The Gutenberg rule - revisited

In a previous post about the Gutenberg rule I mentioned that we'd achieved some good AB and MVT testing results using this design principle. The principle basically works off the theory that humans subconsciously scan a print or web page from top left to bottom right and then loop back up the page. So allowing this principle to manage your page layout seems to have become the norm in web design placing buttons and other key calls to action in the 'fertile' areas, typically bottom right.

Increasingly though I notice that more and more people are breaking from this practice whether through test learnings or just asthetic decisions. An example being Aviva.co.uk .As you can see below their landing page for car insurance aligns much of it's content to the left of the page. Having become comfortable with placing the onward journey point at the bottom right this just jars. Having said that it's important to challenge the norms to see what resonates with the customer. I may have to test this layout myself to check we're not missing a trick.

In the meantime here's a mock-up of an alternative design I would test based on established findings.

Happy testing : )