Even online, you cannot ignore design considerations.Let's take the following paragraph from design consultant Jan White's Color for Impact as today's Scripture--but substitute color-in-print with online graphics or online images: Color-in-print is not an aesthetic medium but a rational tool you use for editorial purposes: emphasis, persuasion, linkage, organization, recognition. If it also creates beauty, so much the better. But its functionality is more valuable that its prettiness. Functionality is the operative word here. As Jeanne Jennings points out in the above article, "Use images sparingly spar·ing adj. 1. Given to or marked by prudence and restraint in the use of material resources. 2. Deficient or limited in quantity, fullness, or extent. 3. Forbearing; lenient. , only when they advance the goals of the e-mail"--Jan White's sentiments exactly. Kara Kara (kär`ə), river, c.140 mi (230 km) long, NE European and NW Siberian Russia. It flows N from the N Urals into the Kara Sea, forming part of the traditional border between European and Asian Russia. It is navigable in its lower course. Pernice Coyne (see lead article) offers the following observations on online images, based on eye-tracking research. Images that get attention share the following traits: * Related to content * Approachable people: * Faces * Smiling or otherwise open * Looking at the camera * Private anatomy "Private anatomy" is a whole other story. Briefly, it's the term the Nielsen Norman Group Nielsen Norman Group is a usability consulting company created by well-known user experience experts Donald Norman, Jakob Nielsen, and Bruce Tognazzini. Besides these three principals, there are many lesser known experts in the company. The company was founded in 1998. uses for breasts and genitals gen·i·tals pl.n. Genitalia. . In their eye-tracking research, they found both men and women gravitate grav·i·tate intr.v. grav·i·tat·ed, grav·i·tat·ing, grav·i·tates 1. To move in response to the force of gravity. 2. To move downward. 3. , immediately following the headline or smiling faces, to the "private anatomy" not only of--as Coyne illustrated in her PowerPoint presentation--sports figures, models, and ordinary people, but also of animals. So, if you want to avoid distracting dis·tract tr.v. dis·tract·ed, dis·tract·ing, dis·tracts 1. To cause to turn away from the original focus of attention or interest; divert. 2. To pull in conflicting emotional directions; unsettle. your online readers, stick to smiling faces (check out Don Nicholas, Kim Mateus and Peter Schaible at Mequoda.com) and simple images that advance the text. |
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