To design positive emotional experiences you must understand human emotion. The subject of emotions is complex largely because everything we do is either influenced by, or directly caused by, emotion. Factor in the range and capacity different individuals have for emotion, add in the fact most emotions occur subconsciously, and round this out with the […]
Successful design manages cognitive load. Cognitive load is a technical term for “mental effort,” more specifically it’s the total amount of mental effort required for a given task. Completing any task requires some level of mental effort. This includes learning new information, analyzing stimuli, and working with short and long-term memory. Mental energy which has […]
The vast range of design styles should be an indicator of just how different personal preferences can be. A style characterized by high gloss and polish may be loved by one group and hated by another. The design could be viscerally appealing and behaviorally enjoyable and still result in this outcome. Remember logic assigns meaning […]
If you have designed a site that addressed five of the six layers of design you have surpassed most sites on the web. Even great designers will fail to address the first five layers in a design. Stopping here however, would ignore one of the fundamental aspects of being human, having emotions. Emotion is the […]
An optimized website can convert ten times as many users as a non-conversions optimized site. The amount of information on conversion optimization is vast, a quick Google search reveals over 578 million results on “Conversion Optimization.” With so much information on the subject available, it can be difficult to identify where to start or what […]
If you’re a frequent reader of this blog you might have noticed I can be critical of visual design. The underlying implication that visuals received a disproportionate amount of attention during the initial stages of page layout and construction. A qualification is now in order: Visuals don’t make a design great, but they’re an essential […]
In an age of abundant user behavior data it’s advantageous to adopt a methodology of release, test, learn and iterate. Why spend six months redesigning your website or application based on speculation when you can launch quickly, continually make improvements, and learn what works and what doesn’t. What I’m describing are design sprints. Design sprints […]
Design is a critical aspect of website success, despite the abundance of “ready for you” templates and site builders. Using off-the-shelf WordPress themes or Square Space templates can be a quick way to get an attractive site up and running, but it doesn’t mean the website will be successful. This isn’t to say that these […]
We’re huge advocates of creating personas during the strategy phase of web design. If nothing else, personas help stakeholders view the process from the perspectives of their target audience rather than focusing on their own, personal objectives. Personas can include a wide range of information depending on who’s crafting them. Designers have different opinions about […]
When creating a new website, it’s important to consider how visitors will be able to navigate from page to page. There are many different formats (patterns) you can utilize. You can even create your own unique combination of a number of different options. So whether you opt for a basic navigation bar at the top […]