REVIEW: "Emotional Web Design" - show it to your boss

Let's face it: most of the web design sites of government agencies and institutions frankly sad. And it is sad, not because the development of these sites are not allocated money. On the contrary, some government contracts to develop the sites of the imagination voiced amount for the winner of the tender. It is something else.

"Usability" - a concept unknown to most of those who make the decision in state institutions regarding appearance and functional convenience of web resources. And sadly, even in many commercial structures Director / Head of a very "distant" from the concept of "place." As this long-established trend can be changed (especially - if you understand what needs to be / what should not be on the website for the general public)? The book, which will be discussed today may be the first step to change the settled around us "Soviet-type" approach to web design as such.

The main thing about the book

Today, on my desk - «Emotional web design»Book Aaron Walter, translated by Pavel Mironov and saw the light in Russian in 2012, thanks to the publishing house "Mann, Ivanov and Ferber". Aaron Walter you can be, and is not familiar, but all (or almost all) readers "Layfhakera" at least once in my life seen his brainchild: service MailChimp mailing lists. That is its interface, logo and general style (including monkey postman) and developed Aaron. 10 years before to create the appearance of one of the most popular online services for mailings, he taught web design. Author lives in the state of Georgia, USA, and in addition to web design is going to learn the profession of barista.

The book itself is a small, paperback and read relatively quickly. I might have read it in one day as well as by reading a little every evening finished reading for 3 days. In simple and accessible examples (with the name of the project, links to them, a list of recommended books and articles, as well as screenshots of the sites themselves) Aaron Walter "fingers" explains the difference between a design that makes people positive emotions, and the same "stamped" sites.

first impressions

This book - not for designers. A person who is engaged in web design is not the first year or faces to work with the development of normal web projects, will not find it any secrets or "life hacking", without which his professional activities impossible. But this book is very useful if you give it to read a non-designer, is responsible for deciding on the design of the company or the state structure. Explanations and examples are so simple that - to be honest - I do not know who should be after reading "Emotional web design" is still demand from a web designer "put all the text on the home, and even more banners: We have many partners, and let the login form will be 5 fields. "

"Cons" of the book:

• Technical advice and training specifics in it.
• Examples are given for the commercial projects, but they are just 5-6, and they selected mainly on the basis of the subjective preferences of the author. I would like to look at examples of the creativity of government agencies (who are interested in - for example, something like Site Milwaukee Police Department), Public services, pay more attention to the issues of e-commerce. If you too are looking for it - this book you will most likely not work.

"Pros" Book:

• Accessible language to tell you why the pleasure, joy, surprise, the anticipation, combined with a strong personality of your project - it is important components not only for e-mail service, a social network or a souvenir shop, but also the key to the success of modern banking, accounting or payment service.
• It can (and should) read non-experts to understand and appreciate the simple solutions for web design, instead of looking for the most complex and cumbersome, which can "cover absolutely everything."

5 important / interesting things that I learned from "Emotional Web Design"

• Experiments in the field of graphic design, which causes positive emotions lead mankind since the time of Gutenberg developed the font, as close as possible to the handwriting of the monks.
• Anthropomorphism, the use of human faces and personalized characters - something that attracts the attention of visitors to the site and help sell the final product.
• The principle of design development using "golden section" used all the successful IT companies and online services from Apple to Twitter.
• Contrast minimalism - a distinctive feature of the site, who wants to stand out among the crowd of competitors (as did, for example, Tumblr).
• The emotional development of web design there is always the risk factors: use of humor and custom graphics level audience trust in the novelties, the arrangement of elements on the page, etc. Universal recipe for success does not exist here; but there are principles and trends that should be considered when creating a site that will appeal to people and will be convenient for them.

To recommend reading

People in leadership positions in organizations, companies and agencies that are far from the design and usability, but silyatsya understand what they want "all these designers," when are sketches of corporate / departmental website.

The Council is also to read sales managers, novice experts on internet marketing and public relations: To be able in every situation simple and clear words to explain their management / customers / partners to design value, which evokes positive emotions.

"Emotional web design" Aaron Walter

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