Short term Attention-getters and Long term Brand management
How
do we get users' attention in the short-term and maintain our brand in the long-term? Read these summaries from
chapters 5 and 6
of Medina's book, "Brain Rules" for ideas on how these
concepts are relevant to the web development,
IA and UX fields.
Chapter 5: Short-Term Memory
Nondeclarative memories, such as the motor skills we often use when clicking around a web site, cannot be experienced in our conscious awareness. So, we should be designing more for unconscious perceptual attributes.
However, in conscious/declarative memory, the first few seconds is crucial in determining whether something that is initially perceived will also be remembered.
Short-term memory, now called Working Memory, is a collection of
temporary memory capacities, each of which specializes in processing a
specific type of information. Our short term memory seems to have different channels and storage spaces for different types of information, such as: visual, movement, auditory, textual, etc. It is a busy, temporary workspace, a
desktop the brain uses to process newly-acquired information. For a summary of Baddeley's working memory model, see Eysenck's overview of memory. What's important about these capacities is that they have limits, both on their duration and how much they'll hold. If the information not
transformed into a more durable form, it will soon disappear.
One can increase the life span of a memory simply by repeating the information in timed intervals. Other ways we can, perhaps, increase the memorability of our websites and brand:
- The
more elaborately/deeply we encode information at the moment of
learning, the stronger the memory. It becomes more memorable if it has more
meaning, complexity, if we personalize it.
- We remember better if we experience the same/similar conditions (environment, mood, etc.) that surrounded the initial memory formation while we're attempting to recall it.
Take advantage of how short-term memory works:
- Understand the meaning of the information (don't just memorize by rote).
This is a call for simple, clear choice of language when creating labels, as opposed to marketese. - Use
relevant, real-world examples (meaningful experiences) to take advantage
of the brain's natural prediliction for pattern matching (immediately
associated with info already present in learner's brain).
Designers and content strategists are encouraged to use "the familiar" in their designs and content, as it lessens the cognitive load for users. - Use
compelling introductions.
Bbecause the first few moments of learning are key and those first events shape how you store that memory. - Use familiar settings.
For instance, study orally for an oral exam. See #2 for a better IA example.
Chapter 6: Long-Term Memory
A typical brain's working memory can only hold about SEVEN pieces of information, for less than 30 seconds.
- re-expose
- more elaborately
- in fixed, spaced intervals (although researchers don't yet know the exact intervals which are most effective)
Medina suggests market research could fruitfully inquire about what timing in re-exposure most encourages people to remember your product 6 months or a year later. He also, as a utopian thought experiment, suggests a radically-different model for education which leverages the way we actually learn and remember.
Bibliography
Medina, John. (2008). Brain rules: 12 principles for surviving and thriving at work, home, and school. Seattle, Wash: Pear Press.
Your Thoughts?
What do YOU think? How can these ideas apply to web design and content strategy?
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