Posted: March 17th, 2007 | Author: Mark Anderson | Filed under: Design, Strategy | Tags: Design, eye tracking, layout | No Comments »
Eyetracking points the way to effective news article design is a fascinating article. The first two case studies in the article offer strong scientific evidence that a picture is not always worth a thousand words. The third case study has some disturbing insight into the male psyche.
People read faster and retain more if copy is formatted in a manner that is easily scanned, easy to read from top to bottom. That means subheads, bullets and good use of whitespace. This approach allows readers to answer the questions “where am I?”, “what am I reading?” and “do I want to be here?”
The bottom line is that good, clean text formatting is far more important than a random pretty picture. So be sure to ask yourself if the images you’re using are vital to the page you’re publishing.
Remember: good design is the practice of subtraction, not addition.
Posted: March 7th, 2007 | Author: Mark Anderson | Filed under: Design, Strategy | Tags: best practices, Design, e-newsletters | 1 Comment »
It’s been a long time since I’ve posted, but this topic has drawn me out from underneath my teetering inbox: electronic newsletters. Everybody’s doing them, or wants to. Why? We’re getting lean and mean. High-gloss print pieces are expensive and require longer lead times. Often we don’t have time to think past the next cup of coffee that will sustain us through the next sprint to the end of the next project.
So, are we spinning our wheels? What are the best practices? Are people even reading these things?
Well, because your Webmaster loves you, I went to great lengths to type “e-newsletter best practice” into Google. I found this gem: It’s time to raise the bar on e-newsletter best practices.
The best advice is item #1: Content is King. Seriously folks, this is 80% of the battle. Content trumps fancy design every time. If you’re pressed for time, groom the content. Get an editor to look at it. See if you can take out words. Make it punchy. Make it lean. Design is the art of subtraction and good writing is the art of reducing the number of words and making each word carry its weight.
This article is rich with good advice and required reading whether you’re thinking about doing a newsletter or want to improve your current newsletter.