Meryl's Notes Blog

I took a writing class and learned something that applies to web design. Broca’s area is a part of the brain involved with speech and language processing. When the brain sees something predictable, it doesn’t pay attention to it. But when something surprises the Broca, then it stands at attention. This article does a far better job of explaining the unexpected. The article gives many excellent examples of how to surprise the user.

Of course, the hard part is coming up with something. The article also gives suggestions on how to get ideas. You know, I’m thinking about this and trying to come up with a way to surprise people when they come to my site — the idea has to somehow keep the site professional while adding an element of fun. If anyone knows how to do this, it’s Hugh MacLeod. I guess I have a little fear of attempting something off-beat considering people think of me as a conservative person.

If you want to do a little reading on this subject, the person to rely on is Roy Williams of Wizards Academy who wakes up our Broca while showing us how to surprise it in several Monday Morning Memos.

How many of these slogans do you remember? What makes them effective? Do you even know what company or product they’re promoting? Test and find out by not scrolling past the slogan until you’ve guessed its related product or company. Some slogans are obvious as they have the product name included. Vote for your favorite. I voted as a proud native Texan.