alternative to 'menu' when placing text with a hamburger nav stack icon

Question

Ive been trying to think through some alternative text to place next to a hamburger nav icon.

I feel 'menu' sounds like a restaurant, although the only other thing i could think of was to use the word 'nav' (which although as a designer i know what it means, Im pretty sure most people dont). What else could it be called that is easily understood by a wide range of people ?

Ps. im aware of the controversy surround hamburger navs, but in this instance its an appropriate fit.

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Example of a hamburger icon with text

Answer 1

I would argue that the most accurate word besides menu would be "navigation". Shortening it to nav might be alienating for a less tech-literate audience.

But stay aware of innovating for the sake of innovation."Menu" is a metaphor that is pretty well-established and has taken years for users to internalize.

On one hand I think it is important to stay critical and ask these kinds of questions once in a while, so we don't end up working based on outdated assumptions (i.e. how long further may the floppy disk icon live as a universal symbol of saving? - most teenagers have never seen a floppy disk) but be aware that you are quite likely to introduce more friction by changing extremely commonly used patterns, so it should generally be for "the greater good", whenever you do so.

Personally I think the metaphor "menu" is quite good for what it does. It provides the user a series of options from which he or she can choose what instructions to give your application in very much the same way as you choose from "instruction sets" for the kitchen in a restaurant.

BTW: This study might be of interest to you: http://exisweb.net/mobile-menu-abtest

Answer 2

IMO it really depends on the context of your App/Site. Using the text which suits your context may becomes more intuitive for the user as well as he builds a frame of reference.

I worked on a shopping App, They were specifically showing shopping categories in hamburger menu. For them its a great idea to use the text like below

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Many Shopping apps may want to show more than categories such as "shop by your location". There You can simply make it like below.

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In general context as I can see you don't want to use word "Menu". You can use "Explore"

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Now a days Apps/Sites have also started showing their "Logo" icon as hamburger. I believe thats also a great Idea, However you need to have a suitable icon for that. Medium is a great example for this

Finally, I would say it really depends on App-to-App. If you can provide a little detail or background about the app to get more help.