Best reading patterns for websites and graphic design for Generation Z markets
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You’ve probably been reading for quite some time now. You glance at a passing billboard on your way to work and subconsciously register the message it’s conveying to you. You pick up a book and breeze by some of the connecting words.
Throughout college, I had a lot of reading material. This was one of the problems of being a Journalism and English major. Besides the numerous papers I was asked to turn in throughout the semester, I also had the “joy” of ordering about 15-20 books each semester.
While I love reading, 20 books is a lot of reading for 16 weeks while also juggling work and class time.
Sometime during my freshman year, I was taking a History class, managed by a Master’s teaching assistant. She helped me understand the importance of skimming and how to do it effectively. It helped me read and understand even the densest of text for years to come.
Now, this was focused on printed materials, but when looking at a web page, your mind does something similar to skimming. You might not even realize it. With so much information being thrown in your direction, your mind focuses on certain aspects of a web page more than others.
That’s why blogging is so different from just writing. With a book, you’re more likely to sit and able to read through longer passages, whereas blogs and online material are heavier with subheadings, quotes, and visuals to name a few. If you want an even more extensive list of visual hierarchies, try Eye Tracking in User Experience Design. Eye Tracking in User Experience Design is created so you can create responsive web pages for readers.
Reading patterns are nothing new. They have been researched by many readerships across many generations.
Generation Z, as the newest market for products, has been changing the way many businesses have integrated their services onto websites and graphic design materials. It’s why Eye Tracking in User Experience Design was created. With Eye Tracking in User Experience Design, you are more likely to create a product, especially web pages that respond to users, Generation Z specifically.
Different reading patterns have different effects for different audiences. The F Reading Pattern is one of the favorites for Generation Z, but the Z Reading Pattern and the Layered Cake Reading Pattern are proven and effective web page design strategies, as explained in Eye Tracking in User Experience Design.
Read more about each type of reading pattern to effectively design your web pages and marketing materials.
F Reading Pattern
The F Reading Pattern tends to be pretty popular among Generation Z. Read more about it in Eye Tracking in User Experience Design.
In a quick overview, the F Reading Pattern follows the shape of a capital F done a web page.
Typically, the most read content will be the top of the article or web page. This is why Eye Tracking in User Experience Design encourages so many bloggers and web designers to create a great headline and opener.
The next most important portion of a web page would be the first subhead or the image beneath the article.
An image attracts the reader the most. It allows the information expressed in the article below to be conveyed in a simple visual. This is also why infographics have become so popular. They are easy to see visually and also convey the most information.
Subheadings are also a great way to garner attention. A subheading within an article or page creates a sense of hierarchy and provides a synopsis of the information provided. If you aren’t looking for the history or the citations about the information, you can skip them when you read the subhead above that section.
With the F Reading Pattern, Eye Tracking in User Experience Design suggests you should also put shorter and quicker information at the end of your web page. As if in the shape of an F, readers will view the end of your web page as less important. Keeping your points short and to the point will help readers retain their attention as they progress down your web page.
Z Reading Pattern
You will see the Z Reading Pattern in a lot of graphic design projects. It’s still an important reading pattern for Generation Z because of where graphic design is being distributed on web pages.
As you can probably guess, and similar to the F Reading Pattern, the Z Reading Pattern follows the shape of a Z.
Same as with the F Reading Pattern, the most important part of a web page or graphic design project is at the top, particularly in the upper left corner. The Z Reading Pattern starts similarly to a printed book, text or images seen from left-to-right.
Eye Tracking in User Experience Design would probably reason this is why logos or navigation buttons are on the upper left corner of web pages. You can see this also in mastheads for newspapers and some magazines.
Instead of going down on the left, like the F Reading Pattern, the reader’s eye goes diagonally from the right upper corner to the left lower corner of the web page. Usually, the eye is attracted to a visual leading them down the page. Many newspapers use this method to help the reader travel down the front page.
Lastly, Eye Tracking in User Experience Design will show that the Z Reading Pattern takes in the information on the bottom of the web page. This is why footers and many email subscribers will establish a lower call-to-action for their readers, hoping they are following this pattern.
Layered Cake Reading Pattern
The Layered Cake Reading Pattern helps present a lot of information, especially long lists of information.
Compared to the previously mentioned reading patterns, the Layered Cake Reading Pattern stacks information on top of one another on a web page.
None of the information is especially more important than the other in this reading pattern. Eye Tracking in User Experience Design explains the Layered Cake Reading Pattern to display information that are of equal importance. A common example would be a directory.
The information, as previously stated, is stacked on top of each other. Such as with a layered cake, each person within a directory might be placed within a hierarchy of their own, whether in importance or alphabetized, but displays the same information as the others within a group.
You might read this information on each line to get to a specific person or group but not truly read each line of information until you find the information or person you are looking for.
The Layered Cake Reading Pattern is used fairly infrequently and only in a few selected instances. Otherwise, the information the Layered Cake Reading Pattern would get lost and become ineffective with readers.
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