Navigation scheme is the road map of your site. Navigation of links on your site plays a big role in determining the stickiness of your site. Ask yourself this, what do visitors do as soon as they open your site? They would probably read the content of the present page and then look around to find any other page that interests them. Here are some examples of very very creative horizontal and vertical website navigations.
Horizontal Navigation
Vertical Navigation
Thanks for including Pop Culture Tees in this round-up! There are some really exceptional headers in this article.
I think the real challenge for most web designers who are trying to go outside the box on design/navigation is making sure that whatever we do, it still makes sense from a user experience stand-point.
It can be the most creative layout in the universe, but if it makes people stop and wonder… “Where do I go now?” then we’ve failed.