3 Points & a question

Kostelnick & Roberts

• In creating a document, a designer must consider the three elements of the rhetorical situation: audience, purpose and context. The design of a document will/should change if any one of the three elements of the rhetorical situation changes.

• Understanding and using established visual conventions is important in the document design process as it allows the designer to fulfill readers’ expectations and help the reader to understand the message being conveyed. “Conventions aren’t an end in themselves but a means to an end—helping readers understand the document.”

• Kostelnick and Roberts echo both White and Williams in their explanation of arrangement in designing a document. The way a document is structured/organized gives readers cues about the hierarchy of the information being presented and guides them visually through that information.


Question:
I understand the idea that sans serif typefaces are clearer when surrounded by a lot of white space (as in a table), but how does sans serif font in a table give data a more objective tone? (pg 26)

3 and 1: Kostelnick & Roberts, Tufte II

1. The rhetorical situation is comprised of three elements:
- Audience: those who are going to use the document
- Purpose: what the document should accomplish
- Context: the circumstances in which the readers will use the document

2. In relation to rhetorical impact, design elements can be categorized into six strategies:
arrangement, emphasis, clarity, conciseness, tone, and ethos.
-Arrangement and emphasis: pertain primarily to the visual structure and organization of the document.
-Clarity and conciseness: pertain primarily to the functional matters of style, of making the design readable and efficient.
-Tone and ethos: relate primarily to readers' subjective responses to the visual language, its voice, and credibility.

3. From the Tufte reading, I learned that "the credibility of a report is enhanced by a careful assessment of all relevant evidence, not just the evidence overtly consistent with explanations advanced by the report." Also, chartmakers are like magicians: they reveal what they choose to reveal.

Question:
How responsible is the technical writer in tragic events such as the Challenger launch when the source of provided information is vague? Specifically, the scientists were so busy using technical jargon that the media or no one could understand them (which I realize was their strategy to avoid obvious guilt). How then, is the technical writer to understand how everything works without being an engineer his/herself?

new points and ?

To Ali:
Undergrads can use the Matrf and check out equipment when they pay a $35.00 fee for the academic year.

1. Dr. Fishman told us that the western model is becoming the standard for international visual communication. Let's face it; we are becoming one big globalized planet where individuality seems to be waning. Just look at the European Union. It seems a shame how these associated countries are giving up their uniqueness in order to supposedly maximize their economic potential.

2. At my former job in manufacturing/automation consulting I attended many corporate training seminars. Most of the time very dull presentations were executed during the training sessions offered by my client companies. As our Professor suggested, using more humor and creativity in crafting the written documents and videos would have helped to make these sessions more interesting and memorable.

3. I found the info. on the hyphen, en-dash, and em-dash useful. In the past I tended to mostly rely on the hyphen for multiple punctuation uses. Now, I will try to use the other two more often in my written work.



? Should Clemson be offering highly specialized grad courses in international communication and its related use in document and graphic design?

Retrospective 3 Points and a Question--Round 2

Well, as usual I am late with another post because I can't grasp the schedule...I seriously have a problem with it. (At least I got the first one done). Anyway, I thought I would post my three points as answers to questions that were brought up in class. So, here goes.

1. MLA format still requires that you use an indent for the first paragraph of a document.

2. April asked if the two letters stuck together (I can't remember what this is called off-hand, but Kiel used the example of NF in his presentation) is ever used in everyday language/writing. The only time I have ever seen it is when someone is phonetically spelling a word. The common letter pairs are "oe" and "ae." Check out this website for an example: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO_phonetic_alphabet.

3. According to Mike who works in the MATRF, undergraduates are not welcome to the MATRF lab, nor are they allowed to check out supplies from the lab. The MATRF is limited to faculty and graduate students, so don't send your students there.

Question: Is there somewhere on campus where undergraduate students can borrow cameras and other technical equipment to use for their projects?

Week 6, 2nd post

1. Considering word spacing, according to White, the reader should not notice the spaces between words. Readers should concentrate on what the meaning of the document is, which is contrary to the way Japanese readers read, according the Maitra and Goswami.
2. In design, only use two typefaces and no more than two weights for each face.
3. “An orphan is a widow at the top of a column. Widows are generally okay, but orphans will get you a reprimand from the Type Police” (White, 135). I always forget these terms when using Indesign.

Question: In class we talked a lot about texting and how it is changing the way we punctuate, language, and how we communicate. What are people’s thoughts on T-9?

Week 6: Post 2

See, for me it's so hard for me to understand why you would create a document that was ambiguous or that the audience could not understand. What purpose would it serve? Perhaps I am too narrow minded, but I suppose I view it in the same way some people consider writing certain books, like O.J.'s If I Did It. What would be the point in that? I guess what I'm trying to say is that if every document ever produced has a purpose, then it should meet the criteria of the expected audience. You don't go to a football game and expect a baseball game to break out, why would I expect my new phone manual to be littered with pretty colors and designs. I promise, once it has served its purpose it is going back in a box or in the trashcan never to be seen again. Why would a designer spend so much time on aesthetic visuals then?

With that said, I do agree with making things aesthetically appealing, and I'll even agree that the visual does not need to be entirely representative of the context. What I argue is that the overall presentation, specifically the text should be the main focus in technical documents. what I cannot understand is why you would want to make the context itself ambiguous. You read a novel for a challenge and enjoyment, you read a technical document with purpose and efficiency in mind. In regards to the idea about the Enron report having had the voices of the board of trustees heard, I completely agree with that, but that too would have been with purpose to aid the reader. There is a time and a place to challenge the audience, technical writing is meant to aid and assist.

3 Points and a Question Round 2

From Maitra & Goswami:

-I think that just the fact that their research showed that Japanese design process models emphasize aesthetics and ambiguity is a pretty important point. It is so far away from our standards and goals that it is worth considering.

- Not only does the document designer not have to make every point clear but some times he/she must strive to maintain ambiguity.

- When the Americans read the documents and came across an image they didn't see as fitting into the document they tried to tie it into that particular section and when that didn't work they tried to fit it into the larger themes found in the document. I think the applicable term here is cognitive dissonance if my psychology minor serves me correctly. When something stands out from our perceptions or motives we have to stop and reconcile it before moving on to process more information.

Question: A question was asked in class about making this sort of work a specialty in the professional communication field. I'm just wondering how much research is out there about this topic and where one would go to train in this type of discipline. It seems like there could be a lot of money involved to be honest.

3 more points...

White
• Type size must increase as line length increases

Maitra & Goswami
• Maitra and Goswami talk about document design as a communicative response to a rhetorical situation; therefore the process of designing the final product must involve an examination of the problem (the reason that the document is necessary as a response to the situation) and the potential audience. Not every audience is going to have a need for or completely understand a particular document.

• Our ingrained cultural values and assumptions dictate the way we read and understand a document (text and visuals).

Goswami/Maitre/White-One more round:

3 more points:

1. There is a distinct difference between quotation marks and foot/inch marks.
2. There are true small caps, and false small caps. Expert font sets will contain true small caps.
   
3. Line spacing cannot be smaller than word spacing, or the eye will be misdirected.
   

1 more question:

• Would a "happy-medium" of design be better than totally subsuming Japanese aesthetics under Western design theory? Is a balance like this even possible? Do you find that your microwave is too slow for you?
  

3 Posts and Question Continued

1. I never knew that French spacing existed. I thought that it was standard procedure for everyone to add two spaces behind period marks. I find it hard to believe that many people, myself included, still abide by "typewriter" rules and do not use one. Only now that I'm thinking about it am I trying not to hit the space bar twice.

2. Note to self: A hyphen is a short horizontal bar used to indicate breaks in words at the ends of lines. An en-dash is slightly longer than a hyphen and is used as a separator between multiple compound words and number. An em-dash is the longest of horizontal cap height line marks and is used for sudden breaks in dialogue.

3. The Maitra and Goswami reading suggests there are three types of protocol regarding data collection:
- Reader protocols: prompts readers to think aloud and express their thoughts during an exercise
- Co-discovery protocols: aid individual readers with problems of vocalizing responses
- Active intervention protocols: involves readers skipping certain sets of pages or being unfamiliar with the process

Question: I still do not quite understand the "x-height" concept.

3 points/1 question

1) Properly justified text requires 5 word spaces per line.
2) Maximum legibility is found with 40-50 characters per line.
3) An ellipsis is not 3 periods. (I'm quite glad to learn this.)

Question: What qualities do you think led White to using the type found in his own book? Do you think it is effective?

3 Points and a Questions

- Complexity impedes the reader's ability to understand the message, however too much simplicity signals that the message isn't important and therefore is equally as ineffective as complexity. "Only simplicity combined with expressiveness will make the message both legible and interesting" (107).

- Typography as frozen sound... apparently typefaces have "sounds" and you need to make sure they're in accordance with the message and image of the rest of the document.

- Legibility is most affected by challenging what we are accustomed to. All caps are harder to read than lowercase and should be kept to two lines deep. The mind perceives three of anything as being many.

Question: I guess I'm just wondering how this particular section of reading compares/contrasts to previous readings.

Week 6: 3 Points and a Question

1) From the Maitra and Goswami article we can easily discern that different cultures have different methodologies and design approaches. Americans tend to lean towards clarity and simplicity (to some extent in context, to a greater extent in design). White seems to place a lot of emphasis on words as visuals. So not only how they are used within context, but their aesthetic appeal to the overall document is vital to making it functional. Functionality seems to be less of a concern for the Japanese who prefer abstractions and making the reader "work" for and towards the necessary information.

2)There is an obvious difference between how different cultures as audiences view particular pieces. Whereas Americans use visuals to do six different things:
1. describe or identify
2. concretize abstractions
3. convey spatial information
4. assist the reader to represent and to solve certain kinds of problems
5. facilitate the performance of procedures
6. help the reader remember certain kinds of information,

the Japanese, again, view visuals as nothing more than aesthetics that can be unrelated to the subject at hand. I think this is so hard for Americans to grasp simply because a document is not intended to be complicated. It's intended to aid or else it has no reason to exist.

3)White also discusses how the primary type create the personality for the printed material (121). Once again, making the point of words themselves as visuals. I think this also reveals the different design techniques employed. Americans spend much time considering the document as a whole. It is not fragmented and then put together, the purpose, the idea, and the functionality of the piece MUST be known beforehand.

I think it would be interesting to see if there exists a static design in either culture when it comes to document design. If the Japanese focus on aesthetic appeal, could it not be assumed that there is an established design that is popular and widely used, just as there are defined structures that are suggested for making American documents. So how different do documents look? For example, a memo is not really going to change appearance, but a newsletter will look radically different from another newsletter...or will it? Maybe with the use of different graphics, but what commonalities exist if any?

My three points plus one question

1. From The Elements... I found the info concerning abstracting display type useful. If font, spacing, background, or contrast choices are poorly utilized, then the reader will likely not pay special attention to the abstracted selection, rather they will quickly rush through it. I relate this to our main discussion points last week concerning effective/ineffective use of quantitative data and graphics.

2. In the last chapter of The Elements... White emphasizes the importance of changing the default settings of programs such as Microsoft Word. Adjusting some of these default settings can help a designer to create a uniquely readable piece, and as the author states in the very last paragraph, "create a successful page".

3. The American document design standard with its emphasis on using visuals for explanation and clarity usually do not transfer well to foreign audiences in the East. Japanese audiences prefer visuals that decorate or indirectly relate to the rest of the document. This seems ironic to me; American culture is often categorized as flashy, while Japanese are traditionally considered minimalistic. (Maitra & Goswani)

Questions: How can an American trained graphic designer expect to be successfully translated into Japanese without employing an additional Japanese designer to substantially revise the work for the new audience? Also, do sources such as The Elements... only provide knowledge that is useful to effectively engage an American audience?

Ps and Q

From Maitra and Goswami:

The goal of the study was to discover the American readers’ expectations and preferences based on cultural bias, familiarity with American document design, and ignorance of Japanese culture.

American document design models emphasize: rhetorical situation, cognition, social psychology, discourse analysis, culture study, design elements, reading comprehension, and human and computer interaction. Japanese readers prefer ambiguity and have a “high-context” culture – the burden of comprehension is placed on the reader not the writer.

Where cross-cultural design is concerned, Japanese designers prefer to maintain ambiguity and aesthetics in visuals, whereas Americans prefer “clarity and culture neutrality.”

Are culturally neutral documents really possible? Is it better to maintain the context of the original document, or attempt to imitate a culture that we cannot deeply understand? What are possible compromises?

Three Points and a Question

1. At least 90 percent of the time, typographic decisions should be "the manipulation of the space around the letterforms." Poor typography results from a designer's inability to consider "not-letterforms," while concentrating one solely the letters on the page.

2. It is important to choose a typeface that matches the content of whatever it is describing to leading into because words are the symbols of emotion and ideas that can manipulate how reader feels about the text. Sometimes using a more neutral typeface is better than trying to match a more flamboyant typeface to a text.

3. Typography can be viewed as frozen sound, meaning that one should try to translate how something would sound into a printable form. For example, one would use all capital letters to illustrate a loud sound. Remember that verbal emphasis because visual emphasis.

Question: On page 106 of The Elements of Graphic Design, there are several examples of posters that were printed; however, most, if not all of them, go against many of White's suggestions for using the appropriate typeface. Is this ever okay to do? And, if it is, when? And how does one draw the line?

Gannt Chart

3 points and question, Maitra and Goswami

1. American document design is created “in a predictable and linear fashion.” Americans rely on “clarity in message and simplicity in design,” which puts the responsibility of clarifying the point on the writer.
2. Japanese audiences are accustomed to ambiguity and rely on their familiarity with the context to interpret the message. Understanding the message is the responsibility of the audience and not the writer.
3. Japanese document designers use visuals to attract the audience, who in turn will find it attractive enough to learn more and read the document.

Question: Maitra and Goswami cite Horton, and recommend we use “visuals that are easily recognizable across cultures and those that are easy to follow in the context.” Is this the easy way out? Should we not become intimately familiar with our international clientele and create documents that cater to their understanding and culture?

3 Points & a question

White
• When using lining figures, a designer unintentionally makes numerals stand out because they look like capital letters. Old style figures should be used for numerals instead because they look like lowercase letters and flow with the text.
• The contrast between letters of a word and the space surrounding them make the type legible (or not).
• Neither complexity nor simplicity (in typeface) will successfully relay a message—the former tends to be illegible, while the latter takes away from the importance of the content. Rather it is the combination of complexity and expressiveness that “will make the message both legible and interesting.”

Question:
Are Maitra and Goswami, through their article/study, suggesting that Americans change both the way we design documents and the way we read/interpret them? Will changing the document design process automatically force us to change the way we read a document?

Gannt Chart

This is the "Gannt Chart" for Kiel, Kevin, Julie, and Nick's Project

Gannt Chart

Here is the Gannt Chart for Katie, Gayle, April & Susan's project

Three Points and Question - Week Six

1. "Tracking" alters letterspacing paragraph by paragraph. "Kerning" alters letterspacing between specific character pairs. "Ligatures" are conjoined letter pairs.

2. The type must be an integral part of the composition for design to work effectively. If the type is altered or removed, the piece should fall apart.

3. (Maitra and Goswami) The goals of design often vary drastically among different cultures. For instance, in this reading, the American design goal was to produce a document that included clear and comprehensible material; conversely, the Japanese document was structured only to impress the intended reader. Their goals were to focus on ambiguity and aesthetics.

Question: Are Americans so lazy and used to having everything hand-fed to them that anything that challenges them mentally is immediately deemed frivolous and/or confusing? While this article takes a different approach to address this question, have our "right now" philosophies weakened our creative abilities? Do we use the speedy demands of the business world as a way to hide our intellectual shortcomings? It is amazing to note how a harmless study about design can expose so many other issues.

3 pts

In Tufte:

1-"Redundancy, upon occasion, has its uses: igving a context and order to complexity, facilitating comparisons over various parts of the data, perhaps creating an aesthetic balance.

2-"Vigorous pruning improves the graphic immensely, while still retaining all the data of the original. [In some cases] It is remarkable that erasing alone can work such a transformation..."

3-Regarding line graphs:"The space opened up by erasing can be effectively used." This is regarding labeling the initial data for the graph period, to serve an extra a reference.

Gannt Chart

Here is our Gannt Chart for our visual, hope you enjoy.

Christina, RJ, Creswell

3(.) & ?

1.What is represented in the interface is not only the task's environment and tools but also the process of interaction - the contributions mad by both parties and evidence of the task's evolution. (pg7)

2.With HCI, the interface was developed with recursive thinking on behalf of the designer..and the user recursively thinks about what they see, want, and what they're supposed to do. (pg13)

3.For actor and audience alike, the ultimate reality is what is happening in the imaginary world on the stage - the representation. WYSIWYG - WHAT YOU SEE IS WHAT YOU GET. The audience can't pick up on instructions, meanings, implications that aren't visually represented on the stage/interface.

Film making, acting, writing, can you give us a new age analogy to apply HCI?

3 Points and a Question Much Delayed

- Interactivity was originally a much debated term among programmers. It is possible that it is characterized along a continuum, or is simply defined by whether or not the user feels as though they are participating.

- According to Tufte, "when a graphic is taken over by decorative forms... the overall design purveys Graphical Style rather than quantitative information."

- In the discussion of Guides, pages 26-7, there are 2 main types of guides to be developed. One is similar to a virtual library, whereby people can search the database by keyword or topic. The second is to create an agent that is capable of anticipating the user's goals and making the process smoother. (I think this is sort of like the talking paper clip in Windows?)

Question: The Laurel text was written in 1993. I guess I'm just wonder how the thinking has changed about interactivity, audience, etc.

Also, my apologies for the delay on my posting.

Sorry for being AWOL

So I'm behind in just about everything. Maybe the idea of tattooing reminders to post on both my arms might help after all. In either case, my friend out in Dallas sent me the file for the much-anticipated "The Adventures of Creswell Curtis." First of all, use the link www.cschmelzle.net/Creswell.zip to get to the game. You will be prompted to download or unzip a file to give you an installer. Install the installer (that might be the most obvious statement of all time, but then again they do have instructions on Pop-Tarts) and click on the file titled Project2.exe to run the game. It messes up on Vista, so run it on XP. Enjoy.

Creswell

Charting Resources

Gannt Chart resources as per tonight's class:

Examples:

4Cs time management:



from "timelog":


activities & milestones:



And Software Resources:

SmartDraw (software download)

ConceptDraw (both explanatory and software)

How to create a Gannt Chart in Excel

Tufte's thoughts on Gannt (and other kinds of project management) Charts

3 Points and Question

1. In the Laurel reading, I found the segment on page 4 about the label "agent" was interesting. This description helped me to look at the noun in a new light (insurance agent, secret agent, etc).

2. Psychology attempts to describe what goes on, while theatre attempts to represent what might occur.

3. Tufte describes that boring data ink sometimes sets the stage for data action, but sometimes the data alone sets the stage.

Question:
I am having trouble wrapping my brain around this concept of ink. Why is that important?

Sorry to be late

Hi Dr. Fishman-
I just wanted to say sorry that my posts are late. I mis-read the schedule and went ahead a week. If it were next week, then there was only two posts (one of which I did last week), and the other was three points and a question that Mike and I would not have had to do because we are presenting. Sorry if that's confusing, but I wanted to let you know why I was late on those.

Ali

Worst Website Ever

Wow, the Havenworks website was definitely the worst!! It hurts my eyes even to look at it. There is way too much information jammed on one page, but it has no clear organization, which makes the wayfinding very difficult for the user. In addition, the viewer has to scroll not only up and down, but also left and right, which makes reading very difficult. I honestly don't even know what this website is for even after looking at it for a few minutes. It seems to have been created for political purposes, but I am not exactly sure. There is not easy way to navigate this site, so the information seems thrown together.

Finally, the color choices of this website are horrendous. The use of primary colors and lack of contrast makes everything seem very bold, which is hard on one's eyes. In addition, there is almost no white space to give the viewer a break.

More ideas on the bad webpage

Also, this webpage uses entirely too many boxes, and it's way-finding principle is awful!

Ugh, late again!

Well, I am late again for my post because I skipped ahead a week in the schedule. So here's the worst website I could find. In order to get some ideas about the worst website, I googled "bad websites" only to come across http://www.bad-websites.com/. First of all this site has all of these empty squares on its splash page that are apparently supposed to be filled with links but have absolutely no information. Then, everything that is supposed to have other links, like "Categories" and "Newest Sites" take you to the "server cannot be found page." I am not exactly sure if this website is supposed to be a joke (in which case, it's not funny) or if the designers just really messed up. Overall, there's no useful information on this page, and it is just wasting space!
This webpage uses entirely too many boxes, and it's way-finding principle is awful! I have no idea what any of the "other stuff" categories mean or how they are relevant to the site, for example the "why nephews are bad" link; what the heck!

Laurel and Tufte 1: 3 points and a question

I'm going to take a stab at Gayle and Kevin's questions and elaborate on those as the same thoughts crossed my mind. Kevin asks how chartjunk is very much the same idea as Laurel's idea that the needs of the audience are the main concern of a computer or theatrical design. At the same time, Gayle asks if the decorations intrude on the "seriousness" of the work. I differentiate decorations in the theatrical world from the chartjunk Tufte discusses.

Chartjunk to me is the unnecessary information that clouds a viewer’s field of vision. Instead of making the information easy and readily available to read and understand, the chartjunk instead makes it complicated and convoluted with moiré effects, excess information, or just bad design. When I think of charts, I see them as serious artifacts in the scientific world. In this sense, additional "junk" takes away from what is most important, the information that is supposed to be represented. On the flip side, the theatrical world is open to representation but is suspicious of decoration.

I think what Laurel intends for us to understand is that when she refers to decoration as being suspicious (22, Laurel) it is directed at those in the science-oriented fields. To them, design is seen as decoration because it diverts from the ultimate goal: a properly working, productive tool used to enhance real world capabilities; whereas theatrics is a mere representation of reality ornamented through props, costumes, make-up, and the like. However, we already know how un-user friendly computers can be, so if human imagination, as Kevin says, were never thrown into the mix, computer programmers would still be using binary to code and computers would not be a household staple.

But this leads to the next issue of human-computer activity as seen as productive and experiential. I think in regards to user interface design, Laurel’s explanation of productive vs. experiential is really an issue seen today. I think often times that line is non-existent, especially with the development of wiki’s, most notably Wikipedia, or even the educational children’s games like Leap Frog. How do you not blur experiential and productive activity in such an instance? Are they not viewed and played simply for the experience and at the same time “have outcomes in the real world that are somehow beyond the experience of the activity itself” (22, Laurel). Would “serious games” have come into existence if the possibility of combining the two were not possible? It shows foresight on Laurel’s part to recognize that such stringent boundaries could not exist (considering this article was written in 1993).

My question is where do we go from here? In what direction is serious gaming going? (I know, out of context of the article in that you’re not going to find the answer there, but I think an interesting one to probe).

3 points and question, Tufte and Laurel

1. Common ground is a “jointly inhabited ‘space,’” which involves the collaboration of the computer and the human. Common ground acts as a “shared context for action in which both are agents” (Laurel, 4).

2. Effective interfaces should be built based on what the human or humans are going to do or take action on, rather than what graphic designers think the screen should look like (Laurel, 7).

3. Contemporary optical art that we use in Word, PowerPoint, Excel, etc. relies on moiré effects. The moiré effect is design that “interacts with the physiological tremor of the eye to produce the distracting appearance of vibration and movement” (Tufte, 107). While moiré designs were created to make distinctions, Tufte argues they are chartjunk and noise which clutters space and makes it harder to make distinctions.

Question: Theater largely consists of design, decorations, props, set, costume, make-up, etc. Laurel says that “decoration is suspect because it may get in the way of the serious work to be done.” Isn’t this a contradiction when comparing interface design with the theater? What is she getting at here?

3 p's and a Q

1. Just as in a theater work, an audience is unaware of the technical and artificial creations that are going on "behind" the production. They are caught up in the entertainment "in front" of them. Likewise, a user of a computer does not usually have concern for the technology that is bringing them a successful or entertaining computer interaction, rather the user is concerned with the end result. (from Laurel)



2. Computer designers and interface coordinators benefit from a healthy imagination. Human beings are complex and interesting. A computer can create an imaginary place in which a user can develop both emotionally and logically. (from Laurel)



3. Statistical graphics require diligent editing. Just as misspellings, bad grammar, and vague language can lower the professional grade of a scientific paper, poor graphic representation of quantitative data also degrades the quality and perception of professional competence. (from Tufte)



Q? How is Tufte's point that "chartjunk" will negatively affect a reader's understanding of a quantitative graphic similar to Laurel's idea that the needs of the audience or user are foremost the main concern of a computer or theatrical designer?

Three points and a question

“Dialogue is not just linearized turn-taking in which I say something, you go think about it and then you say something, I go think about it, and so on” (3). Common ground must be created for a conversation to take place. This can be accomplished with “ interruption, questions, utterances, and gestures that indicate whether something is being understood” (4). This concept of “common ground” has changed the idea of human-computer interface – interface is a shared experience where the human and the computer are both “agents.” (4)

Direct manipulation interface must continuously represent the “object of interest,” require physical actions or labeled button presses instead of complex syntax, and include “rapid incremental revisable operations” whose impact is immediately visible (8).

It is important to remember that computers use representation of tools, not concrete tools, in order to notice how that makes them different (“and often better than”) the real thing.

QUESTION: Has anyone else heard the phrase “two handfuls of the same elephant” (8) before reading this article?
REAL QUESTION: Can you think of an example that breaks the “computer interface as theater” metaphor?

3 points & a question

Tufte:
• Statistical graphics should help people to understand the information being presented. They should not be decorated or contain any chartjunk that detracts from the presentation of the facts.
• Dark gridlines are chartjunk. They should be removed all together or softened so that they are not in competition with the data being presented.

Laurel:
• In creating an interface, the designer must consider what the user will do with the interface and what he expects to accomplish through it. This point is very similar the point that Flower makes about functional documents with her suggestion of the scenario principle in making them more useful to the reader.

Question: How might three-dimensional interfaces fit into Laurel’s comparison between computers and theater?

Tufte I?

Dr. Fishman-

Ali and I have to present both of Tufte's articles, two weeks apart. We've read them. But...could I confirm which is Tufte I, and which is Tufte II? I've just confused myself - sorry! :O

Dear Class-

Is anyone else wondering when we'll see The Adventures of Creswell Curtis on this blog? Hahaha! :D

-Mike

Christina's Vote

Sorry for the late vote -- my podunk cable is out...again.

I have to agree with all of the Havenworks voters out there. It is horrific. A chinese crested might be the world's ugliest dog, but Havenworks is the ugliest website.

Havenworks takes the cake...

...and the Chinese Crested pooches are runners up. Wow.

I thought I had found a horrible site when I stumbled across Zyra. I thought I had it in the bag. In the end, Havenworks amplifies all that is wrong with Zyra by a factor of, oh, 12? At least everything fits on one page at Zyra without SIDEWAYS SCROLLING! AAAHHHH!

Here's the thing about Havenworks: It is not a mere challenge to scroll to the bottom. It is a marathon for your sensitive wrist ligaments. Havenworks' alignment is horrendous. The colors are probably detrimental to your monitor.

And guess what? This is incredible: The size of the page, text-based code only, is 1.1 MB!!!!! AARRGGHHH!! Your computer is forced to load that. That DOES NOT include images, which are much, much bigger. This means...wow, I could not begin to guess...hold on...I am running an analysis of the total home page size. Ok: 3.3 MB. You have to load the equivalent of one iTune to view their page. Google's homepage is approx. 1.47 kb.

This point of page size may seem tangential, I know. But the load time will strongly influence the visual effectiveness of a page, will it not? This is amazing. Well done, Havenworks.

Vote

This was really a tough decision for me because I thought Kiel's website was terrible. You cannot go any where on http://www.unicorn-chinese-cresteds.com/main.html except to a google search and once I got there I didn't feel like searching anymore. But then I clicked on Susan's site and agreed this has to be the worst website ever. The use of color, the ridiculous number of links, the size of the site, etc. It is a disaster.

Kevin's vote

Well, it seems what I thought would be a sure victory is slipping through my grasps. And since poor taste is not one of the main factors that our Professor instructed us to use in evaluating the sites, I concede that "havenworks" is just about the most obnoxious and visually unappealing beast I have ever encountered. I could only look at it for a minute or so.

Congratulations Susan, your choice is truly a terrible website!

Post 3 - Vote

Of this group, with the exception of mine, the havenworks site is the absolute worst! There are a million colors on the page, the proximity is terrible, the page is innundated with words, white space does not exist, and bluntly, it gives me a headache just looking at it. I believe the theme the creators were going for was chaos.

My vote...

My vote is for zyra.org. First, it does not look like a legitimate or credible site for information of any kind. The neon colored font on the black background is really difficult to read and there’s no consistency in the typefaces, font size or weight. The graphics and pictures are strange, especially the big picture in the top right of the page. I’m not sure how the man (or is it a woman) in a blue wig and purple getup fits the nature of the site. The alignment and use of white space are not effective at all. I wonder how the site has gotten as many hits as it has.

My Vote

I'll agree that http://havenworks.com is the worst website found so far. There is one thing I don't believe is mentioned about this site. Every time I enter is, it takes a long time for all of the small icon size image links to load (since there are so many). This is very distracting and I find my self watching these images load and appear more than viewing the site itself. I'm actually a bit scared of clicking on one of these links. Who knows where it will take me. An icon sized image isn't nearly enough information for me to know where this link navigates. There is also an issue with outdated information. If I were to use my scroll button to scroll down the main page, I would be scrolling for a good 10 minutes. I believe the earliest entry is news from January of this year. All the irrelevant information needs to be deleted. There is a thing called back-up and archive. Many of the other problems with this site have been mentioned (or at least the ones that I can remember, because there are more than just a few). I honestly think if I owned a high resolution wide-screen monitor, it still would not be enough space to draw together the catastrophe of this site. Nice find Susan (or should I say horrible find).

That's awful...

My vote is for http://havenworks.com. Thanks for the explanation for what it is Susan because I would have immediately redirected myself the moment I laid eyes on the page. I think it would almost be easier to discuss what this page did correctly, but then I would have nothing to say. The other websites at least have some white space on the page so that your eye is not constantly scanning. This one however is completely filled to the brim. There is text everywhere, and it is so jumbled it looks incomprehensible. One of my biggest pet peeves with websites if giving the user too many options. This is absolutely ridiculous. I think you could probably spend the better part of a life time trying to navigate what looks to be the home page.

There is no distinct focal point for the eye, and the title itself is difficult to spot. The color scheme makes no sense and offers the user no visual cues as to navigation or usability. The page scrolls on forever and ever. Most users do not even bother to look below the fold, I would bet a lot of money to guess that no one has ever read everything listed on this one page (and that is excluding the million of link options that are available).

Lastly there is no coherency. The fonts are different throughout, the old style font is used for links and sans serif fonts are used for text and it should be the other way around. The rule of proximity must be a foreign concept, and the contrasts are so great that they're distracting and unattractive to the viewer. This person completely missed the boat in understanding how a website is suppose to the function and designed this with no audience in mind.

Bad website

http://rainbowsandals.net/

I was looking to buy a new pair of sandals and was searching for the popular brand, Rainbow sandals. There are plenty of sites that sell them but their company website is the worst. I couldn’t tell if it was their actual website or just some home website I’d be sending my money to. Needless to say I haven’t bought them yet.

This website is bad because:

-The title of the company/product is not the first thing you see
-Background is distracting and irrelevant
-The text color in the headings and links are distracting
-It is unclear as to what links to click on
-The page is entirely way too long. You have to scroll multiple time to get to the bottom of the page.
-There is no hierarchy represented. The most important information is at the bottom of the page: the logo, the size chart, the shipping information
-The chart showing what size sandal you should buy is not aligned properly so it is unclear as to what size you should buy
-Some of the links do not work
-Each page looks completely different, there is no unity among them
-Everything is bulleted when it could have a dropdown menu

Bad Site

“Unicorn Chinese Crest Dogs” at http://www.unicorn-chinese-cresteds.com/main.html is a horrible site. To start off, it’s a pink nightmare that poses to be a site about a certain breed of dog. A few of its problems are:

1. First and foremost, you can’t access the menu without typing in a keyword for a Google site search. Whenever you have to use a search engine to navigate through your site, there are problems. The viewer is put in an almost immediate dead end at the main page.

2. The type is all “Oldstyle” and un-dynamically black.

3. The quote about dog on the right side is pixilated.

To get past the main page and actually access the site with a navigable feature, type:
“menu” under Google search unicorn-chinese-cresteds.com. This will take you to a menu, but nothing else.

4. Selecting a link on the menu will open up a new browser window. This is very annoying when trying to swiftly navigate through this site.

5. The menu links aren’t spaced out or sectioned off to give them differentiation.

6. The text is centered where there are paragraphs.

These are the main flaws with the site. I guess I could go on all day and still not finish critiquing this site, but that would be way too much strain on my eyes.

My Vote

I don't even need to see the rest of the options. Kevin's www.inmatesforyou.com is the height of absurdity. Certainly the visuals leave a lot to be desired, but they pale in comparison to the nonsense inherent in the concept of this site. Correspond with a female inmate?!?!?!? Are you kidding me? Yeah, I know I've always wanted to snag up a 35-year old stripper who's doing 10-15 for armed robbery/felony possession/hit-and-run. I know my mom would be thrilled. And the great part of the site is that they let you know when they're expected to be released. I searched for ones that get out in about 8 to 10 years. That'd put me in my early 30's, and who doesn't want to bring a convicted felony to the company picnic?

Worst Website

The website I chose is http://ikissyou.org. I believe this site is part of the genesis of the Borat character. To begin, the background, is gray brick, circa 1996. It certainly looks as though it was developed with Netscape on an Acer or something. All the text and images are centered. Many of the images have no explanation. The English is noticeably broken and quite laughable. Additionally there is no real effort to balance the items on the page and it could use some asymmetry. More than anything though, irrespective of visual elements, this website is terrible just because its so funny and ridiculous.

Website Disaster

The Public Health Sciences website, that is an awful website. And although I hate to admit it, but it was my baby. When I worked at the department they asked me and another girl to not update the website, but overhaul it completely. Thing was, neither Alexis nor I had any web design experience and Dreamweaver was unknown to both of us before this little experiment. Well, we thought we would give it a shot. Here's where the disaster begins to unfold. Templates, they were unknown to us so every single page was constructed from scratch every single time, every single page (yes, I will be emphatic about that). The overall design scheme is horrendous. First of all, it is Clemson-ized to every possible extreme. Orange and purple as strewn throughout without any regards to aesthetic appeal. I think that because the orange is so bright and vibrant and the purple is so overwhelming that it is even visually hard for people to look at (not easy on the eyes). The visual cues in regards to what constitutes a link and what doesn't are not at all easily identified.

In regards to the rules of proximity, alignment, repetition, and contrast, I think we break them all in very bad ways. Although the site seems organized enough, broken up into categories for students, faculty and staff, alumni, and internship, it gets a little messy from there. I think that the hierarchical structure would be better represented if the page itself didn't look so disorganized. It has the appearance, but in reality, the information is together. Everything throughout the site is aligned differently: text, images, links, etc. There is no definition to the page, which I think also heavily contributes to its disorganization. In regards to repetition, there is plenty of that in regards to color and alignment, but unfortunately it doesn't help the overall look or usability because those things that are repetitive are not done very well. Finally, in regards to the contrast, it is a concordant relationship: from the colors to the text. Every page looks alike, again, not in a good way. It forces the user to work too hard to find the information and could often present itself as confusing as there are no visual cues to indicate where the user has gone or is going.

Again, this was the first attempt at a website using Dreamweaver, which was almost 2 years ago now. I know you're probably thinking, why didn't you change it? Time constraints. Unfortunately it fell off the priority list, but don't think I didn't know how bad it was, or rather is.

Proceed with caution

http://havenworks.com/

Every aspect of this site is a nightmare, right down to the title that includes a ;-) winky face. It touts itself as a “haven” for local, national and international news regarding everything from accounting to genealogy to sports, but the site is hard to glance at let alone read or scroll through.

1. To say the site overuses color is an understatement. The top of the page alternates between a different colored background (or background within a background) and a white background. Most of the many, many, many links are either tiny colorful icons followed by text, or just the icons themselves (which is another issue altogether). Some of the text links (Secrets, TV Weblog) use a different color for each letter in the word.

2. The site uses a lot of hyperlinked icons and pictures without accompanying text or text that appears upon a mouse over. It’s hard to determine what a lot of the icons stand for and what section of the site they will link you to. In the blue vertical navigation column most of the hyperlinked pictures are blurry or pixilated, and while some of them are familiar, it’s not clear what all of them are or even whether they will direct you to a completely different site or stay within havenworks.com. The picture links in the horizontal bar labeled “Republican News” are inconsistent: some of them are pictures, others are maps, another is clipart of a bear. Half of the pictures have the blue box around them that indicates a link, while the other half do not. Consistency on this site is certainly lacking.


3. There is virtually no white space on this site. Text and icons fill up the entire page from left to right and top to bottom. There isn’t really spacing between the rows at the top or the columns below. Depending on the resolution of your screen, some of the text even overlaps other text that is clearly meant to be separated by boxes surrounding the distinct sections.

4. There are way too many typefaces going on throughout the page. Some of the news stories use a serif font while others use a sans serif. Nothing is really uniform in they way the site uses typefaces, weight, size or alignment of text.


5. The overall setup of the site (spacing, text, links, color, etc.) makes it difficult to determine the hierarchy of the information it’s presenting to the viewer. The lack of hierarchy is also due to the incredible volume of information and text the site presents on the homepage. It takes a minute (literally) to get to the bottom of the page and without consistent use of color, typeface and font size it’s hard to pick out the important words or headlines at a glance.

Bad website

http://inmatesforyou.com/

OK, this one is a real winner. Basically you contact female inmates to try to become their pen pal and possibly date them if they ever get out.

Here are some particularly bad aspects concerning the site:

1. Very unattractive colors and font choices make it read like a newspaper.

2. The main text is always centered and cluttered, and it doesn't give the viewer anything interesting to capture their attention.

3. Colors are used to block text under different headings, however, the colors are quite bland and do not add any benefiting contrast.

4. The site wastes the top third of the home page with advertising.

5. White space is poorly utilized as its placement simply enhances the already "boxed in " look of the page.

The Dark Side of Oz

http://members.cox.net/stegokitty/dsotr_pages/definitive_list.htm

It is not even clear what the point of this website is at first glance. The text is overwhelming and the logo at the top of the page is vague. Even the title of the website is vague – the definitive list of what? This is a website I found that lists the moments where Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon synchronizes with the classic family film The Wizard of Oz. Boredom can be rough sometimes.

1.) This website does do one thing right – it uses color to imply meaning. The moments that occur during the black and white portion of this film are listed in grayscale text and the ones that occur in the color portion of the film are listed in colorful text. This is not enough to save this website, however.

2.) The designer completely ignored the need for white space – the site is completely filled with text that extends from edge to edge on the page.

3.) It would have helped the site immensely if the designer had included screen captures next to the items in the list and used the text more as captions. Not only would the visuals increase the usability of the site by making it easier for the user visually understand when the synchronized moment occurs, it would also have given the page some visual interest.

4.) The choice of font is boring and lacks contrast.

5.) The rules are ugly and their repetition is monotonous, not interesting.

6.) The logo at the top of the page is cluttered, center aligned, and way too small. So is the logo at the bottom of the page.

7.) The list should be the focus of the page – the extra information at the top of the page should be moved to the bottom of the page.

8.) The site should use the concept of proximity and should be divided by scene or by song to better organize the information.

zyra.org

Zyra

This site is ridiculous. Let's go over a few reasons why. First, please read the tagline on Zyra.org's homepage, and the purple paragraph beneath it.

One of my least favorite things is having to scroll 3 feet to get to the bottom of a page. Some blogs, classified ads, and message boards contain tolerable scrolling, but it does not work for Zyra. Zyras extensive scrolling becomes a clear violation of the rule of proximity; you cannot get a feel for this site by glancing at any one of its pages. It possesses an almost anti-hierarchical quality.

I cannot tell what the important elements are, can you? That is largely because there is no contrast. The text is a hodge-podge of medium-sized sans-serif, serifed, italic, bold, uppercase fonts....ad nauseam. Zyra's use of every conceivable neon color is actually kind of amazing. I'm afraid that this does not create contrast or focus, but it does create a headache for the user.

In terms of alignment, this page contains extreme left and right alignment. The content runs the full width of the page. I find this to be very hard to deal with.

The repetition of this page lies in its vast use of complete nonsense. In other words, I can find no discernible repetition. This is a problem for a website that *wants* to be an index of information.

Two more fun things:

1. You are encourage by Zyra to use the site as your homepage. Ha!!
2. You should try running an online sitemap generator to try see the "wholeness/effectiveness" of your own bad site. Try this one: sitemapdoc.com. It's fun to find broken links and duplicate content on reputable sites! (I must say the sitemapdoc has a pretty poor visual layout as well, but their service has been helpful to me, even though they will only scan (spider) 500 pages. When I scanned Zyra.org, I was surprised that Zyra only had one page of duplicate content...and no errors! Perhaps a rhetorical re- visioning could make Zyra first-rate!
   

Bad website

Miserable web design at its best can be found at the following address: http://www.appomattox.com/. Brace yourself.

The "design sins" are too many too mention. What a shame too! Appomattox, Virginia played a significant role in the Civil War. You wouldn't know it from looking at this site.

1. Formal, centered text: it doesn't get much better than this. Even the links are centered. Truly original.

2. If the obvious, "Please Scroll Down for a Detailed Index" doesn't clarify things for you, I'm not sure what can. Not to mention, it is centered text. Maybe, they could have made it bold or larger if they wanted people to actually read it. The point is, however, that it is pointless to include it. By the time you see this line, you've already scrolled past it.

3. Speaking of scrolling, this page requires a lot of it. Not exactly a good thing.

4. The Elements of Graphic Design: Space, Unity, Page Architecture book advises designers to avoid "boxitis". This page has a little problem with that.

5. The white space (and green white space for that matter) is poorly utilized. In the chart, there are even blank spaces where either the designer ran out of topics to list or didn't know how to remove the blank boxes.

6. The "bold" decision to use Times New Roman font was ingenious. With the exception of the "appomattox.com" in the visual (which is also atrocious), the type is the same throughout the entire page.

7. The contrast the designer(s) used was teal green. Not very dramatic. Even with the teal background, the text itself does not stand out from the rest of the text. Making the other text bold doesn't help either.

8. Using all caps in the boxes just looks bad. Not only do the letters look rectangular, they are placed inside rectangles. Also, the capitalized lettering makes the space look very tight. This page struggles with proximity as well.

9. It appears the designer(s) attempted to anchor the page with the teal coloring. The heading has teal and so do the rectangles near the bottom. However, they typed more text after the boxes; and although they signal that you have reached the end by thanking you for visiting, you continue to scroll because visually it appears the page will never end.

10. The site does not have an effective visual that connects with the town of Appomattox. The Non-Designer’s Design Book shows great examples using the rat. Yet, this site uses a smudged picture of one of the historic buildings in Appomattox. The only way people would recognize the house is if they had previously visited the location.

The entire page is a tacky nightmare. It looks like someone's ten year old put it together for an extra credit assignment at school.

3 Points and a Question

- Color can aid in organization, establishing consistency as well as establish emphasis by providing an order of importance.

- Legibility is the "ease with which type can be understood under normal reading conditions," whereas readability is "the quality of attracting and holding a reader's attention."

- Determining a document/designs purpose and size should be the first priority for a designer.

Question: I don't really have a question. And I don't think it would be fair to come up with one at random... At least I'm honest?

3 points - 1 question

Alex White makes it a point to advise against using diagonal directions in a layout. Robin Williams made this point in her book, as well. I won't be breaking this rule without a GREAT reason for doing so.

In Charles Kostlenick's piece he explains that trust can be built in a "universal" midset via structurally-transparent designs. This may mean cutting out the "fluff," and displaying the data with simplicity.

In "Revising Functional Documents," Flower, Hayes, and Swarts mentioned that rules & regulations may be made more palpable by addressing/implying your reader in the regulations. In other words, if you don't just spout off the rules, but you let the reader know that THEY could be held resposible for breaking the rule(s). You can see this on page 56.

Question:
Are you personally inclined towards modern or post-modern visual appeal? Why?

Three points and a question

• White’s key points on the use of color:
• “Color is a raw material to be used strategically for a clear purpose.”
• Color should not be random just as design is not random – randomness confuses the reader
• Color aids organization, gives emphasis, and provides direction.

• Design is an evolution on two levels: one level seeks relationships of meaning, which “appeal to the reader’s need for understanding,” and the other seeks relationships of form, which “appeals to the reader’s need for attraction.”

• Remember that is publication is both two-dimensional and three-dimensional. The paper’s thickness can be used to create design elements, such as images that are visible through a layer of semitransparent paper.

• QUESTION: Of the two levels of design evolution, which do you think is easier to create? Can you successfully create one without the other, or are they equally important?

3 + 1 relating to White

1. A reader or viewer desires consistency, as the human eye is trained from childhood to seek wholeness and unity.

2. Visual designers can follow the example of musical composers such as Beethoven by similarly and effectively using space as a method to capture and hold the listener's attention. In a sense the viewer can be considered a listener.

3. Visual/graphic designers can also follow the example of beautiful and efficient architectural designs, with space being the most important design element for both professions.

Question: Has advancements in computer technology taken away most of the possibilities that individual graphic designers gain respect as true artists and not simply be considered computer experts? For example, in the 1950's Pablo Picasso sometimes painted advertising posters for events such as bull fighting exhibitions. His surviving posters are worth millions. Today, computer graphics do most of this type of work.

Week 4: 3 points and a question

1. Flowers says documents should be designed to suffice a readers’ goals and the “reading strategies people bring to functional documents.”

2. According to Flowers, readers frequently recode text to form a “concrete story or event by creating a condition/action sequence or by supplying agents and action” in order to understand text and make it functional.

3. Flowers points out when designing a document think about how the document is used a catalyst for action.

Question: Please explain the “bottom-up” and “top-down” processing strategies in more detail.

3 Points, 1 Question

-White states that there are four ways to approximate three-dimensional space in two dimensions: overlap elements, imply motion by blurring elements, use scale and visual hierarchy, and use perspective.

- Flower’s reading suggests “the function of a training manual is to tell someone how to do something; therefore a reader-based revision takes that function seriously and organizes information around the task the reader must perform.” Thus, another strategy for reader-based revisions is to “organize the text around the readers’ search for answers to those [practical] answers.”

-Kostelnick’s description of “flatman” was interesting. I did find it funny because I did not know that there was a formal name for the stick-figure; yet, always found that his presence helped me understand the concept of the visual better. Kostelnick states that flatman’s design typifies a “global (or universal) model of visual communication. Its advocates seek to find ways that visual language can bridge the cultural gaps that separate readers visually, largely by aiming to create a rational, objective, and culture-free design language or by defining the building blocks of such a language through empirical research.”

Please thoroughly describe was gestalt is and its relationship to the other six of the seven design components.

Oops

Ugh! I used the wrong "holes" in my question for this week. I hate errors like this! I just wanted to let you all know that I am aware and not an idiot!

discussion leaders

As discussion leaders, do we have to worry about the 3 points and a question? We are a bit confused as to what our responsibility is with this. We know that it was addressed in class, but don't remember the exact answer to it.

thanks,
Kiel, Nick, and Julie

Three Posts and a Question

-White says that before ever creating a design, one must consider how the design evolves from basic relationships to more complex relationships. We must start the design process by studying and evaluating every aspect that will go into the design: what is being said, why it's being said, and who is going to read it. The we must develop a plan to suit the individualized needs to each design in order to successfully convey the given message to the intended audience.

-Flower states that readers employ structure to read a document. which is especially important when readers want to use a document beyond just being able to understand it. It seems that the more a person is interested in a document and the more that person directly connects to that document, the more she will need structure to utilize it sufficiently.

-Kostelnick discusses how readers are often unaware of the aesthetic judgments embedded into our consciousness, which ultimately influence whether we like or dislike a particular design. What is particularly interesting about this idea is that readers acquire their aesthetic sensibilities via acculturation throughout their entire lives often without ever being aware of it. This idea was proven in Kostelnick's example of Tinker's research, where he found that the readability of typeface directly correlated to its "pleasingness" to readers.

Question: Flower's research explores how to revise a federal document to make it more readable for the general public. Is there really a way, however, to make such a document readable for the masses, while retaining all of the information it needs to cover and eliminating loop wholes?

3 points & a question

• White suggests that designers think of each element in the design in terms of its shape (including letters/words and white space) separate from the element’s meaning.

• Through Flower’s research of the effectiveness of functional documents, she examines the value of using “scenarios” versus “definitions” in providing the reader with information he can understand and actually use. In order for these documents to aid the reader in figuring out the appropriate course of action rather than merely teaching him information, the document must be restructured in terms of “scenarios.”

• Kostelnick offers that while global and culture-focused approaches to design are two extremes on a continuum, neither is necessarily right or wrong, but rather the selection of one or the other, or a design strategy that incorporates both depends on the situation that presents the initial need for a visual and on the audience.

Can a culture-focused visual/design be successful if created from outside of that culture?

Week 4: 3 points and a question

White once again emphasizes the concept of space through the use of the seven different design components: unity, gestalt, space, dominance, hierarchy, balance, and color. He probes a little deeper and certainly relates the designer’s goal to that of an architect and less to an artist. It is about developing the blank space and creating an aesthetically appealing and purposeful design within that space through visualizing everything as shapes.

Flower discusses the importance of reader-centered designs in regards to producing “functional documents.” His main point is that “functional prose should be structured around a human agent performing actions in a particular situation;” in other words, organize text around the reader’s questions to create a document that aims to aid rather than teach.

Kostelnick’s piece fuses the information from White and Flower’s in an in-depth look at modernism vs. postmodernism. It is not his aim to create a definitive gap between the two, but he rather, place them on a continuum that encourages hybrids. He holds that universal advocates see visuals as geared towards achieving a purpose; whereas, cultural focused advocates are geared towards meeting an audience needs. Both are critical when designing a document and relaying information to an audience.

Based on Kostelnick’s definition of global and cultural-focused approaches to information design, which strategy does White advocate throughout his book, The Elements of Graphic Design?

Group Project

Topic: Transportation
Group: Susan, Gayle, Katie, April
Method: Video/Film

Group Project

Topic: Transportation
Group: Susan, Gayle, Katie, April

Collaborative Project

Creswell Curtis, Christina D'elia, RJ Wachs

Video Presentation using theme of Clemson's Solid Orange Campaign

Feral Cats

Ali Ferguson and Michael Hovan

Last week sometime, the university sent out an email telling students, faculty, and staff not to feed any wildlife on campus, including the feral cats. Mike and I found this particularly amusing and have decided that the university's message would be more compelling with an illustrated booklet/pamphlet on the matter. So, we are going to expand upon the email that we recieved from the university with visuals and a little extra information to make a more reader-friendly/interesting argument as to why it is a bad idea to feed wildlife and feral cats on campus. It's going to be a good time.

Apathy -- Visual Persuasion

Kiel Pease
Julie Ledbetter
Kevin Cantey
Nicholas McElveen

Film/Video Production

3 pts and a deep question!?!?!??!!

1- Williams uses the method of converting uppercased titles into lowercase. This allows more room for the type to be enlarged and put into a deeper bold, which works as contrast to the other type.

2- Never put 2 type faces from the same category on the same page. Combining different letterforms effectively is an important entity.

3- “And here are three sans serifs working well together. But these are from the same family…This is why it’s good to own at least one sans serif family that has lots of different family members.”

Question- Would you consider graphic design, a true art-form or just making things look like art (or artistically pleasing)?

3 pts and question

1. Your designs do not always have to follow a norm, they just need to be effective.

2. Don't get carried away with too much background or white space, and be careful not to use unattractive colors, that only "you" might find appealing.

3. Make sure your viewer/user does not have to work too hard to navigate the pages.



Question: When is a page to be considered too complicated or cluttered?

There is much to learn...

Once again, Robin Williams has done an amazing job of laying things out succinctly. I feel like my eyes have been opened a bit wider, and am ashamed of my previous layout/text ineptness. Some of these things are intuitive, but when I read them I can really say to myself "Wow. Yeah, THAT's what I was feeling."

• A valuable, honest point from the latter half of her book: Always try to upstage your client's dorky, structurally-bad design!
• Another excellent point: Try to make text direction work only along the 'X' & 'Y' Axes. Not diagonally. (Unless you can verbalize why it's OK to do so!)
• A third great point from Williams: You can create color with type - Another intuitive thing that would be good to "take ownership of."
• A point from White's text that I found particularly interesting: "Plan color from the start."

This makes a lot of sense to me, especially as I am learning to consider all the various design elements as a unified whole. Some of my past projects were failures; I think because I tried to add color at the end. It was not part of the plan from its inception, so it worked in opposition to the piece. I find color to be difficult to use.

My question:

- Do you think that publishing/graphic design in an electronic medium is leading to greater innovation, or merely making us lazier due to its non-permanence?

Three points...

From The Elements of Graphic Design:

1.) Type and graphics are “inherently different languages” – use color, texture, direction, and size to create a unity of meaning between the two.
2.) Develop a style manual – don’t “try to be different to be ‘creative.’”
3.) Balance unity and variety to create something that has a clear message but is still interesting.

Question: I found the numerous illustrations in The Elements of Graphic Design distracting rather than helpful. Do you think that the book achieves the proper unity between graphics and type?

Week 3: 3 points and a question

It's odd how White says to treat everything on the page as a different element, yet Williams breaks down the different kinds of contrast as seen with different kinds of type: size, weight, structure, form, direction color, and White generalizes all elements into 10 different contrasts.

I find Williams book to be much more effective than White's at the present. I think White is over the top in the design of his own book and it is rather cluttered and violates the space issues he discusses. The book is mosaic as he tries to crowd ever last bit of information on to the page. My eyes are constantly distracted and the flow is interrupted.

As White says, space adds functionality, thus make the document useful to the reader. The usefulness of a document is determined by "wayfinding," the way people maneuver through information.

He just barely touches on "wayfinding" and this seems an important point as he says, it has less to do with aesthetics. So how does, and what beyond space contributes to wayfinding?

Points & Question

• It is better to use a serif font when you have a large block of text within the visual. This is true for both print and web design.

• White space is interpretable just as the other elements—typeface, text, graphics, etc.—of a visual are interpretable. So a designer should pay as much attention to the placement and meaning of white space within a design as he pays to the placement and meaning of the other elements.

• Before a visual design can be effective, the designer must first decide who the audience is and then what information is the most important and useful for that audience. After determining the intended message, the designer can use design principles (proximity, alignment, contrast, repetition, dominance, color, etc.) to organize that information.

Question:
White mentions the idea of closure as a way to actively engage the reader in the visual design. What are other ways designers can include the reader so that he is active in the creation of the design and the message is still communicated effectively?

3 Points, 1 Question

- I found it interesting to learn about the thick/thin transition and how the stress location can help distinguish the various typefaces. After reading the information and studying the examples, I could easily tell the difference between oldstyle and slab serif.

- In the Alex White reading, I enjoyed the example using the word 'dialog' at the bottom left of page 53. White adds that, "Image and type must share more than mere proximity. Their forms should be similar. The strongest unity created when their meanings are fused..." This example was a creative way to connect a meaning with a visual.

- The segment on space being context was informative. White states that a message or form is perceived as a result of using white space as the context. White displays a visual interpretation of the Chinese symbol of yin/yang, which at first glance, just looks like a wheel of male legs spinning clockwise. However, the picture also includes eight female legs pointed the opposite direction. So, the creative use of white space made the entire visual relevant to the context.

- I understand that gestalt describes a design's wholeness, but how would you describe this idea? This idea seemed both clear and vague to me.

The Elements 3 points

The Elements of Graphic Design:

1) “It is vital for a designer to learn to see each element as a shape as well as a signifier of meaning.” It’s interesting that a lot of the time we focus on the words we write to make a point but the idea of arranging text, white space, graphics, etc. visually giving meaning is something that will take much concentration and practice.
2) Empty space/white space can be used to represent something about the product or client. A large ad with the majority of white space leads the audience to believe the product/company is “extravagant, exclusive, classy,” and successful. In clothing stores, the more space there is signifies “rarity” and luxury.
3) In the evolution of type and graphic design, currently with the use of computers it allows us to use graphic design in many capacities, “but the purpose of a document remains to be read.”

Question: If we use graphic design so much so now that the text is lost and unread, will the next evolutionary change in text and graphic design be more text based and simple or will we begin to use graphic design exclusively and use less text?

3 Points and a Question

- White space doesn't have to be white. It is simply a color that fills in an area we perceive as empty. Thus, an understanding of white space and its uses are essential to understanding how design influences viewer's perceptions.

- There is a difference between having white space and using white space. The former is unplanned and is not an integral part of the design.

- Asymmetry, things that are not symmetrical, implies motion and activity. It creates order and balance between unlike elements.

My Question is actually more a point of contention. In reading this I agree that there are many important essentials to quality visual designs. However, I suppose the natural skeptic in me is wondering if it is possible to go too far with the analysis of these elements and tactics. In other words, is there no place for instinct in all of this. Can something simply just feel and look right while ignoring some of the conventions discussed in these readings?

Three comments and a question

-"Space is undefined until it is articulated by the placement of an object within it." This is a very interesting principle brought up by White, which I think most people would overlook. For instance, one would take a greater notice of the space in a box if a circle was placed within that box, rather than leaving the box empty.

-"It must be evident to the viewer that a design's material has been predigested and presented in an organizeed way." This particular idea of White is very important for any designer, and even any writer, to think about. We need to demonstrate through proper layout and design that we have a well-organized plan and overall purpose for making the choices we do.

-"Emptiness is wasted if it fails to achieve the desired attention-getting result, or fails to make the page look inviting with an unthreatening, airy presentation, or fails to act as a separator between elements." Before reading both White's and Williams' books I had no idea that white, empty space could serve as a design tool, but as both of these authors have pointed out, white space extreme power in design.

Question: If symmetry creates passive and predictable white space, is it something we want to use, or is it something we want to avoid?