“Communication leads to community, that is, to understanding, intimacy and mutual valuing,” asserts Rollo May, the famous American psychologist, and influential leader.
Communication is popularly defined as the process of exchanging messages between a person and his/her oneself or more than one individuals. The messages can be of any form and the conversation might take on any media. Like all other media, website is a medium of communication and every website has something innovative to show, something new to tell and something inspiring to create an impact on the viewer’s mind. People love to talk, but what they want more is to hear a story. More than half of the world is shouting and saying, “Tell me a story”. From Hollywood movies, classic novels, musical tracks, blogs to advertisement clips, it’s the story that creates an impact on the audiences’ minds.
With the change in the air, people are demanding new stuff every now and then. Story was and is on high demand, irrespective of the time and medium of communication. A question that has been ticking the minds of majority populace is that when every medium can tell then why not a website. Witnessing so much scope for improvement, this is the time and way to break through the competition, offer something which others would not have imagined and win the soul of people. As said by the famous American author Sue Grafton, Ideas are easy but the execution of ideas is something that really separates the sheep from the goats. Even the ex-CEO of Ford, Lee Lacocca said, “You can have brilliant ideas, but if you can’t get them across, your ideas won’t get you anywhere. “
The ways in which one can improve their User-Experience Presentation are as follows:
- Inform, Inspire, Educate and Entertain
This is nothing new but the idea has been revolving around the minds of intellectuals even much before the media was born. Even the media giant BBC (British Broadcast Corporation) has praised this concept and said that only those programmes and services can enrich the minds of people that has a motive to inform, educate and entertain. It seems apparently that delivering the same boring form of concept in the same boring way can result into nothing but a dull and dreary presentation. Instead of designing website into bullet or point format, designers can introduce storytelling while adding music, videos and photos or anything that grabs people’s attention and helps people in recalling the message of the website.
- Concise and Clear Message
It is better not to let people assume what the website maker is trying to say, instead, the idea, motive and aim of the message should be clear enough to leave no scope for the viewer to imagine things. The message should be to-the-point and precise, so that in any point, the message is not misinterpreted. It has to be kept in mind that your website has your content and the viewer might not be interested in what the developer or builder has to say. This may sound depressing but the viewer is least interested in the information you are offering, hence, it is your duty to bombard them with the message you want to convey. If the message is clear enough and presented in a proper way, then the user has better chances to remember that. Else, just keep it “Short, sweet and to the point”.
- Involve Your Audience
Do you remember your old school or college days? There is hardly any possibility that at least five percent of students have found those classes and lecture sessions entertaining. Even the teachers say that a presentation without interaction with the participants is nothing but boring lecture. So, it’s time to check whether your website is boring viewers or entertaining them. Involve people as much as possible and ignite interaction, conversation and even debate. Throwing questions towards the audience and giving them a task to undertake and keeping them engaged is the best thing a website builder can do. Even the audience can ask a question, so let them ask and repeat the question before answering that and let others hear that, if anyone has missed, and let the trail pass on.
- Add Graphics to Your Content
You are the artist, you are the website maker, but your audience might not be aware and they don’t know you, your context of imagination and the reasons behind your abstract ideas. Hence, it can be difficult for the people to get the meaning of your concepts and ideas. Studies have revealed that humans are good in getting the meaning out of abstract, emotional and memorable ideas, concepts and message through the help of simple stories. Experts suggest that there can be nothing better than a graphical story. More color, pictures, videos and presenter notes always indulges the viewers to get more engaged and involved into the content of the website. Including slides can be interesting, but keeping long slides can be boring for the audience.
It does matter what the story is, but what counts more is the way you tell it. A good storyteller can make a dull story interesting to hear, whereas, a poor storyteller can make a good story boring. Stories can help you to give shape to those late-night ideas and presentation and bring them to life. It is the most efficient way to get the message across your viewers’ minds. A website can tell a story and at the same time you can tell a story through your website. Even personal stories can be great to help the audience to connect themselves with their past and memories, making a meaningful impact into the lives of the audience. One should never hesitate to ask feedback from others as that gives the biggest opportunity and scope for improvement in the most effective way.