Courtesy of washingtonpost.com executive editor Jim Brady, a side-by-side lineup of the front page design. The previous version is on the left side, the current version is on the right side. (Click the image to expand it for details.)
One could argue the layouts look kind of similar, but the major difference in the user experience between the two are caused by the most minor of points. Why? Because the human perception system is just that good. Our eyes are reading in 10 megabits of information a second and sending it to our brain. When we are focused on something, we notice even the tiniest of differences and we react to them. Think of it this way: a person’s facial expression involves tiny amounts of movement that would take a significant effort to measure quantitatively. However, just by looking at someone, we can tell what their mood is and we can notice very quickly if their mood changes, all by noticing a few millimeters of difference on a person’s face.
Anyway, I have some ideas on how I want to graphically show my points from the previous posts, but I’ll first need to learn how to use illustration software. Either that or I’ll print it, annotate with my favorite pen, then redigitize it with a scanner — probably faster that way until I become proficient with the fancy tools.
