Back of Product Packages like Web App Tours
December 15th, 2006
Luke Wroblewski, who is speaking at our Web App Summit this January in Monterey, makes an interesting connection between packaging of physical products and product tours of web applications.
Writing on Digital Web, Luke points out that the two have a lot in common:
“In a self-service retail world (present in most physical stores and just about everywhere online), the back-of-pack information plays the role of surrogate sales associate. It outlines the advantages of a product and often includes explanations of how to best utilize them. In other words, it tries to finalize the sale with peripheral messaging that supports the front’s central message.
In many web applications, this role is filled by product tours. The most common product tour is an illustrated page or set of pages that explains what can be done with an application, and shows features in action through representative screen shots.”
Lots more in the article itself: Packaging Design for Web-based Products
