Value and Motivational Component in the Perception of Online Media Layout

In the process of creating websites for online media, certain psychological techniques are used to organisation of the blocks of visual and textual information on the page ("layout"). These techniques include the principles of Gestalt psychology, which reveal the dependence of reading visual information on the external characteristics of its design. The layout directly affects the ease of reading data, both textual and visual. Therefore, it affects on the memorising of the information and on provided emotional effect. Accordingly, the peculiarities of human perception require competent analysis and consideration in the process of creating content for online media. This study focuses on identifying the relationship between personal values as a component of perception that determines motivation and directs attention, and patterns of perception of online media. The object of research is the mechanisms of visual perception. The subject is the peculiarities of perception of the layout of online publications based on values and motivation. The research question was formulated as follows: "What is the relationship between the features of visual perception based on values and motivation and various layout layouts of online publications based on the principles of Gestalt psychology?" The main goal of the study is to identify the links between the features of visual perception based on values and motivation and various layout layouts of online publications. This study was carried out in line with media psychology, it continues the work that was started earlier in the process of writing student term paper. In addition to the analysis of academic literature and systematization, its main methods are a value survey and a media psychological experiment. The study sample consisted of 11 undergraduate students of different genders from major federal universities. During the first stage of the study which was the survey the participants were asked to fill out a questionnaire based on the S. Schwartz methodology. At the second stage, the subjects were asked to view a number of videos showing scrolling through various pages of online media and their layouts, after which they were required to answer questions about the remembered visual and textual information and the emotions caused by it. Further, the data obtained were analyzed and compared, on the basis of which the following conclusion was made: there is a direct relationship between the values of the subjects, perceived objects / ideas / associations and the image formed on the basis of them, including at the level of emotional response. At the same time, the perception of the subjects is systematically influenced by the external characteristics of the perceived visual objects and their location on the Internet media page (layout), analyzed through the principles of Gestalt psychology. Taking into account the presence of certain patterns in memorizing very specific visual objects, it can be assumed that although the attention of the subject is directed by his motivation based on values, his attraction as a whole in conditions of high visual noise in the layout of online media is primarily influenced by factors of involuntary perception. At the same time, it is values that influence the subsequent memorization of information and the formation of an image based on it with an emotional component. The results obtained will be useful for editorial boards of online media as a source of information about the qualities of visual blocks that lead to better memorization of information and their relationship to the values of the audience. Based on these data, clarifications can be made in the method of highlighting the necessary news editors. They may also be used within the framework of UX design to create an appropriate target for the layout of online media pages.