The Psychology of web design

Question

Hi,

I am a developer and have built a fair number of websites over the years.

I am looking for any info regarding site Psychology, but hopefully more scientific information relating to designing websites using Psychology and how the human brain and emotions work and how items such as site colors, eye movements etc can effect your users.

I would also like to know if any one has tried using anything based these kinds of things and if there was a benefit to using Psychology in your site design.

Thanks

Answer 1

You want to look into User Experience testing or UX for short. This deals with how users interact with your application or web site, but does go into the psychology of how people react and what they look for when interacting with your program.

A book like "Don't Make Me Think!" by Steve Krug is a good starting place.

There are also many sites and forums devoted to this on the web.

Answer 2

Smashing Magazine would be a great place to start browsing, they have loads of great articles covering all that kind of stuff. Got a great book as well if you'd like it in print.

Answer 3

In addition to looking at User Experience (and to a lesser extent Information Architecture) - you should also check out a field of Computer Science called Human Computer Interaction. I did a degree in it, and it was half Psychology, half CompSci. A lot of the Psychology modules focussed on how the brain works, and how best to organise the UI of anything computer related (whether it was a website or even DVD hardware UI). It even focussed on some of the things you're referring to such as colours, moving elements and how it can affect your viewers.

I've found UX Booth (http://www.uxbooth.com/) is a good place to start if you're looking for reading material.

Answer 4

This may be what you're looking for. I don't agree with all of them, but it's a good place to start looking.

http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2010/05/the-psychology-of-web-design

When it comes to web design, the traditional print graphic design principles apply to the visual sense. See The Gestalt Principles. However, there's the interaction side as well. This includes usability, speed, etc.

Answer 5

Have a look through some of the journals, magazines, and other serial publications on HCI

"Don't Make Me Think!" by Steve Krug, as mentioned by ChrisF is definitely worth a read.

User experience testing will tell you what is right/wrong with your design, but it is surely worth designing for the user's mind to begin with.

I've always found Gez Lemon to write some good articles about best practices for the web.