With the fast pace of modern life more and more of our tasks and activities take place on the Internet. Advertisers are aware of this, hence the fast growth of online advertising. Ad performance is affected by many factors, including the design. In this thesis we researched the effect of visual complexity of internet ads on website users’ perception. We were interested in determining whether visually simple or visually complex ads perform better.
To this end, we made a review of the literature. Based on the research, we designed 12 web banners, divided into two groups. These banner ads were then placed on test webpages, which were tested by using the eye tracking method, thereby obtaining objectively evaluated data. The banners were also assessed with an online survey questionnaire, which was used to obtain subjectively evaluated data. From there on, we did an analysis and compared the results.
The results showed that visually simple ads perform better and are more appealing. The findings surprised us to some extent, as simple ads convincingly outperformed the complex ones. Visually simple ads are more appealing to the users, are less distracting, and most importantly, have a better effect on their attention while browsing websites than compared to visually complex ones. The results of our research can serve as guidelines for advertisers and digital designers when designing online banners.
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