What We Look At

Monday April 11th, 2011

The New York Times Bits blog reports on an inquiry undertaken by web consultant and author Jakob Nielsen, who specializes in the influence of design on user experience. Nielsen is known for postulating Nielsen’s Law, which stated  back in 1998 that high-end user’s internet connection speed would would increase 50% per year. When juxtaposed with Moore’s Law, this unfortunately meant that  web users would not be able to download the advanced sites created by elite designers with fast computer; so Nielsen concluded, “minimalist design rules.”

Minimalism rules. (Photo by Robert Houser/San Francisco)

His recent field of study is images on websites. Here’s the NYT blog:

In the past he has argued that large images annoy users because of the long load times, even with a high-speed Internet connection. Now, in a new study, he points out that the random or stock images on Web sites are completely ignored by users, add more clutter to the page and don’t necessarily help from a business standpoint.

His latest eye-tracking survey found that “big feel-good images that are purely decorative” are mostly ignored online, while stock photos or generic people are also intentionally disregarded. In contrast, when users know that a picture of a person is real they will engage with the image for extended periods of time.

This study has major application for product pages like Amazon, where generic images will be ignored, and will not have the function of attracting interest in a particular product. This leads to a conclusion that will have photographers everywhere groaning with exasperation:

Mr. Nielsen concludes with some advice to those using the Web to hawk products or content: “Invest in good photo shoots: a great photographer can add a fortune to your Web site’s business value.” After all, he notes, most sites are full of “fluff — of which there’s too much already on the Web.”

-Asad