I sort of don't know anything about web design.

It is safe to say that every one of us has no clue how many websites they have visited so far in their lives.  Just to think about what the number could possibly be is pretty mind-boggling.  Yet, of those infinite amounts of different websites we have scrolled through, skimmed, or stumbled upon, there are those that have caught your attention, and you have probably visited them more than once.  Besides the ones that have become an obsessive or daily habit (ahem, Facebook, Twitter, we are all guilty), there are those that have for some reason, spoke to you in one way or another.

What was it about that website?  Was it a particular interface, game, video, design, article, or just how it plain made you feel when you saw it?  With my own relatively limited experience working in graphic design, I have always considered myself influenced by just the experience of how something looks alone.

One computer, one screen, one website,
 but there's a whole lot going on up there.

According to an article in the Journal of Business Research, one helpful perspective of website design is viewing the layout as a cognitive landscape.  The article points out the direct relationship between content and design.  It says, "As content on the web includes text, pictures, graphics, layout, sound, motion and, someday, even smell, making the right web content decisions are critical to effective web design."

Basically what goes on in your head, engages all your senses, and makes you create connections to other concepts--is exactly what goes into a truly well-designed website.

The article analyzes studies done of different multi-million dollar company's websites, and looks at contrasting opinions--one saying speed, ease of use, and high-quality content are most important, the other siting the user's shopping experience as the most important factor.  It gives these studies the appropriate merit, however, it offers a different and more psychological perspective.

What would your cognitive landscape look like?  More importantly, what does your audience's cognitive landscape look like?  Based on the work of environmental psychologists, the article concludes that offers this suggestion:  when attempting to design a website, think of it as if you just walked into your perfect room--what is the experience of the space?  In designing a website that makes the person want to visit it again and again, it exudes the same qualities as designing a physical landscape.

My concluding thought comes from a direct quote from the article, "Computer interaction is intensely cognitive involving perceptions and preferences. Interactivity implies not only perceiving the web landscape, but also entering into it and “experiencing” the space."

Source:  

Deborah E. Rosen, Elizabeth Purinton, Website design: Viewing the web as a cognitive landscape, Journal of Business Research, Volume 57, Issue 7, July 2004, Pages 787-794, ISSN 0148-2963, 10.1016/S0148-2963(02)00353-3.

• http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0148-2963(02)00353-3