TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
<<Has anyone else noticed this phenomenon: on web pages, and now
even on signs,
> I find myself disregarding anything too flashy as an "ad." I don't even
> read
> it. Sometimes it turns out to be important information.
snip snip
> Do others do this? Are we desensitizing people with flashy marketing
> materials? Or am I just getting old?>>
>
I think context has an effect, as well as the design. In places
where you have seen much advertising before, you tend to expect everything
you see to be advertising. In a recent situation, I concluded that material
included in software packaging is a problem. I believe that everyone ignores
all the loose papers in the box, believing it is all glossies--advertising
for other products the company sells. You used to at least shuffle through
it looking for the registration card, but now often don't even need to do
that due to online registration. I recently purchased some software and ran
into a problem installing it. Eventually, the solution was found by poking
around their web site, which led to the discovery that there was a warning
on a loose piece of paper in the box. The company had tried really hard to
inform users. The paper in the box was a bright florescent pink, trying to
call attention to itself. But, in my opinion, people just don't read those
things. The bright color actually probably was counter-productive, making it
look more like advertising. Looking like a warranty card might work better.
Interestingly enough, just a matter of days after this, the company
I work for needed to warn people to stop doing something that many of them
are doing. So, we were discussing how to do this. I recommended that the
warning paper put into the box be white with large black print, the goal
being to make it look as little like advertising as possible. We started
discussing gluing it to the hardware some way, so people would have to
remove it, possibly reading it, before they could use the hardware.
Janet
Janet Valade
Technical Writer
Systech Corporation, San Diego, CA mailto:janetv -at- systech -dot- com
