In the Communication Leadership program this past Winter, UX research & design expert David Evans asked our class to examine a psychological principle in action within a digital meme we encountered in daily life. I looked at how knowledge of attentional focus and eye-tracking might inform better UX design for media network The Young Turks.
The Young Turks is a progressive online news network aimed at millennials. TYT has displayed “Cambrian” growth in the past several years releasing YouTube content (to be migrated to other platforms) at a prolific rate. TYT should leverage this momentum and take a closer look at their users’ task orientations.
An essential distinguishing element of the TYT brand image is its use of a membership subscription business model to avoid the traditional corporate-controlled media dynamic. In light of this, the TYT website must be optimized to entice and enable users to join and donate.
Currently, the “JOIN TYT TODAY!” button sits at the top right of the page right along with the other main menu options, in the same font size and color. The “Donate” button sits in an attentional blind spot at the bottom right of the page. If you collapse the window inward, the “Donate” button shifts to the very bottom of the site.
Recommendation
Bring the “JOIN TYT TODAY!” button to the top left of the page. TYT should cater to task-motivated users who have already determined they would like to subscribe by moving this button to the top left of the page. Adding engaging animation to the text buttons, “Join” and “Donate” would take advantage of our natural tendency to attend to movement.
Sources
Sources: Evans, D. (2017). Bottlenecks. Kenmore, WA: Apress.
https://thenextweb.com/dd/2015/04/10/how-to-design-websites-that-mirror-how-our-eyes-work/
https://tytnetwork.com/