Bigger bolder better

I once knew a client who insisted on centering everything on the page, one line under the other, with his logo positioned at the very top - centered of course! His said this was the simplest and clearest way to present the material. First you saw who the company was, and then every point proceeded in logical order from top to bottom. His reasoning wasn't too bad, unless you considered the possibility that the reader's eye might not even make it to the bottom of the page.

Why wouldn't it?

Let's take another common example. So often we hear the request: "Can you make that a bit bolder?" Here, the reasoning is even more unsound. Our hypothetical reader who couldn't be bothered looking at our exciting bullet points that were set in 12 point will now somehow be compelled to read them if we increase it all to 16 point. Following this to it's logical conclusion, everything becomes bigger and bolder until the page or screen screams for our attention and we turn off.

Even though these are rather silly examples, there is a principle common to both that is often blindly accepted even by many professionals in this industry. And this is the idea that we must always make it as easy as possible for the reader/viewer to get the message.

Who could argue with that? Well, actually, I could.

You see, our audience is a lot quicker off the mark than we give them credit for. The human eye can scan a page or screen in a split second and, if everything is laid out in nice logical order, the reader may simply take it all in superficially and move on.

It's all been made too easy.

On the other hand, if we make it a little bit more difficult for them, they'll have to put more effort into extracting meaning from the page or screen. This has two advantages. Firstly they stay longer. Secondly, having finally worked it all out, the reader has a sense of satisfaction which we would have deprived them of, had we made it all too simple.

I suppose I should qualify all this by saying that it still depends on the type of client and product. Obviously this approach won't always be appropriate. But think about it. Simplicity and clarity are not always what's required. Sometimes our readers need mystery and a challenge.

Jon Puckridge