​​Prominence-Interpretation Theory by Therese Fessenden
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Summary: Prominence-interpretation theory helps determine what shapes users’ perceptions of a site’s credibility.

Prominence is influenced by:

1️⃣ User involvement:
how motivated users are and how likely they are to look around the site. Visitors already familiar with the company might scrutinize the site less.

2️⃣ Topic of the site: news, entertainment, ecommerce, and so on. The same attribute can stand out on one genre of site or be very typical for a different site.

3️⃣ Task: seeking information, leisurely browsing, buying products, and so on. The user’s task will influence what that person pays attention to and is likely to notice.

4️⃣ Experience of the user: expert vs. novice in the subject matter. Novice users may read more extensively or seek different information than experts. Expert users may also scrutinize some sites more harshly than others, depending on their expectations.

5️⃣ Individual differences: a person’s literacy level, age, background knowledge, and so on. Different people come with different cognitive and physical abilities; these abilities will influence what stands out for them on a page.

Interpretation is influenced by:

1️⃣ Assumptions in a user’s mind: culture, past experiences, cognitive biases, and so on. Users’ personal histories will bias their interpretation of the page elements. For example, an illustration with a party blower in someone’s mouth may be interpreted correctly by an American user and generate a positive connotation, but to someone from a different culture, where party blowers are not as common, it may look like a cigarette and be interpreted negatively.

2️⃣ Skill/knowledge: user’s level of competency in the subject matter. While influencing prominence, skill can also influence interpretation. A lawyer or a security expert may seek privacy policies before entering personal details in a form, while others may be oblivious to potential risks.

3️⃣ Context: user’s expectations, environment, situational norms, and so on. Users have certain expectations about a site based on standards that they have learned on other sites and on what they think is reasonable. For example, they may be ok with sharing their location with a map application, but they may cringe when a flashlight app asks them to do so.

Conclusion

Creating a credible site and studying users’ impressions is not as elusive as one may think. There may not be a perfect formula for it, but with a careful assessment of elements on our pages we can determine whether our designs convey the right message. Establishing this credibility early on will ensure that our customers trust us. Trust, after all, is the first step to a building a lasting relationship.
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