Bells & Whistles
Article by Paul Noia

There is a time and place for everything. Being a designer, I love the challenge of creating really intricate Flash driven web sites. Being a musician and artist, I love multimedia and music. However, when it comes down to business and making money on a corporate level, it can be a detriment to the bottom line because a lot of motion graphics and text can detract/distract your audience from ever realizing your message.

It is very important to empathize with your audience. In most cases, someone looking at your business as a prospective vendor wants to find out if you are a good fit as quickly as possible. Too much media and motion graphics can result in your site not loading quickly, especially if they have a slower internet connection. Another thing to consider is that if the images do not serve a specific purpose, you could be wasting precious page real estate. Instead of trying to "wow" your audience, take the opportunity to explain how you can benefit your audience. When trying to communicate to your audience, always try to objectively put yourself in their shoes. They may be having a stressful day or they could have limited time, so it is important to make good use of the time they are giving you to help them.

Motion graphics/text, animation, video, and audio should be used with a great deal of discretion. More specifically, it should primarily be used to visually communicate an idea that is going to add impact to the overall message. For instance, placing an image of a car smashed into fragments after careening into a brick wall with text under it that says “Don't Drink & Drive” sends a pretty powerful message. Images used meaningfully can serve your message well because on a cognitive level, we can process images more quickly than we can process text. Seeing a red octagon takes less time to process than reading the word stop, hence seing a stop sign will enable one to process the message quicker. Media and images should serve the purpose of delivering your message in an effective way. Use images and media with discretion and make your goal to better articulate, or re-enforce a message.

So, unless you are developing an entertainment site, trying to impress your customer with a flashy website is not the most important thing. Delivering a powerful message quickly and efficiently is priceless.