Designing Web Interfaces

Part V. Use Transitions

Kathy Sierra writes a blog called “Creating Passionate Users.”^[38] She does an amazing job identifying what is happening in the typical user’s head. I had the good fortune to attend a workshop by Kathy Sierra of the same name. She puts the spotlight on the “brain.” Not just the mind, but the physical, chemically driven brain.

In her talk she recommends the book Mind Hacks by Tom Stafford and Matt Webb (O’Reilly), which pulls back the curtain to see how the mind works. I quickly added it to my shortlist of must-have books. Fortunately, at the same conference, O’Reilly was giving away books at its booth. I could only choose one—and guess what they had? That’s right, Mind Hacks.

Mind Hacks contains 100 short experiments (or hacks) you can do on your own brain. Each hack provides a glimpse at the inner workings of our gray matter. But the hack that really got my attention was Hack #37, “Grab Attention”:

Sudden movement or light can grab your attention, thanks to a second region for visual processing.

It turns out that besides the normal visual-processing region of the brain (you are using the occipital lobe right now while reading this book), there is a second region that deals with attention capture.

We experience it every day. While talking with a friend at a park, someone throws a Frisbee to another person in the background. You cannot help but notice this change of motion even though you are not looking directly at it. You can thank the superior colliculus for ...