I've written that I'm getting questions about branding and design quite a bit lately in Intrusive Little Windows or "DeBranding Made Easy". Closely tied to branding and design is user experience. Sometimes, when I look at websites, marketing material, even TV commercials, I have trouble accepting that people doing creative appreciate just how closely branding and design are tied to user experience, and my belief is that they are.
I'm currently in the process of writing up some articles for IMediaConnection and AllBusiness.com that deal with these issues. The IMedia piece will appear Friday, 20 July 07, the AllBusiness.com pieces two Fridays in a row, 13 July and 20 July 07.
Because I'm such a verbose character, there's some overflow that won't fit well into any of these articles and I'm putting it here. Consider it a prelude to what will be in the other pieces.
The greatest gift designers can give users and visitors is letting them achieve their goals. I've written so much about this, counseled clients so much about this and presented so much about this in the past month that I'm feeling like a broken record (anybody remember those? What's the modern equivalent? A scratched DVD? A blue-ray gone green?).Never-the-less, there it is.
Consider the standard Google interface. As a client told me, "They've proven that simple works."
Yes, they have. There is absolutely nothing getting in the way of users achieving their goals; entering a search query. This is an excellent case of designing for the client.
So a user comes to Google and does what they came to do. Click and they get their results.
It is at this point, after the visitor/user has done what they set out to do and received a reward for their effort in the form of results to their query, that pitches are made.
Simple, elegant and sweet. Google knows or has stumbled on the fact that people will be much more receptive to giving you what you want after you've given them what they want. People who attended my Emetrics Summit presentation might remember my talking about the 10 "must" marketing messages. This is an example of the first two -- "I trust You therefore You can trust Me" -- done right (and extra points for placement).
Please contact NextStage for information regarding presentations and trainings on this and other topics.
Upcoming Conferences:- XChange on 20-21 Sept 07
- DC Emetrics Summit on 14-17 Oct '07
- Society for New Communications Research Annual Research Symposium & Awards Gala on 5-6 Dec 07 in Boston.
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