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while i appreciate this from an aesthetic perspective, this fails multiple usability tests:

1) "across the room" -- stand 10 feet away from your machine and see if you can tell what you're supposed to do

2) "don't make me think" -- i'm sure anyone who has ever used a website has to think about this one.

if you actually want people to sign up, make it easier, not harder. save your creativity for your content.

I've never heard of the "across the room" usability test before. I'm intrigued: can you point to sources?

My only source is my business partner, but it's a pretty good test. At 10-15 feet, you can only see features as geometric shapes, but on very well-designed sites you can probably tell what you're "supposed" to do. This is most effective for signup and purchase flows, where simplicity matters most, but I think it can lead to insights on pretty much anything.

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