Website Design & Marketing: the Psychology of Being Simple

Cognitive fluency is at the root of the process of making something simple. The process ends ensuring ease of use and smooth accessibility. When we try to dissect, manipulate and grasp a piece of information online or offline, a part of the human brain named Working Memory works behind the cognitive process. Working Memory is a picky thing. It works inside our brains behind the process. Those with poor concentration or focus may find it difficult to think of or memorize a huge amount of information or a bigger picture at once.

According to studies by psychologists, the working memory of human beings retains only seven ‘items’ of information. The application of this theory makes sure that a website is designed as simple as possible so that it remains in memory. When the first version of iPod was under production at Apple, Steve Jobs wanted the product to be insanely simple in design and function. Simple things can easily make their way into human memory. There is a low psychological barrier.

Knowing how to harness the power of simplicity helps a lot. It starts with an understanding of the cognitive process that deems things simple. Prototypical elements are among the building blocks of simplicity. Understanding the psychology of simple means that of target audience’s expectations. Examine, analyze and evaluate your competitors’ website or products. Find out the elements of simplicity in the user interface of the website and the presentation of product information. What do users expect to know and experience when they land on your website? Do compare and contrast these findings to redesign your website insanely simple.

Simplicity lies in creating unique visual familiarity for your business out of the elements based on your brand philosophy. It is true about everything related to your business from logo to the user interface to the Twitter background to the Facebook cover page. The collective impact of all these designs helps to connect the target audience with the brand. It is easier to remember and memorize the brand if simplicity is the characteristic of all these designs. Do have a set of guidelines for designs across all mediums and make sure that all designs are compliant with the guidelines to create familiarity with your brand among the users. What is more familiar is simpler.

If you have a niche-specific business, you do definitely have competitors. It means that your business is no different from theirs. To be precise, your business is more or less similar to their businesses. However, your business can be differentiated from the rest by virtue of its unique selling point or the point of differentiation. Your branding and marketing strategies can be better than theirs to project your business at a higher level. Whatever the strategy to communicate product information to the target audience is, it should be simple enough to be comprehensible to your audience of all age-groups.

If the psychology of simplicity or being simple is understood, you will be able to reach out to a maximum audience through easily comprehensible brand communication and simply usable user interface.