Ad Agency or Porn: Can you tell the difference?

If you have speakers attached to your computer, be sure to turn them down (or put on headphones) before choosing an item. You'll get a breathy, lusty sounding "Oh, yeah" when you click an item.

I played 15 names, and 13 of them where non-porn. Was this just by chance or is the repository that biased towards agencies?

Maybe the creator did not find enough porn on the internet? :-)

The obvious conclusion after taking the test is that there is no significant difference between "ad agency" media and "porn" media.

The first time I visited the site, I really had no idea what I was doing. I'm going to write up my experience here for the benefit of the author.

I'll admit that I did not read the blurb on the landing page carefully. While that's a little embarrassing to admit, it's also typical user behavior. Users don't read; they scan. I did what a typical user would do: I scanned the copy and looked for the clicky-bit, and then I clicked it.

From there, I'm presented with a page dominated by two images. I tried to figure out what the hell I'm supposed to do.

Hrm... I see two obvious clicky-bits on this page: Agency and Porn buttons. The image over the Agency button looks pretty agency, and the image over the Porn button looks pretty porny.

What the hell am I supposed to discern here? Maybe I'm supposed to figure out which one is an actual image used by an agency or in a porn film.

I click my first answer.

Aaaaah geeze.

Fortunately, I'm on my free time and my wife has a sense of humor. She asks me to please close the door while baitin'.

"Fuck this, this isn't any fun," I think. And I close the window.

I drop a comment warning other HN users that they're going to be porn-audio-bombed by the site and move on.

A couple of days later, I notice that I've collected a few karma points and check my profile page to see what sage advice was deemed useful by the HN crowd. Heh, it was just my warning label and a swipe I took at Rob Reinhart that boosted my score.

I revisit the agencyorporn.com link, this time prepared for what awaits me.

Headphones? Check.

Smart kid who always reads directions attitude? Check.

Click!

Reading...

"Guess which of these tantalizing names belong..."

Names!? Wait, there's text on the pages?

I click the Start button for the second time in my life and I see what is clearly a camera and a dildo. Mkay, where's the "name"? I start at what I think is the top (the border of the two contrasting colors). Nope.

I really take a step back and start at the actual top. Holy shit, there it is. It's been staring me in the face the whole time! The text at the very top of the page is what I'm supposed to evaluate.

I try a few and quickly get bored with the concept (sorry). The audio also seems like it's leveled to be pretty loud. I'm kind of put off by the whole experience and I exit.

That's my experience as a user. As a product guy, my feedback would be this:

Users don't read.

If I'm supposed to focus on something, please make it the center of focus.

Users don't read!

Use visual hierarchy to communicate importance.

On the landing page, what is the most important element? Users are drawn to imagery before text, so the most important element on the screen is the image of the woman to the right. Secondarily, my eye was drawn to the Agency or Porn logo, then the start button. The instructions are the fourth most important thing on the page, visually. It's not clear that they are instructions. IMO, they should be labeled as such. The fact that they started with what appears to be a rhetorical question caused me to evaluate the text as a "blurb" (marketing copy), so I ignored it. My mind jumped directly to, "I'm already sold, give me the game!"

In the game interface, the visual hierarchy is out of whack as well. The item I'm supposed to evaluate is outside the visual grouping of all the game control elements. It looks like a page title, not a game element. Visually, the most important parts of the page are the two giant images. These images communicate (reinforce, really) the function of the buttons for "Agency" or "Porn". They are supporting elements, not primary elements. The "name" I'm supposed to evaluate should be the most important item on the screen.