Wednesday, April 22, 2009

You can't miss: In defense of eye candy

If you're not reading A List Apart, you should. They have tons of web tips, tutorials and great articles. I came across this one about so-called 'eye candy.' We've all been there: thinking more about beauty than content or usability sometimes (print and web). This is a great article by Stephen Anderson about how there is a place for beauty on the web. He even quotes a study about appearance and credibility:
According to a 2002 study, the “appeal of the overall visual design of a site, including layout, typography, font size, and color schemes,” is the number one factor we use to evaluate a website’s credibility.


This is sort of like judging a book by its cover, (how can you not?) I couldn't agree more with these findings. Whenever looking for somewhere to eat, shop, etc.. I always evaluate the place on their cleanliness and design sophistication. I assume if they're willing to put enough effort into their presentation, that they're willing to put effort into their product. Usually, I'm right.
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2 comments:

  1. Lyndsey NelsonApril 22, 2009 at 12:42 PM

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  2. Lyndsey NelsonApril 22, 2009 at 12:43 PM

    (oops, misspelled a word in my first comment)
    I don't think a design that's simply "beautiful" is MORE useful than a design that is content-driven. But I definitely think that you can make a content-driven design beautiful.

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