Navigating Through Space

This week we discussed how we navigate through space to get to information on the web and with applications for the iPhone etc. We discovered that most sites use metaphors of things we're familiar with. For example, Tabs are used as menus, which we are used to seeing in folders. Using metaphors connects the design with the audience much easier because they're something we're comfortable with.

Here's a list of the most common metaphors used:
Tabs
Corridor
Room
Elevator
Filing Cabinet
Desk Top
Page Curl
Cork Board
A Landscape
Windows
Paper

Good designs have come from mixing two types of metaphors together.

Here are some of my own ideas using these metaphors, set for a more 3D environment:


To be more noticed these days as a designer, you'd have to be more creative and come up with something new, like a new metaphor, but is there really a metaphor out there that hasn't been used and can be relevant for displaying information? Also, if these current metaphors have worked well for so long, why change them? By coming up with something new, it's not really a new metaphor because it's new and no-one's seen it before, so how will people take to using something so new? It seems that a lot of experimenting and testing will need to be done to find a new user-friendly design.