How we make sense of what we see

Question from Me: Why do you think that usability and visual design aren’t often associated with each other?

Part of the answer from Luke Wroblewski

“Well Curt Cloninger once wrote that usability experts are from Mars and graphic designers are from Venus, so it could be that. But truthfully, I think it stems from the fact that many people aren’t versed in what determines how we make sense of what we see.

Luke is one of the few people trying to crack this nut. I think, for the sake of design in general, that the bridge between usability and visual design has to be made. Instead of arguing all the time, we need to come up with a common, shared language that we can use to communicate.

Much more here: Where Visual Design Meets Usability – An Interview with Luke Wroblewski, Part I