It's interesting that I seem to be in the minority, and the "winners" are the ones that make intuitive sense to me. People bounce away from complication, like

It's interesting that I seem to be in the minority, and the "winners" are the ones that make intuitive sense to me. People bounce away from complication, like having to read something. Where a glance can make something clear, it should not be further complicated. If something is already complex, all bets are off. Or, if results are much too low, you'll need to do more than add a label or sentence to fix things. 1. The updates box is a classic example of clear-at-a-glance. Just start typing your email address. This isn't something to be "sold" with a tiny bit of text, people either will or won't. If you want to convert undecideds, you need more than a bit of text complicating a simple form. 2. In the build.com example, people are taken away from search by the navigation icons. If search works, making people navigate categories is like offering two doors: One is a room with their chosen keyword results, the other is a maze to navigate through. 3. Again in the lead form, optimal simplicity is achieved. It seems to beckon "Just start typing your info." 4. Images are designed to draw attention to the caption area underneath. But when the area already stands out clearly, the classic advertising point ("notice what is underneath") is superfluous, and just an added complication. 5. I hate seeing faces in a video screenshot. I automatically assume I'm going to be fast-forwarding past "Hi I'm Rob, and I have a cat, and work here, and..." to get to the info. I prefer ANYTHING that holds the promise of giving me the data, and the data only. In all cases here, there was an attempt to add something other than just letting the area in question indicate what it was as simply and clearly as possible, and each item that won did a good job at indicating its purpose at a glance. Always encourage automatic behaviors. If you put a contract in front of someone, hand them a pen and point where to sign. Don't explain. Use enough white space and thought that a visitor's eye can rest somewhere. Test things by removing complications, or varying them, not by adding them.