ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses a wide range of arguments that critically reflects on the use of experiments as method in visual strategic communication research. Methodological improvements and additional psychological research are needed in the interpretation of multimodal messages to facilitate the development of valid measures of content in research. The chapter presents a brief overview of controlled experiments in a laboratory setting. Experimental visual communication research offers a possibility to measure both the conscious and the unconscious in a research lab, where traditional multimodal methods are combined with laboratory research equipment for measuring psychological signals probing emotional responses. The chapter examines the nature and value of usability research, and the elements of an effective website analysed in laboratory environments. It is becoming obvious that laboratory research employing multimodal analysis techniques can address essential issues of how to measure and customize strategic communication efforts.
