Comments for The Visual Click

Comment on The Tweet You Wished A Client Never Would Have Seen by Rondell Paul

Rondell Paul — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 18:46:55 +0000

^^ well said Vin.

Great post!

Comment on We All Started Designing Somewhere, What’s Your Story? by Rondell Paul

Rondell Paul — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 16:08:30 +0000

I started back in high school. Me and a classmate designed a website for our school, not knowing ANYTHING about Photoshop or Dreamweaver, we just dove right in! I never used a Mac before, but the school had a G4 in the art room and that’s where it all began.

Comment on March “Mad Libs” Madness!!! by Brian Burridge

Brian Burridge — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 02:26:26 +0000

I think this is a case of using the right tool for the right job. Mad Libs work, not because the goal is to get someone to fill out a dry form, but because the Mad Lib user is creating a sentence, so the implementation of that makes perfect sense. You can’t create a sentence if you aren’t willing to read one. This is why my kids love to do Mad Libs.

But filling out a form, where the goal isn’t to have fun and burn time, but instead to pass information from user to information gatherer, needs to be quick, focused, and not waste time.

While the use of the Mad Lib form here or there might increase conversion rates, we have no idea without further extensive study, if the increase is simply because the unique method got some extra attention. But long term, that isn’t going to remain a big converter.

We have years and years of studies that demonstrate that users don’t read, and have a very short attention span. I’m sure if the user is already sold on the item they will take the time to fill out the form regardless, but those on the fence may well be chased away by having to read through all that content simply to pass on basic information. Once something becomes conventional, and therefore works without a learning curve, one has to have a really good reason to break from that.

There’s probably a good reason why the forms you fill out at the doctors office, tax office, post office, banks, etc, aren’t in sentence form. Its unnecessary and its not going to make filling out the form any less of a pain in the neck…unless of course, the form lets us put in crazy nouns and adjectives to create or own zany sentences.

Comment on March “Mad Libs” Madness!!! by Rich Hemsley

Rich Hemsley — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 18:49:40 +0000

Great info Josh. I think mad lib forms have their place but they must be laid out in a way that makes sense. As you pointed out, the flow of information can be a little hectic with this style and designers should be cautious of how this gets implemented. The few times I’ve seen it, the mad lib style was more of distraction and became a nuisance. With that being said, I do believe in those instances it was the layout and poor copy that made this style a distraction. I personally like the layout for certain sites/uses and I think it brings a fresh approach to styling forms. With good copy and proper implementation, this style can certainly be successful and leave an impression (hopefully a good one) on the end user.

Comment on March “Mad Libs” Madness!!! by Mike Brisk

Mike Brisk — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 17:59:30 +0000

To some degree I like and it’s another thing to attract people to fill out forms. I think it can used in certain situations and certain clients. I prefer the standard way myself when contacting someone but in a social interaction it might do well, thanks for article.

Comment on We All Started Designing Somewhere, What’s Your Story? by Jeremy Davis

Jeremy Davis — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 19:15:31 +0000

It was my senior year of college and we(all computer science majors) had been tasked with developing a web application for our final project. We all knew how to do the back-end work, but no one knew how to design. So since I was bored with back-end programming anyways, I decided that I was going to do all the front-end design/development.

Now pretty much all I do is front-end stuff and I’m loving it.

Comment on We All Started Designing Somewhere, What’s Your Story? by Cre8ive Commando

Cre8ive Commando — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 23:39:50 +0000

I think I started out in primary school doing school projects and assignments. I’d get the research and writing out of the way quickly so I could concentrate on blowing the teacher away with the design and graphics. It seemed to work most of the time, I don’t even think they read the assignment. Those were the good old days :-)

Comment on Tips to Avoid Project Completion Syndrome by Michael Locke

Michael Locke — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 01:16:17 +0000

Nice post. Just came across your site, nice work. I totally remember the days when I was taking on more project back to back to back. You totally hit the nail with this post.

I’ve recently started using Evernote and the (getting things done system) recently to keep track of things. The one thing I dislike about it though is the ability to scratch off or check off something as complete. That feeling of seeing tasks scratched off is totally rewarding. Gotta check out Things and Toodledo.

Comment on Tips to Avoid Project Completion Syndrome by Josh Hemsley

Josh Hemsley — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 20:14:46 +0000

@Vin –
Taking some time to recharge is definitely important! There nothing better than heading into a project fully motivated and with a clear mind.

I just started using Things since I got a free license for it – http://culturedcode.com/things/ I haven’t had really any complaints about it other than the cost of their accompanying iPhone App. But other than that I’ve been really please. Not only that it looks good to ;)

I’ve definitely explored my share of to-do apps and this one is definitely up there with the best of ‘em.

Toodledo looks great and the best part is it’s free!! I just wish it was a little more pleasant on the eyes.

Comment on Tips to Avoid Project Completion Syndrome by Vin Thomas

Vin Thomas — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 20:02:27 +0000

I totally do this. I am working my tail off to finish 1 site that launches next week, and 2 that launch Feb 1st. But I can’t forget about the other projects that I am still working on.

On the other hand, there is something to be said about taking some time to recharge.

Do you use an online todo list? If so, what do you use? I have been using Toodledo for about a year, and it is AMAZING! Ugly as heck, but very useful to keep on top of my projects.