In the world of digital publishing, getting people to ‘Click This’ is the name of the game. User Experience Specialist, Jason Magee, shares his top four UX tips.
Tip #1
Readers don’t want to think more than they have to, so don’t make them
Visualise information wherever possible. Let readers decide whether they want to read on with a bite sized summary or hook. These ‘bite sized’ content can be Q&A’s, timelines, lists and fact boxes. It’s been proven that these are not only more attractive to readers and improves information retention.
Tip #2
Understand your reader’s limitations
Readers can’t multitask so try and limit any distractions. Readers prefer short lengths but read better with longer lengths so define your goals before designing.
Tip #3
Readers prefer grids to blocks but lists
to grids
Single-item-per-row list layouts (think Apple) increase engagement with content (views, clicks, likes, shares, saves, follows, shares and duration on page) than multi-item-per-row grid layouts (think flipboard and pinterest) or ‘old web’ layouts (think The Age).
Tip #4
Readers don’t read in a straight line
Eye tracking studies have shown that the eye doesn’t track from the top of the page downwards in a linear fashion, but rather in zig-zags across the page in a downward fashion. This helps the users decide whether they want to read an article the article in only 3 seconds.
Jason Magee is the User Experience Designer at Deepend. When he isn’t trawling the web for the latest design trends you can catch him on twitter @jasonmagee.
Design by Deepend’s Digital Designer Elliot Midson. Hit him up on Dribbble or his website for more of his stuff.
