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In his seminal 1964 work Understanding Media:  The Extensions of Man,  communications theorist Marshall McLuhan coined the phrase “the medium is the message.”  Simply put, McLuhan believed that the way a message is conveyed to an audience is just as important as the message itself.

Take, for example, the Democrat and Republican national conventions.  Both conventions, of course, are highly-staged affairs, meant to appeal to mass television audiences.  But the way the stages—the sets themselves—are designed is meant to convey certain subliminal messages about the candidates as well.  So when a candidate is addressing the convention audience, and the television audience as well, not only is he delivering a message via words, but via subtle—or not so subtle—visual clues as well.

This week the New York Times analyzed the messages they believed each party wished to convey about its candidate via stage design.  According to the Times, the Democrats’ stage was very horizontal, with a short background, in order to make the crowd look bigger.  The backdrop made use of a variety of different media, on several large video screens, thereby conveying different points of view that all converged on a single speaker at the podium—a sort of unification, if you will.  And during Obama’s acceptance speech, the backdrop featured a row of windows in the Greek Revival style—Washington’s prevailing form of architecture—thereby firmly placing Obama in a seemingly-official Washington setting.

The Republicans’ set, in contrast, was minimal, which, according to the Times, “seem(ed) to induce a low-keyed sentimental attachment to a sort of old-fashioned American nationalism.”  According to experts—again, according to the Times—the simple set was meant to convey the notion that McCain has simple tastes, and is himself a straightforward man.  However, the set also featured a 50 by 30 foot video screen in back of the podium, allowing whatever image they displayed on the screen to dwarf the speaker—perhaps intimating that the image itself was more important than the particular speaker delivering the message.   The speaking podium was low to the ground—the lowest ever at a convention—which meant convey the notion that McCain “want(ed) to present to everyone . . . that he’s not a lot of glitz and flashing lights . . . represent(ing) his very open and down to earth personality.”

While McLuhan probably could not have predicted the impact his theory would have vis-à-vis the web as a form of mass market communication, we can readily see how it rings true when it comes to usability and the user experience.  Just as set designers attempt to influence the attitudes of television viewers by utilizing a multitude of visual clues, web designers attempt to influence the attitudes of users by architecting information in engaging ways.  After all, web content is nothing if it is not usable; web content is practically irrelevant if it does not engage and motivate users.  Sadly, McLuhan did not live to see the advent of the web, but his message is just as applicable to it as it was to the mass communication mediums of his day—movies, television, radio, and print.

Friday, September 5th, 2008 Both comments and pings are currently closed.

By Robert Pothier