We need to radically re-think typography for text-rich business documents & publications (not referring to books). Most designers assume people have time to read. In reality the following occurs: Observations:
1) We browse/forage (71%) then read (11%)
2) People have different time tolerances and requirements for detail i.e. the same information is required to different levels of detailing dependent on the time the reader can allocate to it (Senior directors will have less time than juniors).
3) People want choice as to whether they wish to view information on paper, i-phone, PowerPoint or via web/screen.
4) Most publications do not follow the cognitive principles of how we are Œwired‚ to interpret visual signals.
Message-based Design & Message-based Writing (MBD/MBW) is a system that addresses these 4 points and allows key messages to be understood prior to reading simply by scanning the page with its embedded Œvisual hooks‚ to draw the reader in. Thus it overcomes Œfilter failure‚ a phrase coined and first used by Clay Shirky at the Web 2.0 Expo. It collapses to a summary and exploits the way we are wired. Additionally it caters for up to 4 time tolerances of readers and morphs‚ from paper to screen effortlessly
