Now that I had stated to plan my content I also needed to think about how my users would navigate my project. As we were concentrating on the Figma Prototype at this stage of the project I was looking at it from a web site point of view and the possibilities Figma offers.
The main decision I need to make for this project is whether it is going to take the form of a single page (where users scroll to reveal the whole story) or a multi-page website (where users navigate between separate pages to access all the content).
For me, certainly for my main narrative I feel moving between pages interrupts the flow of the narrative and takes you out if any immersion you may feel. I could see the benefit to have additional stories to the main narrative contained within separate pages with the main narrative having a linear, chronological structure it seems like the right decision to keep it all on one page and allow users to scroll through it at their own pace. This also avoids any issues with Internet connectivity as once the website is loaded initially the user can enjoy the full narrative, which if they needed to navigate between pages they could not.
I do want to include supplementary stories to support the main narrative such as information on the crew and this could be done on a separate page, I feel that with the range of macro and micro interactions available I can use these to reveal the extra information to my users all within the same page as the main narrative. Again I feel this avoids breaking immersion and reinforces the idea of the extra information supporting the main narrative rather than being separate stories or information.
I do need to consider that users may want to view my website on a mobile device and some interactions are more difficult within that medium (for example you cannot use hover interactions on a touchscreen) and this could mean the necessity for additional pages but I hope to find solutions to this that avoid the need for extra pages.
The final question is what sort of navigation should I include or should I include any. I think some way of skipping to a particular section may be useful for users beyond the scroll from start to finish and a simple navigation bar at the top of the page may provide this functionality. I think this will work well and I will ensure it is not too prominent as I don’t expect many users to select to navigate this way but I think it is important to provide the option. Ideally this option would change to a hamburger menu for smaller screens. Having a clear layout and clear sections of my content will also be key to making this design work and by looking and splitting up my content I am already on my way to achieving this.
While all of these ideas are still open to change depending on what happens as I now move on to the sketching and lo-fi mock-up stage of this project, I feel the single-page website where users scroll from top to bottom following the narrative is the best way for me to show the story of Apollo and in particular the Apollo 11 moon landing.
I will add interest and immersiveness through the use of interactions, hover states and animated content, this will delight users and bring the narrative to life, I see interactive elements spread throughout the narrative as well as side stories that supplement and add to the main narrative.
I am excited to now move on to the sketching and lo-fi mock-up phase where I can start to bring my ideas to life, and start to create asset I will use in my final immersive prototype.