Read Between the “Design” Lines

Saw this article today on the Smashing Magazine blog. The article addresses the lack of respect for designers within the business community. I found a couple of quotes particularly interesting. For example:

“The typical method of giving users lots of different options on a page has been tested and it doesn’t work as well. People don’t want to think hard to figure things out. Users ‘satisfice’ — they want the first possible solution that is easily presented to them. You should be in control of things every step of the way, and miraculous things happen when you start to think of your site as a set ‘process’ instead of a maze of options.”

Or, try this quote:

“Speaking in a language the customer understands is key to good communication in any business. Whenever you get deep into a field and become an expert, it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that the rest of the world doesn’t think like you.”

Just thought you might be interested in seeing what’s up over there in the “design” world.

No Responses to “Read Between the “Design” Lines”

  1. Patrick July 22, 2008 at 10:15 pm #

    Is this in regards to the guy who called you trying to sell something earlier?

  2. tony July 22, 2008 at 10:40 pm #

    patrick, i was thinking more about ministry strategy and how we communicate as churches, but i suppose these same principles might apply to other businesses as well.

    tony

  3. Read Scott July 22, 2008 at 11:21 pm #

    This is huge. To some it may sound manipulative for someone to communicate in a way that guides the thoughts of an audience, but isn’t that the whole point of effective communication.

  4. Greg Atkinson July 23, 2008 at 8:00 pm #

    Good quotes to ponder. The one about the “expert” and “the rest of the world doesn’t think like you” is dead-on.