UIEtips: Communicate Quick – First Impressions Through Visual Web Design

Good design, when it’s done well, becomes invisible. It’s only when it’s done poorly that we notice it.

Think of it like a room’s air conditioning. We only notice it when it’s too hot, too cold, making too much noise, or the unit is dripping on us. Yet, if the air conditioning is perfect, nobody say anything and we focus, instead, on the task at hand.

Few people come to a web page to admire its visual design. However, poor visual design is really noticeable and takes the user away from their task. While we often think of visual design in terms of page aesthetics, the real crime comes when it’s the visual structure that gets in the way.

The problem with invisibility is that it’s hard to appreciate. Therefore, it takes skill and practice to “see” what’s actually going on.

In today’s UIEtips, we’ve asked Luke Wroblewski to give us some of that practice. He’s done a sweet job of picking some great examples that highlight the role of visual design behind otherwise invisible first impressions. I learned a lot reading through his article and I bet you will too.

Read the article – Communicate Quick: First Impressions Through Visual Web Design

Have you changed your site’s design to give a better first impression? What did you do? What challenges did you face? We’d love to hear your experiences.