Don't Make me Think!

Steve Krug is as adamant a defender of simplicity as you'll find anywhere:

The point is, when we're using the Web every question mark adds to our cognitive workload, distracting our attention from the task at hand.  The distinctions may be slight but they add up, and sometimes it doesn't take much to throw us...The fact that the people who built the site didn't care enough to make things obvious - and easy - can erode our confidence in the site and its publishers. (Don't Make Me Think, p15)

In their relationships with others, people keep an internal account of good and bad deeds done to them by others.  That account isn't a concrete list of things, but more of a general sense of whether this person has treated him/her well or not.  It's a concept Steven Covey calls an Emotional Bank Account.

The evolution of technology has gone much faster than the biological evolution of the brain.  Because of that, a fundamental portion of our brains can't distinguish between actual faces and faces shown on a screen.

Likewise, that same part of the brain can't distinguish between interactions with technological objects and other people which fosters a tendency to develop feelings about those faces and objects.  (Remember the last time you cussed at a computer? Kinda makes sense now, doesn't it)

One of the ways to help build a positive relationship between the user and your site is to pass what Krug calls the trunk test in his book Don't Make Me Think.

He argues that thoughtfully designed sites should make it easy for you to find most of the following six elements (though not every one is on every page): Site ID, Page Name, Section and subsection, Local navigation, "You are Here" indicator(s), and Search.  On the left is an example from the book.

He calls it the trunk test to equate arriving on a new site to being abducted, blindfolded, thrown into the trunk of a car, then driven to a field and dropped off in unfamiliar territory.

Since Google is responsible for getting most people to new unfamiliar sites, he says the same sense of disorientation happens to people when they encounter a new site, and having most of these elements easily identifiable and available can help ease users quickly feel more familiar with their surroundngs.

I found when designing my first wireframes from scratch that these guideposts were incredibly helpful.  There is a lot of web design that should be new and innovative, but this book helps to ground the beginner in the basics of those helpful conventions that let users feel more at ease.