“The most basic rule of thumb is that for every site the user should be able to understand what your site is about by the information presented to them above the fold. If they have to scroll to even discover what the site is, its success is unlikely. Functionality that is essential to business strategy should remain (or at least begin) above the fold.”

- Milissa Tarquini Director of UI  Design and Information Architecture at AOL.

1)  Yes above the fold is the most effective place for content (as Milissa Tarquini nicely put it). But, …

2)  …the fact that the world’s second most visited site, Facebook has much of it’s content below the fold shows we have learnt to scroll. We scroll, click on a link or even leave the site because we are still looking for our fix of information. Why we scroll is because …

3)  … we’ve learnt and instinctively know to scroll when we have visual cues that tell there’s more to see below. Be it text peeking above the fold, bordered content that runs off the page, or the presence of a scrollbar. This Tog (Bruce Tognazzini) tells in 1998, ‘The first screenful of a web page–or any other foreign document–tends to look complete. Unless the screen happens to break across some graphical element or divides a line of text in two, users will assume they have seen it all and will move on.’. Before we start pushing pixels we answer…

4)  …the question of where lies the fold. According to W3school 96% of internet users’ computers are on 1024 x 768px and higher. Though this may be their overall screen resolution, the actual browser viewing area is reduced when you factor in the title bar, toolbars, favourites bar, etc. Leaving the fold to be about 500 to 550px from the top of the browser display. According to Google Labs’ Browser Size (Check it out, it visualizes of the different browser window sizes of those who visit Google), 90% of visitors to Google have the fold at 500px and 80% at 550px. This is a good rule of thumb but should the site target specific platforms (eg. mobile or touch screen) the fold shifts but the principals of 1)-3) still applies.

We know people scroll so putting content below the fold is not an issue. In my humble opinion, for a campaign site it all boils down to the objectives, the funnel and ultimately the goal. The first take out should be to have users understand the site objective and then drive them towards the funnel via CTA’s (call to actions). Subsequent content and CTA’s can flow from there below the fold. Don’t shove all the content and CTA up top. If designed correctly, users will find it. Allowing the CTA’s the luxury of white space, they will in turn work harder for you.

If you’re interested in reading more, Fiz Yazdi & Joe Leech wrote a great article with quantitative evidence on this and was referenced extensively in this commentary. Also interesting read that was referenced is 10 Techniques For An Effective Call To Action by Paul Boag.

Our Intel Tomorrow Stars, Today wins greater recognition with a Bronze Award for Best Breakthrough Site and Most Outrageous / Humorous Online Ad or Campaign.

Meanwhile, the buzz from Dell Swarm continues, as we picked up a Bronze Award for Best Social Media Campaign at Asia Interactive Awards 2009.

Another great tip floating around the office mail.

The Fix

Step 1: Color Profiles

Step 2: Proof Setup

Step 3:

And that’s it! Your green pear will now stop looking like a muddy pear every time you save for web.

Here are some shots from the video shoot for the Upper Storey website, mostly taken from my position in the director’s chair behind the camera. Big thanks to Fiona for hair and makeup, Catherine for styling, and the crew at Studio at 3rd Ave. for all their help. Extra big thanks to Huibin for being so unfazingly optimistic and resourceful, pulling this whole thing off a week before Christmas.

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It is common knowledge that redesigning a logo is not an easy task. You start grabbing a pencil wondering where to begin and all of a sudden you find yourself in the midst of a dilemma, with open-ended questions such as what the company ‘really’ is, where did it come from, where is it going, who you are, is there intelligent life in the outer space, is there a god and so on.

After all, one logo is a little key piece –or THE little key piece- that brings it all together. It is the single graphic element that orchestrates the concerto of branding. It’s all about the core essence of an abstract idea, how it is represented and how it is perceived. Try to convey too many things in it and you’re done; don’t say anything at all and you’re done as well!

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