Clue is a brand new app which lets you test to see what visitors remember most about your site. The app is created by Zurb who also made the excellent Bounce app which I reviewed earlier this year.
If you want to find out if your call to action button is making an impact, is your logo grabbing attention in a good way or is it overpowering everything else on the page, are your product images doing the trick in five seconds or less? Clue is a handy free tool to help web designers to check which bits stand out.
To use the app, you type in a URL of the page you want to test, the app grabs a screenshot and a short and simple memory test.
The Five Second Test
Tests have shown that the attention span of web users is very limited, so the idea behind the five second test is to what, if anything grabs you in the first five seconds. I tested it on my own site and felt a little put out that there was really only one or two things that I remembered. Possibly familiarity breeding contempt and amnesia there but the test did make me think about things which could be improved.
Needless to say there is a social media aspect attached and you can share the link to your Clue test on Twitter, Facebook, other web sites or via email. Following the test you can access your results link to see what 5 things people remember about your page.
If you’re an artist or design for print, you could use Clue in conjunction with an image hosting service to find out what’s most memorable in your graphic designs, paintings or photographs. As long as image can be uploaded and you have it a URL, you can create a quick test.
Clue is a free and very easy to use app, but obviously designed as a simple taster for the bigger commercial app called Verify. Verify has more bells and whistles and let’s you make tests to “see how a page makes people feel, where they would click on a page, which of two versions they prefer” and more.
Jennifer FarleyJennifer Farley is a designer, illustrator and design instructor based in Ireland. She writes about design and illustration on her blog at Laughing Lion Design.
