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Is this the first ever text on user experience?
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The Crystal Goblet
By Beatrice Warde
Imagine that you have before you a flagon of wine. You may choose your own favorite vintage for this imaginary demonstration, so that it be a deep shimmering crimson in color. You have two goblets before you. One is of solid gold, wrought in the most exquisite patterns. The other is of crystal-clear glass, thin as a bubble, and as transparent. Pour and drink; and according to your choice of goblet, I shall know whether or not you are a connoisseur of wine.
For if you have no feelings about wine one way or the other, you will want the sensation of drinking the stuff out of a vessel that may have cost thousands of pounds; but if you are a member of that vanishing tribe, the amateurs of fine vintages, you will choose the crystal, because everything about it is calculated to reveal rather than to hide the beautiful thing which it was meant to contain.
Bear with me in this long-winded and fragrant metaphor; for you will find that almost all the virtues of the perfect wine-glass have a parallel in typography. There is the long, thin stem that obviates fingerprints on the bowl. Why? Because no cloud must come between your eyes and the fiery hearth of the liquid. Are not the margins on book pages similarly meant to obviate the necessity of fingering the type-pages? Again: The glass is colorless or at the most only faintly tinged in the bowl, because the connoisseur judges wine partly by its color and is impatient of anything that alters it.
There are a thousand mannerisms in typography that are as impudent and arbitrary as putting port in tumblers of red or green glass! When a goblet has a base that looks too small for security, it does not matter how cleverly it is weighted; you feel nervous lest it should tip over. There are ways of setting lines of type which may work well enough, and yet keep the reader subconsciously worried by the fear of "doubling" lines, reading three words as one, and so forth.
Printing demands a humility of mind, for the lack of which many of the fine arts are even now floundering in self-conscious and maudlin experiments. There is nothing simple or dull in achieving the transparent page. Vulgar ostentation is twice as easy as discipline. When you realise that ugly typography never effaces itself, you will be able to capture beauty as the wise men capture happiness by aiming at something else.
The "stunt typographer" learns the fickleness of rich men who hate to read. Not for them are long breaths held over serif and kern, they will not appreciate your splitting of hair-spaces. Nobody (save the other craftsmen) will appreciate half your skill. But you may spend endless years of happy experiment in devising that crystalline goblet which is worthy to hold the vintage of the human mind.
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What is pre-roll blindness?
It's just like the trailers at the start of your DVD you can't fast forward. You ignore them. Only paying enough attention to see when the programme starts.
What impact is it having on the effectiveness of online video advertising?
It is difficult to successfully communicate your message if you only have the partial attention of your audience.
What can advertisers do to deal with the problem?
a. What is the solution?
There is not one universal solution, advertisers will need to become more adaptive to the audience of individual programmes. IPTV will require in most instances some form of registration enable broadcasters and advertisers to find out more about their viewers. The advertising nirvana for IPTV is like your favorite magazine: you are often as interested in the adverts as the articles. Programme selection combined with viewing time and registration information will allow broadcasters to almost sell viewer types rather than advertising slots. This will benefit the viewer with adverts of interest and the advertiser with a more receptive audience.
b. How does it work?
It will require a technical infrastructure that categorizes the programme, genre, viewer type and the time of viewing (related to mood) to target the most appropriate advert for that viewer. This could meen that two viewers watching the same programme at the same time may be displayed different adverts or versions of the same advert. For example viewers may be asked to select their favorite brands during registration like, Sony, Apple, VW, Sainburys, John Lewis. Such information would be valuable in adverting sales, mapping brands to programmes by view preference. Viewers should also be able to save an advert for later and then link through to the advertisers website or micro-site for more information.
c. What evidence is there that it works?
This logic follows the same model users are demanding 'My Favorites' in all areas of media consumption. So why not advertising as well!
d. How much does it cost?
The initial set up costs could be large to build the infrastructure. The benefit would be to the Broadcasters and the advertiser that charging for space could be done on real figures such as number of times viewed and number of times saved.
e. Are there any side effects?
It would make it harder for massive advertising campaigns. As advertising will become more niece.
Is there anything on the horizon that will deal with this problem?
There are major IPTV platforms being developed that could offer such a service.
What advice would you offer to an online advertiser on how to deal with pre-roll blindness?
Watching TV is an emotive experience, in understanding the users desires and mood the advertiser will have a greater chance of making a connection. Every viewer is an individual.
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