Discuss: Visual Decision Making

1 Jakob Nielsen's Site

I think by viewing Jakob’s site (http://www.useit.com/) we can see what happens to a design when it’s controlled by a usability expert and not a web designer. The site looks horrible and does nothing to make me want to read it further. It also looks untrustworthy, like some geocities site thrown together.

posted at 10:10 am on June 23, 2009 by Neal G

2 Interesting Article

This article reminded me of a psychology textbook I had in college. The textbook actually explained the psychology behind its layout, specifically why they incorporated a lot of images with the text. They found that people would associate the image with text they read, and they would be more likely to recall the information they learned if they could picture the layout of the page and the image.

I think the same theory can apply to web design, and most people with content on the web want it to be remembered. Obviously, loads of extraneous images will have a negative effect, but a few well-placed and meaningful images can make a site more memorable.

posted at 11:06 am on June 23, 2009 by Caitlin McAuliffe

3

Patrick – awesome article.

Target audience can have a hue impact on this. But I believe this is why the homepage of a site can be different than the primary content pages. If you have ‘milliseconds’ to engage the reader and communicate the essence of the site a large graphic representation can be most important. Once you’ve engaged the visitor and drawn them in the content areas can be less reliant on the visual impression. Apple is great at this. Their homepage has minimal content information but it makes a huge visual impact on the user. Once in the site the content takes over.

I’ve thought a lot about this in the past couple of months because it’s difficult to convey to clients. The research results are very similar to trade show booth design. You have to grab attendees attention immediately (graphically), but once there its the products and people (content) that hold them there.

posted at 12:18 pm on June 23, 2009 by Jack McDaniel

4 Images communicate

It seems to me that to say that the visual design of a website is a waste of time is to say that there is no communication factor in images. I believe that the study done in Canada that says that a person can tell whether they like a website in less time than it takes to blink an eye demonstrates the communication factor of images.

posted at 02:11 pm on June 23, 2009 by Nora

5 Human Communication Evolved from Visual Cues

Great article! It reminded me of a discussion I once had regarding the evolution of the human smile, and how “flight vs. fight” instincts in humans were often based on visual body language cues. While I don’t recall the exact reason for human beings smiling, I definitely feel the premise applies to your article. While it might take a visitor at the edge of the cave several minutes to explain the reason for the surprise visit with gestures, drawings or other forms of communication, a smile has somehow become the human visual indicator for “friend” not “foe”. Our facial expressions communicate at that visceral level, thus leading me to believe that visual cues play a critical role in how we interpret the world around us. After all, we were relying on visual cues before we had the benefits of the written word. Just think about the cave paintings of Lascaux, France.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lascaux

Here is a reference on the origins of the human smile:
http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/2000-02/950723950.Ev.r.html

posted at 03:08 pm on June 23, 2009 by THalvorsen

6 Terrific Article

Explaining the various psychological responses and how they play a part in design is a terrific topic for discussion! I often lecture on similar topics to my Web II class when discussing structured design and usability, but you beautifully argued for something I’ve always felt was lacking in many of the “studies” done today on tracking user’s behaviors – affective reactions in relation to data. Bravo!

posted at 05:47 pm on June 23, 2009 by Sean Foushee

7 Nielsen's Site

@ Neal G
I just went to Nielsen’s site. Wow! That’s a ’90s Geocities / university bulletin board nightmare.

posted at 06:28 pm on June 23, 2009 by Jack McDaniel

8 Scientific Approach to Web Design

This article is a great example of the scientific approach to evaluating web design that has been developing in the past few years. From research done in the past, I have gathered that users initially pay most attention to whatever is in the top left hand corner of a website, whether it is visually appealing or not. Although I agree that visual appeal does play a part in a user’s overall opinion of a site, popular websites like Craigslist prove that an organized, aesthetically pleasing website is not necessary for it to be popular.

posted at 07:39 pm on June 23, 2009 by mediacontour

9 Excellent Article

I couldn’t agree more with the idea of Prima Facie, and also the whole 50ms mindset. I focus only on those attributes when developing UI. Tendencies to follow trends are always futile. The best web designs existed before the time of Shakespeare. Think about it. The way a person’s mind doesn’t change, and the trends that surround us don’t improve our ability to lead good lives. The thing that does, and the same thing that allows a better user experience is the basic underlying science.

posted at 03:15 am on June 24, 2009 by islandjumper

10 Great Post!

It all starts and ends with visuals. In today’s world the difference between a very successful site and an average one could be a few lines of CSS..

posted at 05:46 am on June 24, 2009 by forex