Welcome to the Information Age! These days, we are inundated with tons of information. Recent studies report the average American consumes about 34 gigabytes of information everyday. 24 hr TV, radio, printed materials and the internet all contribute to the information we see and hear. To compensate for this river of knowledge, our brains deem (very quickly) what is important and what is irrelevant. When information is not designed effectively, important messages can be skipped over.
Good design is more than just making something look pretty. Designers collect and organize information producing an effect that compels the user to seek, receive and utilize information. Design touches every aspect of our lives from the way our homes and offices operate to the way a webpage functions. Good design can shift behavior by presenting new processes and innovations to procedures. Good design can make our lives easier. The major shift towards User Experience Design (UX/UI) soul purpose is to make products and applications more enjoyable and easier to use.
Good design makes information easier to find and more trustworthy. Have you ever landed on a webpage through a google search, only to find disorganized information presented grotesquely? Did your opinion of the webpage then extend to the company presenting the information? Did you click off to find a better “looking” company to go with? Just as we humans don’t want to go to an important meeting wearing dirty, wrinkled clothes, presentation goes a long way. With so much information at our fingertips, effective delivery through good design, is just as important as the message itself.
Brenda Archdale 