How to make webdesign curious

[wenwilder]

They say curiousity killed the cat, ....but satisfaction brought it back. :)

People, like cats, are curious by nature. Tell someone "not to look" and what's the first thing they're going to do? Look of course.

You're here reading this post out of curiousity, isn't that great to know? You were asked a question that your mind immediately saw as a problem to be answered. You then clicked on the link looking for that answer.

You may have penned the perfect headline for your site, but if you re-write it as a question, people will read further. Questions peak our curiousity, we can't resist knowing more. Whether or not it is actually something we want to know more about.

Think about the ads you remember most, or even the sales pitches that gained your attention the fastest. Were they statements or questions?

A good headline, that captures customers attention, is made up of these three things: curiousity, a problem, and is phrased as a question. Direct it specifically toward your customers and you have a powerful new marketing tool.

If you really want to get your target audience thinking ask them a question AND help them identify with a problem.

Just make sure that if you do make your customers curious that you also provide them with answers. In the brain, asking "why" is a very powerful factor, you are switching on every single light in your customers brain. That's the good news! The bad news, if you switch those lights on for no apparent reason, the customer will remember that, they will remember your site and, in this case, that will not be a positive memory.

Is there other ways you think psychology could be part of website design?

[redcircle]

Sounds like the start of a spam message to me :)

[wenwilder]

Sounds like the start of a spam message to me :)

It does doesn't it? You're really going to make me think on this one aren't you? :)

But ya know, I have to ask, what made you click on the link and read the post? huh?

[SyrenSong]

"Curiosity killed the cat, satisfaction brought him back."

I'm forever curious. If I ever stop asking questions or stop learning new things, you may as well start adding nails to my coffin. LOL!

Anything that works to peak a person's interest is worth using to grab a visitor's attention. Doesn't much matter whether it's a graphic, a question, or a unique turn of phrase.

I just did a site review for "The Great Escape Barkery" (http://www.webproworld.com/viewtopic.php?t=8285). I read it wrong and thought it was "Bakery". Somehow, the site was much more fun for having misread the name of the site.

Puns can be great attention-getters, too.

Or things that are oddities. It doesn't really matter what the things are. Only that they're unique and thought-provoking.

It's all good!

[sudhani]

Is there other ways you think psychology could be part of website design?

Yes!!! It all boils down to what we want the visitor to "do" when he visits our after we make him "find" it. Now if we need to "apply" concepts of psychology here we need to understand the following points:

1. We are just communicating a "message". We should be clear on what message we want to communicate.
2. Content and Expression (use of right words) >>> not many people understand this concept or just can't do it right.
3. What Impresssion the visitor going to carry after he leaves the site ??? More precisely what was the websites influence on his "sub-concious" mind?

[mikmik]

wenwilder asked:
wenwilder wrote:
Is there other ways you think psychology could be part of website design?

Absolutely, here is something I learned from an excellent article on 'colors', written by none other than - wenwilder!
I've been used to looking for color combinations that 'look right' as do most of us (it only makes sense), but it was pointed out that there are feelings associated with colors and combinations.
It is really quite interesting!

[wenwilder]

Psychology plays a large part in online marketing, but different companies concentrate on different areas. People in many ways are still working with the old mind set:

If you have your own business, that provides a product or service, then you create a website around that business. You provide your customers and potential consumers information on your company and product and they purchase. But that is not how it works.

You have the business owner providing business information, the webdesigner providing graphics, talent, and various other areas of information,....but...who provides the marketing research, the demographic profiling, the research on the psychological aspect of online marketing....etc.

Whether using a statement or question is more effective....what brings a customer back....what drives them a way....what sells the most online, what sells the least....does color really matter....why some fonts actually increase sales....why demographics are so important.....

The three most powerful words you can use online are "why" and "how to". Free no longer has the impact it once did, unless it is placed with the color blue.

The customer is king online. With 5,000 + sites going live daily, competition is only a click a way.

And I'll get off my soap box now. :)

[SyrenSong]

Don't get down off that soapbox yet!


...why some fonts actually increase sales....

That's a new one I've never heard before.

Would you care to elaborate, wenwilder? I'm curious. ;)

[wenwilder]

While colors are my all time favorite subject, fonts has to be my second favorite, at least in the case of business.

Most web designers know there are certian fonts everyone is sure to have on their computer. The fancy script fonts or "curly-Q" fonts so many people like are killers when it comes to web design. Why? Because they are hard to read, portray the site as "second rate" and do absolutely nothing to visually support any product or service.

Serif font like Times Roman with curly bits, is easier to read in print media. Sans Serif like the Verdana font without the curly bits, is better for the web. I've heard this said before in the forum. Verdana was designed specifically for the web by, Matthew Carter. It is meant to be one of the most legible type faces on the web.

When you compare Verdana to any other Sans Serif font you find that Verdana is larger in size. The reason for this is that Verdana was originally developed to be legible when very small font sizes were imposed.

Web authors are sometimes recommended NOT to use Verdana. Why? Because of its size. However......Verdana is a "clean" font. People find Times New Roman to be "antiqued" and "out-dated" which will give a website the same impression.

Now this is the fun part, Perception is the name of the game! How a person perceives the over-all affect of a website is truly what sells that websites product or service. The graphics you use, the color you use, the content, and the font all together make the difference. But....if you are NOT going for an antiquated look Verdana is the best. That leaves a lot of fonts out there though - so why Verdana?

It's a simple matter of being in line with the times. People perceive Verdana as a "modern" font. It makes them want to purchase. I know most people couldn't tell you which font is which on a website. Their eyes and mind know the difference.

Oh and let's not forget the 'white-space' factor! With Verdana being a larger font there is more white space, and white space makes a site look clean, honest, trustworthy, friendly, and it sells!

P.S. The second best font, which you probably already know, is Arial.

[SyrenSong]

Okay. I'll bite and play Devil's Advocate. ;)

Sounds like you'd only recommend Verdana. If that's on all the websites, wouldn't it make sense to want your site a bit different so it stands out from the rest?

And what's a designer to do when a client wants Times New Roman? Georgia was also designed for the web, as an alternative to Times New Roman. It's easier to read than TNR and certainly more modern-looking.

Comic Sans can also be a fun font to uses, for the proper site. (No font bashing on this one, please. I've read and commented on the topic in the Design Peeves forum here. ;) ) It's also an easy-to-read font. On the proper site, why wouldn't that one work as well as Verdana?

And let's not forget Trebuchet. Wasn't that also designed specifically for the web? It's certainly a very readable font, and has no serifs....

[wenwilder]

I agree all those fonts are great fonts, I'm not saying they aren't. I have a lot of fun, when playing with graphics, using the different fonts, they add character to the images. My personal preferences are: Verdana, Arial, and Helvetica. And I prefer Arial over Verdana. - On websites.

When it comes to sales however, Verdana seems to have an impact. You have to remember though that the studies done have at least a 3% margin of error, and probably larger. You can't control the settings people have in their browser, all you can control is the font you choose within the page.

For those who do use the wild fonts, a switch to Verdana may not be a bad idea. It truly depends on how important sales are to you. As long as one remembers that it's not just the font by itself that matters. It's the Big Picture! :)

Being online is all about being different. I'm patiently waiting for someone to come up with a Jello font. :)

[SyrenSong]

I once tried using a few truly fancy fonts on my personal site a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.

Imagine my surprise when I looked at it on my office computer. Then on a friend's computer. Then my in-laws computer. It was quite a revelation! None of the computers had the font I was using, so each time it looked vastly different!

Most of the time now, I stick with Verdana, Arial/Helvetica, Georgia, and Times/Times New Roman.

I was just curious to see what your thinking was. ;)

I also did a short search for you on Jello fonts. Try this guy's page (http://www.rennysniche.com/AlphabetGallery/BillsAlphabets/BillsPage1/BillsGraphicAlphabetsPageOne.htm). He's got a Lime Jello font about 2/3 down the page. Maybe it'll work for you. ;)

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BTW, to get back on topic, sometimes you can provoke curiousity simply by making a simple change to a well-known phrase or by showing an out-of-the-oridinary view of some everyday object.

I've done this with photographs of the old-style metal playground equipment. Just doing a close-up shot of ivy growing on the side of a building. Something people aren't used to seeing.

Of course, in my case, I look at things a bit differently now, thanks to my son. He's always looking at things from angles I'm not generally going to see from my adult perspective.

He also tends to hear things a little differently, simply because adults use words he doesn't recognize. For example, we now shop at "Whale-Mart", instead of "Wal-Mart".

Find a fresh and provocative way of looking at the ordinary. That's a great way to create curiosity!

[wenwilder]

I love the lime Jello font, and the Pizza one! :) Thanks Syren for pinting out that page.

Kids are truly great for giving us a fresh perspective. I argued with my youngest son for an hour about whether the sky was blue or not just to discover that he was talking about the grey clouds that had rolled in. He was right, it wasn't blue at the time. :)

The curiousity factor doesn't work all that well if you can't, first, get people to the site. Then you have to keep them there. Credibility is one way to keep them there and 'proving' you're credible also takes some psychological work.

If you look back over sites that you visit, the one's you visit for fun and enjoyment, think about your first reaction to them. What was the first thing you noticed? Why did you notice it? How did the site 'feel' to you?

Such simple things can make the biggest difference.