<snip> What truly astounds me about designers is that while they all learn the artistic and technical components of design they ALMOST NEVER pick up a book on the psychology of communication ... THE MOST IMPORTANT PART. </snip>
If a designer focuses on what the reader, the customer, the purchaser wants, and how they 'see' the page, there would be no need for 'psychology of communication' which after all is a form of witchcraft designed to give one supplier more power over another supplier. Customers dont care. I reckon it goes like this. Customer needs something Customer looks for the most appropriate something Customer sees an image of the something in his mind and looks for a graphical or physical representation of it. Customer thinks where's the nearest and cheapest place to buy that something. Customer rushes in and purchases the something. Customer then leaves and forgets until another customer says I got that something either cheaper or dearer elsewhere. Customer is enchanted or disenchanted with purchase. Life goes on. But in the future the customer now puts more effort into step 4 and the communication that affected the customer most is the one between himself and his counterpart, not the brochure or info package which to most customers is considered, in any case, to be a lie. How many customers can say that the believe what is written or shown to be absolutely true? And that folks is what the psychology of communication is all about - mistruth. Observe how the end user, customer flicks through the most psychologically designed information packages absorbing little but focusing on the item they want. Unless of course the brochure or information is expressly intended to alter the customer perception in some way which is dishonest and loses credibility. Apologies for the dissertation. Roger
