How to choose between these 3 mobile menu layouts

I have previously shown 3 simple tactics on how to lay your navigation out on mobile. Let's now switch focus to WHY, i.e. when each solution is suitable to use and when it isn't. Prefer a quick comparison instead of a deeper analysis? Otherwise, let's continue...

Our three versions look like this:

So when to use each? Below 5 reasons are stated for when each solution is suitable and in which cases the solution rather is your enemy:


Version 1

5 reasons to use version 1 - the "fully exposed" version:

  1. When you are in the initial stage of launching your business and first time visitors are completely unaware of what you are offering...
  2. ...and you therefore feel that you need to explain your site's value proposition through some examples of the types of content you have to offer
  3. When you think that a majority of your users prefer a quick route to navigation
  4. When you have chosen a design for your landing page that heavily focuses on lifting up your vision and mission in front of entries to your underlying content
  5. When you for some reason has down-prioritized the exposure of entries to the rest of the site within the main content block

When version 1 is less suitable:

In our example we get by with four items on the second row. But in a case where more items than four and/or items with longer names need to fit together we might need to rethink our approach. If we still want to keep the same layout we might have to implement a horizontal scroll where parts of row two are hidden...


Version 2

5 reasons to use version 2 - the "hybrid" version:

  1. When you want a calm impression that's visually balanced
  2. When you want the ying of the left part of the menu to meet the yang of the right part
  3. When you're exposing entries to your underlying pages and content on the landing page
  4. When you want to drive sales through exposing the shopping bag status and entry at all times
  5. When you have run your business for a while and have a lot of retaining users that you want to premiere by exposing what means most to them: the shopping bag and their personal page

When version 2 isn't ideal:

Imagine being exposed to only one or two options when clicking the meny button, as an end user. That would be quite disappointing right?! This solution demands for a clear hierarchy between the exposed and unexposed menu items. So if you're having e.g. four or five menu items of equal importance, this solution is wrong!


Version 3

5 reasons to use version 3 - the "fully" hidden:

  1. When you want to put your brand in complete focus.
  2. When you're in brand building mode rather than "letting your users discover everything you have to offer" mode.
  3. When you have run your business for quite a while with proven results and have a lot/majority of retaining users that already know their way around.
  4. When you have multi-level navigation options to expose to the user whenever he or she wants to navigate.
  5. When you have lots of entries to the rest of the site's content, beyond the top menu.

When version 3 is less adequate:

When you have a content heavy site demanding a lot of entries to be fully discoverable as well as one or two entries are way much more important than all other entries.