🚀 go-pugleaf

I'm not sure if this is the "right" place to ask, but thought I'd start
here anyway.  I am interested in learning about ways to evaluate the
effectiveness/"usability" of a particular format or layout--in this
particular instance, I'm talking about the design of a newsletter.  I
don't want to evaluate the usability of the *text*, but rather the
actual layout & format design.

On the one hand, I sort of think it might be best to have two proposed
designs and compare those--that may be the optimal case, however.  I
figure that if I can decide how to measure people's responses
to/dislikes/likes between two proposed designs, I should just as well be
able to assess those on one design.  My real problems, however, have to
do with how you would measure a person's response--I'd rather gather
more information than just aesthetic preferences, although those will be
important too.  But how do I measure how well the format "presents"
information, moves the reader's focus, etc.   I have done my fair share
of usability studies, but they have all dealt either specifically on the
particular interface or on the comprehensibility of a document--I just
have no point of reference on how to go about evaluating layout alone.

Does anyone have ideas on how to go about this?  Any references to
relevant work?  Any and all thoughts and discussions are greatly
encouraged!  Thanks.

Terilyn Gillespie
Computing Services
Carnegie Mellon University
tg0r@andrew.cmu.edu