute-
Ebook$10narrative deep-dive
-
Checklists$15self-assessment diagnostic
-
Journal$20reflective application + AI prompts
-
Workbook$25full execution tracker
One of each — the full toolkit for this course is $70 on its own.
You're buying the University piece — the course, its platform, and the artifacts you produce. Bundle all three and save — see pricing below. Each column is also available à la carte: University $80, Launchpad $70, Events $280. See how we build →
Everything. Course price.
Lock in the full bundle today. Every piece ships to your account as it's built — and the price only goes up from here.
$430 value when complete
Everything, for the price of just the course.
- 12 lessons + AI Chat, transcripts, highlights, bookmarks
- Ebook + Checklists + Journal + Workbook shipping soon
- Workshop + Sprint + Challenge access shipping soon
- Certificate on completion
- Clinics included free — $20 each on their own
The price goes up as content ships — the founding price never comes back.
Not ready to commit? Attend our live workshops, sprints, and challenges for free — just show up. No signup, no credit card. If you like what you experience, the founding price locks in everything permanently.
Every piece below ships to your account as it's built — free, at your founding price:
- Menus — 12 lessons Digital$80 valueLive now
- Ebook Digital$10 valueIncluded
- Checklists Digital$15 valueIncluded
- Journal + AI Prompts Digital$20 valueIncluded
- Workbook Digital$25 valueIncluded
- Workshop Events$40 valueIncluded
- Sprint Events$80 valueIncluded
- Challenge Events$160 valueIncluded
- Total value when complete$430You pay $80
↑ as the tools ship, the price rises
↑ as the live events go up, it rises again
Full $430 value, fully builtWhat ships when?+
- Week 1: Workshop Part A (courses 1–3) + Ebook ships.
- Week 2: Workshop Part B (courses 4–6) + video lessons go live + Checklists ship.
- Week 3: Sprint recordings + Journal ships.
- Week 4: Challenge recordings + Workbook ships.
Or start bigger — the same deal at every scope:
Course
1 course + tools + events
$80Pod
All 6 Config courses
$320Pillar
All 36 Framework courses
$960University
All 324 courses
$4,320Same deal at every scope — everything included, price goes up as content ships. See How We Build →
Prefer one piece? Single University, Launchpad, or Events access. · See How We Build →
Founding Access — Menus
Full bundle (University + Launchpad + Events) · $80 · pre-sale founding rate
[ Simplero checkout / order-form embed renders here ]
Wire this to the Simplero Founding bundle product for this course.
The fifth step of the Config journey
Menus is course 5 of 6. Navigation defined the hierarchy; Menus now assigns the tier slots and names the items that execute that hierarchy in the actual menu UI and footer.
You are here — name the paths.
You're not doing this alone
Every lesson has a discussion where you share your work and read how others approached the same prompt — so you see the patterns, not just your own answer.
“Post your experience, read two others, and notice the patterns.”
Per-pillar discussion forums are coming as the community grows.
Before you decide
Can't I just copy a menu structure I like?+
A peer site's menu organizes around their audience and offer, not yours. This designs around your visitors' journeys — earning every slot instead of borrowing someone else's layout.
Everything feels important — how do I decide what's in the menu?+
The three-tier framework assigns every page primary, secondary, or utility — with an edge-case scorecard for the borderline items — so the menu prioritizes what matters.
My labels make sense to me — isn't that enough?+
Not if they're internal jargon. "Hub" and "Resources" fail prediction tests with first-time visitors. You validate labels with tree, first-click, and five-second tests.
Is this implementation — will it give me code?+
No — it's architecture: what belongs where, how items group, what they're called. You leave with a spec your platform or developer implements.
How much time does it really take?+
8–12 hours across 7–10 days, with deliberate gaps for visitor testing and label validation between modules.
What do I actually walk away with?+
12 working artifacts — from a Menu Tier Assignment and Mental Model Clustering to a Label Validation and Terminology Guide.
How do I build menus that help visitors find what they need — in their language, organized the way they think?
Stop cramming everything into the top nav. Earn every slot, group by mental model, and label in visitor words.