Every day we are bombarded by websites. From high-end brand outfits through to local companies advertising their services. But have you ever stopped to take the time to look at the visual structure of a site? The way it is arranged, the colour scheme, the overall brand message? Probably not, as the average web user doesn’t usually generate a huge amount of page reads unless it is something specific to their individual interests and they are out to look for it. But if you want to increase sales or increase your brand weight on a particular group of people you might be interested to hear the importance that aesthetics and well thought out visual schemes play in this vital role. The science behind visual and cognitive responses is pretty detailed, so lets consider it in laymen’s terms.

The 1930′s wasn’t so bad

You may have heard of a psychological process referred to as Gestalt Theory. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gestalt_psychology) Gestalt literally meaning “essence or shape of an entity’s complete form” is a theory of how the brain analysises visual occurrences. 5 key principles on how Gestalt theory plays an important part of visual completeness are shown below;

• Law of Closure – The mind may experience elements it does not perceive through sensation, in order to complete a regular figure (that is, to increase regularity).
• Law of Similarity – The mind groups similar elements into collective entities or totalities. This similarity might depend on relationships of form, color, size, or brightness.
• Law of Proximity – Spatial or temporal proximity of elements may induce the mind to perceive a collective or totality.
• Law of Symmetry (Figure ground relationships) – Symmetrical images are perceived collectively, even in spite of distance.
• Law of Continuity – The mind continues visual, auditory, and kinetic patterns.

These laws play an important part in how the average user interacts with your site, using these rules effectively to construct a well thought out navigation, page sections, hierarchy and other elements can only ultimately result in a better experience for the user and more sales for you.

Let’s go to Vegas

Not really, but lets head back to America and briefly discuss 2 ideas that continue to affect the weight of having a strong visual presence. In 2002 The University of Stanford in conjunction with Makovsky & co (www.makovsky.com) published a report entitled “Investigating what makes web sites credible today” In this research report a number of various tests where carried out on test users, and the results where interesting. In their findings particularly “other findings” it was noted that the factors affecting web credibility included;

1. The site looks professionally designed
2. The site is arranged in a way that makes sense to you
3. The site’s design is appropriate to its subject matter

This lab report clearly shows that users place heavy weight on the visual appearance of a web site and its credibility, there is a direct correlation between the two.

Ooooh that’s pretty

Patrick Lynch, a web designer from Yale University wrote a fantastic article on alistapart (www.alistapart.com /articles/visual-decision-making/) in his article (which I would suggest reading) he talks about affective responses in connection with emotional responses, which basically are the reaction to how we feel and what we see. The 3 stage process, visceral, behavioural-level and reflective-level processing show how directly we use the processes in relation to classical and expressive aesthetics in web design. In essence the way a site is laid out, the colour scheme, the brand message has a cognitive effect on our impression and overall credibility of a site.

Lets call it a day

So to sum up, having a well designed, well structured site that visually stimulates us through cognitive effect and visceral processing can really make or break a users experience. So next time you have a site designed or re-designed choose carefully as you really do need the “wow factor”

Get Involved