I thoroughly liked that the author prefaced the chapter by stating that, as humans, we are skeptical of new people and ideas, so, therefore, your website has to persuade without evoking skepticism. I thought that this tied really well into the whole emotion (gut) as a deciding factor theory. Not to mention it was nice to see the basics that we learned at the start of the class (typography, color, contrast, etc.) in relation to using them to instill a “gut reaction” within consumers. Furthermore, I felt the Mint.com example was spot on with the overall concept of the chapter. The word “free” really does instill skepticism within our minds. The idea that we can overcome that barrier and gain trust through web design (i.e. keeping “gut reaction” in mind) is solid. Having never seen Mint.com’s website before, I actually saw the concepts the author was talking about within the layout. The colors, the accessibility, the tone – all done strategically and, I think, done well.

I also completely agreed with the “laziness” obstacle to overcome. In fact, I know many people who do not use Dropbox simply because of the hassle. This concept is the reason why I don’t exactly agree with the idea of the success rate of the “games” that Dropbox utilized. To me, those types of steps are even a further turn off. However, that is just one person’s opinion. It could also be due to the fact that I have never tried Dropbox, for the suggestion that accomplishment could be used as a viable incentive seems pretty feasible, in general.

The last facet of the chapter – apathy – is, I believe, the hardest to overcome, but, as the author noted, not impossible. I do firmly believe that a well developed idea presented in an emotionally engaging manner is apathy’s kryptonite.

Originally posted at CK1

The start of the chapter immediately engaged me because it was like dejavu. Earlier today I was driving around the city and my favorite song came on the radio. I remember thinking, “It’s so much better when I hear it spontaneously like this!” Consequently, I found the remainder of the chapter very intriguing. The entire concept of surprise and memory imprint is definitely something to think about in terms of web design. In fact, making a lasting impression in a split second should be, I think, a top goal during the website creation process. Therefore, I found the author’s explanation of how to achieve this goal very helpful. I had never previously thought of how to reach this phenomena on purpose, so I thought this information was very interesting. Furthermore, the Photojojo explanation made this seemingly complicated process seem legitimately achievable.

On another note, I thoroughly enjoyed the way the author mentioned statements from previous chapters. As a writer myself, tying in the thesis to create a complete, organized piece is my favorite style of writing. Seeing the Wufoo example from Chapter 1 reintroduced and utilized in a new way for this chapter was excellent. I also found it paralleled nicely with the course, as we just discussed MailChimp for our current assignment. Lastly, I liked the overall emphasis on psychology found in this chapter. Exploring emotional response was an excellent way to fine tune my psychological skillset.

Originally posted at CK1

From the start of the chapter, I was on the same page as the author. The fact he brought light to the negative connotations of the title “Human-Computer Interactions” and described it as more human-to-human communication is what initially got me hooked. Word choice is extremely important, and, the author is right, the term Human-Computer Interactions makes the data seem arbitrary and impersonal – not a positive attribute in a website. I agree that the overall concept of making design personal, like the spark of a conversation based on the excitement you get from one’s personality, should be a key factor in web design.  Furthermore, the historical aspects the author brought in to support this theory (i.e. Gutenberg’s printing press, the Volkswagen Beetle, the Get a Mac campaign), played right into my preferred type of writing. This facet of the chapter only accelerated my interest.  Therefore, when the author continued to touch on the idea that products can be “people” too, I really became engulfed in the chapter, for I had never thought of this concept before. The idea of bringing an actual persona to the product and the website as a way to make the overall idea personal to the user is brilliant, really.  It is also important to note the compare and contrast the author provided (along with the visuals, graphs, etc.) in terms of creating a successful web persona; one cannot just create blindly, one must create specifically and strategically.

Originally posted at CK1

Oddly enough, the thing I did not quite agree with in this chapter came first thing, following the Darwin quote. The author asserts that humans “don’t develop emotions after birth by watching others” and, in fact, they are “born ready to express [emotions].” To me, this idea is stated a little to concrete given the concept of nature vs. nurture. It is not a vital component to the piece by any means, but it did raise my eyebrows a little bit. However, in a way it set me up for similar issues in the coming sections of the chapter. I felt that, overall, the author made some great points involving the baby-face bias. Explaining the use of “cute” website mascots in this way made complete sense. The supporting point about scientists believing we evolved to love baby faces so that we would not kill them, on the other hand, made the author’s credibility waver a bit. As I said, that is my own, very particular, opinion. That being said, I greatly appreciated the idea of perception explained throughout this chapter. The idea of using shape and typography figuratively instead of literally in terms of perception is a huge component of web design. In fact, I never really noticed it “out loud,” but this idea resonated in my mind because I was recognizing this concept subliminally in every web page I visit.  This realization is why Chapter 2 was so interesting to me – I got to literally learn all the subliminal aspects I had yet to fully process. Contrast, for instance, is something I do not always think about, but upon reading this chapter I noticed all the effort that goes in to a simple log-in (especially in terms of overall aesthetic).

Originally posted at CK1