Communication on the world wide web is a mixed bag of information, tedium, frustration and satisfaction and despite there being more than 15 years of change and development, the basic format remains the humble website.
Lets look at modern media.
It may be that in the future our internet experience will be dominated by highly interactive real time video style communication with advertisers, businesses and the like but I'm not so sure. People still enjoy reading newspapers and they don't necessarily want their info at 100 miles an hour. This is because newspapers still offer the simple pleasure of relaxed reading.
Readership WILL shrink considerably because newspapers have neglected their strengths and are trying to be multimedia. Woman's Weekly style news is probably better done online so newspapers need to go back to basics.
How about film and TV?
Over edited movies are often difficult to watch and don't allow characterisation and tension to develop naturally the way it does in real life. Exactly who was it that decided children only have attention spans of 2 seconds? Fast editing, loud bangs and bright colours etc leave kids slack jawed zombies. Children's TV says more about how adult producers and directors perceive childhood, than it does about kids.
Now back to our humble website.
Various advertisers and web designers often follow a similar 'wizz bang' philosophy. Despite that whole wacky flash thing being largely discredited in recent years the idea persists that people looking at the internet need to be constantly entertained because "that's what people are like". The success of youtube etc proves this right?
Maybe but when someone has money to spend and is looking for information or a particular service they DON'T want to be entertained. They want their results swiftly, effectively and "how much does it cost?".
All well and good but do we really want to look at a page of scrolling text? In a word, no. Although we will if we have to.
The question remains then. How is the balance of simple and effective, interesting and appealing, reached in web design?
It's not that easy and like advertising and marketing, it definitely benefits from a strategic approach. But it's not just about strategy. It's also about viewer experience and perception. The x-factor for
websites is when the website viewer instantly "likes" the website and marks it as a 'favourite'. Trust is established.
Trust is the 'holy grail' of web design and it brings us to – Personality.
Your sites unique personality must shine through and grab the viewer instantly to capture and build 'trust'. This is easier said than done and is another story.
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