Recently, I finished reading Don't Make Me Think by Steve Krug and I was relieved to know that a lot of what I have been taught and told to do through my journalism and telecommunication classes at the University of Florida fall very much in line with what Krug has suggested one should do when it comes to designing a website or software program. At the end of the day, our message in the newsroom is simple and I’m sure Krug would agree, don’t make the viewers think, do the thinking for them.
As someone pursuing news, I have been constantly told to keep news features and packages short and sweet, to include enough information to make a story complete but don’t include too much where it’ll overwhelm someone, plus to make everything as streamline as possible. Of course, this all sounds so confusing and contradictory at first, but I think Krug did a great job overall of explaining how one can manage to accomplish all those tasks without overcomplicating the process through his book.
Some of the key points mentioned throughout Krug’s book that I feel helps make a good website and my reasoning why include…
- Creating an effective visual hierarchy:
- The reason why I think this helps make a good website is because everyone loves pictures, websites, books or videos that are aesthetically pleasing. Our eyes are drawn to images that just look and seem right. The more prominent objects in the picture will stand out and so should the more prominent items on your website. By breaking things down in an effective and simple manner, viewer’s eyes will be more attracted to your site which is what you want. You want a site to be visually appealing and pleasing to one’s eye and is something that can be easily accomplished through visual hierarchy.
- Making things more accessible benefits everyone in the situation:
- Krug mentioned this in chapter 12 and I instantly felt like this point is something I have always connected with. When it came time to designing my own personal site, I wanted to make sure my layout was easy to understand and follow, one for my own personal sake as I have too many things going on in my life, but also for those who will visit my site. By making everything on your website accessible, it leaves nothing hidden or in the dark where viewers would have to search long and hard to find it. It just makes everyone’s life easier and causes less stress when trying to find a piece of information on a website.
- Omit needless words:
- I cannot stress how important this is enough. As someone who writes scripts for a newscast and is given limited time to get across a certain message or tell a certain story, I have learned how to omit needless words. Although I am not perfect at it and am still a work in progress, I have learned the true importance of why one should use words that are only necessary to a sentence. Using needless words can just complicate everything and can leave a viewer confused and even further from their result than when they initially started.
- Finally, simplicity:
- Each of the points above have touched on this in some way or fashion, but when it comes down to working with viewers either through a website or through a newscast, keeping things simple helps you and the viewer out tremendously. Why try and complicate a situation that shouldn’t be? It takes more work for you and it makes it harder for viewers to process which in turn could act as a turn off to viewers. Don’t lose viewers on a site because things are too complicated for them to understand, that would be ridiculous. Make your life and their life easier by sticking to the simple route.
Sure, things are never perfect, but with the tips I gained through my classes as well as through Krug, I can make sure my viewers will understand my website and stories that much better. And moving forward I will consciously think of how I can do and be better when writing or creating something for an audience because after it all, I don't want to make them think.
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