Over the next few modules you will focus on signs and metaphors.
Signs and metaphors constitute the top layer of the Web Interaction Model.
Your study will be broken down into the three general stages of work related to the implementation of signs and metaphors for a Web site: determining needs, creation, and evaluation.

Of the three general stages of work on signs and metaphors, the first one involves the Web team and client working together to determine the needs that will shape the signs and metaphors. The second stage involves the process of actually creating of the signs and metaphors. The third stage involves evaluating the effectiveness of the signs and metaphors once the site has been delivered and gone live.

In this module, you will focus on the first of these three stages of work:
identifying the needs that will guide your choices ofsigns and metaphors. The primary needs that you will consider are the needs of your client and the needs of the end users. Your client's needs are presented as business objectives in their documents, and the needs of the end users will be identified through audience analysis and market research.

You might think that signs and metaphors are secondary in importance to technology and content. However, you should realize that signs and metaphors can make or break a Web site. If you are not convinced, think about your impression of sites with poorly written text or unattractive graphics, or graphics that take too long to download. The entire interface that humans interact with in the context of the web is a collection of signs--symbols, icons, text--everything that is seen and interacted with. If users cannot interpret the signs, the web interface will be useless.