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2HousePlague · 06-27-2005, 07:34 AM

Web Site Design Principles -- A visual design & architecture primer

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It is a sweet, sweet thing to serve necessity with impulse --

Thse are fractals?

Actually, these are portions of the Mandelbrot Set, which, until just a moment ago, was getting all my attention and was holding my ability to write hostage to itself.

So, what did I do? I came up with a way to write about Mandelbrot (or, rather, about an attribute all fractals share) and serve the necessity of this topic.

One of the defining characteristics of fractals is that they repeat the same basic pattern, both regressively and progressively ? much like the basic trunk-and-branch structure of a tree pervades its entire form ? from main trunk, to roots, to the veins of the leaves.

This relates to our discussion, because I intend to explain a design principle of potentially great complexity by way of a very simple iteration. The idea being that in the least complexity, the concept is most visible, and may then, for being understood in essence first, be applied in very elaborate schemes.

But before I describe this design principle, let us remind ourselves of the context. We are discussing Web sites where things are sold. We are discussing ways in which to improve on their design ? and, make them sell better.

The scope of study suggested by the title of this discussion is vast. I could write about anything -- from the subtle effects of color palette choice, to the relationship between page-object placement and user action. But
I am trying to focus on what I think are the most relevant design issues to our kinds of Web sites, and to those topics that I think one may do justice to, even in cursory overview. In this case, as I mentioned above, I also want to involve fractals somehow ? lol.

I?ll touch upon an observation I already made above, once more ? a little thought and a little good design sense (within the site) can deliver most of the improvements to site conversion performance we are now too often seeking in an assortment of expensive, 3rd party up-stream ?targeting? methodologies or the use of cookies and IP-sensitivity within our sites.

As regards targeting, all of that is well and good, but all the clickstream data in the world won?t reverse the effects of a bad site design. I think we lose our way a little bit, and assume that a high-tech solution you have to pay for everyday (per click, yet!) is necessarily better than having gotten it right, design-wise, in the first place.

I think the best thing in the world you can do for your site is simply make it easy for your prospective customers to find the items that interest them. Sounds simple, no? Instead, in Adult, the average site design acts as if grabbing a handful of darts and throwing them at the wall were smart ? it?s just that those porn darts stick so damned well, we never cry for the big pile left un-stuck on the floor.

The Adult Web is still choked by pop-up ads, which are now making use of ever-more aggressive methods of data harvesting and ?contextual? ad delivery. It?s ironic that we are (literally, we are) giving up the juicy margins we?ve worked so hard for over the years , just so these guys who don?t know our business, and have no interest in helping can make bank on our backs. I sometimes wonder what the global effect to online revenue would be iif -- just for 24 hrs. this choke was removed.

The objective of all this expensive technology is simply to match the right visitors to the right ads or purchase opportunities. This can be done in a number of different ways, but all involve comparing data (which has been either given voluntarily by the visitor or ascertained via cookies, or some other behavior tracking mechanism) and the data in a centralized archive. "Matches" are made on the basis of statistical probability, but are, therefore, never better than good guesses.

There is another way to achieve "targeting" -- via design, that may seem old-fashioned by comparison. It is based on the principle that "choices tell" -- and that users will make the choices, at any given moment, that reflect their most important intererest and therefore whatever it is that that they are most interested in buying / most ready to buy or be sold your site...

EDIT -- GRAFIX in NEXT POST

06-27-2005, 07:34 AM
2HousePlague CURATOR Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: the attic Posts: 14,572	Web Site Design Principles -- A visual design & architecture primer -------------------------- @ -------------------------- It is a sweet, sweet thing to serve necessity with impulse -- Thse are fractals? Actually, these are portions of the Mandelbrot Set, which, until just a moment ago, was getting all my attention and was holding my ability to write hostage to itself. So, what did I do? I came up with a way to write about Mandelbrot (or, rather, about an attribute all fractals share) and serve the necessity of this topic. One of the defining characteristics of fractals is that they repeat the same basic pattern, both regressively and progressively ? much like the basic trunk-and-branch structure of a tree pervades its entire form ? from main trunk, to roots, to the veins of the leaves. This relates to our discussion, because I intend to explain a design principle of potentially great complexity by way of a very simple iteration. The idea being that in the least complexity, the concept is most visible, and may then, for being understood in essence first, be applied in very elaborate schemes. But before I describe this design principle, let us remind ourselves of the context. We are discussing Web sites where things are sold. We are discussing ways in which to improve on their design ? and, make them sell better. The scope of study suggested by the title of this discussion is vast. I could write about anything -- from the subtle effects of color palette choice, to the relationship between page-object placement and user action. But I am trying to focus on what I think are the most relevant design issues to our kinds of Web sites, and to those topics that I think one may do justice to, even in cursory overview. In this case, as I mentioned above, I also want to involve fractals somehow ? lol. I?ll touch upon an observation I already made above, once more ? a little thought and a little good design sense (within the site) can deliver most of the improvements to site conversion performance we are now too often seeking in an assortment of expensive, 3rd party up-stream ?targeting? methodologies or the use of cookies and IP-sensitivity within our sites. As regards targeting, all of that is well and good, but all the clickstream data in the world won?t reverse the effects of a bad site design. I think we lose our way a little bit, and assume that a high-tech solution you have to pay for everyday (per click, yet!) is necessarily better than having gotten it right, design-wise, in the first place. I think the best thing in the world you can do for your site is simply make it easy for your prospective customers to find the items that interest them. Sounds simple, no? Instead, in Adult, the average site design acts as if grabbing a handful of darts and throwing them at the wall were smart ? it?s just that those porn darts stick so damned well, we never cry for the big pile left un-stuck on the floor. The Adult Web is still choked by pop-up ads, which are now making use of ever-more aggressive methods of data harvesting and ?contextual? ad delivery. It?s ironic that we are (literally, we are) giving up the juicy margins we?ve worked so hard for over the years , just so these guys who don?t know our business, and have no interest in helping can make bank on our backs. I sometimes wonder what the global effect to online revenue would be iif -- just for 24 hrs. this choke was removed. The objective of all this expensive technology is simply to match the right visitors to the right ads or purchase opportunities. This can be done in a number of different ways, but all involve comparing data (which has been either given voluntarily by the visitor or ascertained via cookies, or some other behavior tracking mechanism) and the data in a centralized archive. "Matches" are made on the basis of statistical probability, but are, therefore, never better than good guesses. There is another way to achieve "targeting" -- via design, that may seem old-fashioned by comparison. It is based on the principle that "choices tell" -- and that users will make the choices, at any given moment, that reflect their most important intererest and therefore whatever it is that that they are most interested in buying / most ready to buy or be sold your site... EDIT -- GRAFIX in NEXT POST __________________ tada! Last edited by 2HousePlague; 06-27-2005 at 07:37 AM..