Showing posts with label Info Arch. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Info Arch. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 30, 2016
Wednesday, February 17, 2016
Monday, February 8, 2016
Wednesday, February 3, 2016
Monday, February 1, 2016
Homepage Analysis
The New Yorker - Sophisticated
The home page of the online version of the magazine is simple in layout and presents the right amount of options for readers to navigate the content of the site. One full image with title and short description, conveys a sense of sophistication. The typefaces are the key elements that connect to the print version of the magazine. The part of the physical experience that somehow is lost in the digital version, is the illustrated cover. Often time that is the main reason I grab a copy of it off the table in a waiting room or a friend's coffee table.
The Riverfront Times (RFT) - Unrefined
At first glance it is confusing to the reader. Many elements in the layout clash with each other and it is hard to tell which sections are part of the site itself and which may be advertisement. Like The New Yorker, it is missing the cover illustration/photo that is usually very engaging and helps convey the sense of Art & Culture that the digital format is having a hard time expressing.
Corriere Della Sera - Trustworthy
The homepage of the Corriere Della Sera is very pleasing to the in its simplicity. The simple designs gives the online version all the credibility that the printed version does and may go even further in showcasing a single main article with smaller editorials.
The editorial section nicely presents an image of the writer as these are notorious editorial writers. Often readers gravitate towards an editor in particular rather than the contents itself, so an a visual indication of the writer is nice.
Sunday, January 31, 2016
Wednesday, January 27, 2016
Article Response
Web Design is 95% Typography by iA
I like in the opening paragraphs the author tackles the some of the misconception of typography. The selection of a typeface is important and should reflect some of the values, styles and principles of a project, but ultimately there are very few instances where the typeface choice is the real star. I would compare the selection of a typeface to the job of a parent. A person that truly cares about their child can set up all the best opportunities in the world for them, but if the child is pushed to do things the correct way within those opportunities, he still runs the risk of failure. Sending a problem child to a private high school will not necessarily solve every problem just like finding the best typeface combination will not save your webpage from disaster.
For the rest, the article is a great resource of the technical side of type and webdesign.
I like in the opening paragraphs the author tackles the some of the misconception of typography. The selection of a typeface is important and should reflect some of the values, styles and principles of a project, but ultimately there are very few instances where the typeface choice is the real star. I would compare the selection of a typeface to the job of a parent. A person that truly cares about their child can set up all the best opportunities in the world for them, but if the child is pushed to do things the correct way within those opportunities, he still runs the risk of failure. Sending a problem child to a private high school will not necessarily solve every problem just like finding the best typeface combination will not save your webpage from disaster.
For the rest, the article is a great resource of the technical side of type and webdesign.
Response to Articles
What Screens Want by Frank Chimero
Before reading the Chimero article I had an idea of the opposing ideas of Flat design and, what he refers to as, Skeuo. He says that any sensible designer would fall somewhere in the middle of the two and that both camps are incorrect in their approach, as their are both aesthetic in nature. I would agree with the need of finding a middle ground and not simply putting the aesthetic value of either above the other, but I think he somewhat glosses over the fact that flat design might be more effective in it’s reproducibility.
Flat design has the advantage of using smaller file sizes and adds a cleanliness and order to the screen, allowing for the same shapes to be reproduces at any size. When it comes to file size, flat design is often easily describable by few vector points, lines and shapes that allow for quicker processing. Sometimes the difference may be minimal between a Flat rendition as opposed to a Skeuo one, but all the elements of a website add up and can cause sites to run slowly for those who do not have the most up to date technology. Cleaner lines and shapes also allows for more manageable motion graphics as well.
When it comes to production, we can see that a Flat and clean design allows for an easier reproduction. This can be seen within typeface design in the past century. The advent of sans serif may have come in part because of aesthetic preferences, but it ultimately has conquered within an industrial setting. Helvetica, Univers and many other sans serifs are simply easier to reproduce thanks to their simple structure. For awhile I worked in graphic production creating vinyl cuts for all kinds of projects and without a doubt sans serifs, but also the more simple serif typefaces, made for an easier an cleaner reproductions at any size.
Another important point in the essay, is when Chimero mentions the importance of having universal names to describe motions within interactive and motion graphics. Often when collaborating in these types of projects I have come to a point where I could only describe a certain motion with geometrical terms, perhaps describing the the radius on which it spins a certain amount of degrees. This works well sometimes for simple motions that ultimately have to be express in a mathematical form within After Effects, but sometimes I can only resort to sketching out the various steps or hope to find two or three similar examples of a given motion on that may exist on the internet.
What The New York Times Web Reboot Gets Right by Rob Tannen
The change from a multiple page spanning article to a single page is a fantastic change in my opinion. For one it allows me to avoid loading times. I cannot stand, and I assume more and more people as well, the never ending gallery of images, articles, essays, blogs, etc. displayed on separate pages. This is a trick that may have worked in the past to get you ad revenue up, but I think intelligent users of the internet will increasingly shy away from these types of websites. Secondly I believe it gives the paper more credibility. Not that it will validate any of the sources or fact check the journalist efforts, but it will ultimately give the reader a better sense of what the paper’s intents are. Yes, they have a bottom line to meet, but users value the functionality of a website if it helps in their experience. Readers will find the New York Times to be trustworthy simply because they are not attempting to trick you like the other multiple page websites. Also, in my experience on the web, it seems like the website that are looking for the highest amount of clicks, often have the weakest of content. A look at any top 20 images of memes or albums of the month will show that some web developer are able to string a single paragraph of information into 3 or 4 pages by displaying a single sentence as the caption to an image. Sometimes they are effective because users want to find out what the top album of 2015 was and will click through all the pages, but many will be offended by this layout of information, since it could easily been displayed with a simple grocery list.
Before reading the Chimero article I had an idea of the opposing ideas of Flat design and, what he refers to as, Skeuo. He says that any sensible designer would fall somewhere in the middle of the two and that both camps are incorrect in their approach, as their are both aesthetic in nature. I would agree with the need of finding a middle ground and not simply putting the aesthetic value of either above the other, but I think he somewhat glosses over the fact that flat design might be more effective in it’s reproducibility.
Flat design has the advantage of using smaller file sizes and adds a cleanliness and order to the screen, allowing for the same shapes to be reproduces at any size. When it comes to file size, flat design is often easily describable by few vector points, lines and shapes that allow for quicker processing. Sometimes the difference may be minimal between a Flat rendition as opposed to a Skeuo one, but all the elements of a website add up and can cause sites to run slowly for those who do not have the most up to date technology. Cleaner lines and shapes also allows for more manageable motion graphics as well.
When it comes to production, we can see that a Flat and clean design allows for an easier reproduction. This can be seen within typeface design in the past century. The advent of sans serif may have come in part because of aesthetic preferences, but it ultimately has conquered within an industrial setting. Helvetica, Univers and many other sans serifs are simply easier to reproduce thanks to their simple structure. For awhile I worked in graphic production creating vinyl cuts for all kinds of projects and without a doubt sans serifs, but also the more simple serif typefaces, made for an easier an cleaner reproductions at any size.
Another important point in the essay, is when Chimero mentions the importance of having universal names to describe motions within interactive and motion graphics. Often when collaborating in these types of projects I have come to a point where I could only describe a certain motion with geometrical terms, perhaps describing the the radius on which it spins a certain amount of degrees. This works well sometimes for simple motions that ultimately have to be express in a mathematical form within After Effects, but sometimes I can only resort to sketching out the various steps or hope to find two or three similar examples of a given motion on that may exist on the internet.
What The New York Times Web Reboot Gets Right by Rob Tannen
The change from a multiple page spanning article to a single page is a fantastic change in my opinion. For one it allows me to avoid loading times. I cannot stand, and I assume more and more people as well, the never ending gallery of images, articles, essays, blogs, etc. displayed on separate pages. This is a trick that may have worked in the past to get you ad revenue up, but I think intelligent users of the internet will increasingly shy away from these types of websites. Secondly I believe it gives the paper more credibility. Not that it will validate any of the sources or fact check the journalist efforts, but it will ultimately give the reader a better sense of what the paper’s intents are. Yes, they have a bottom line to meet, but users value the functionality of a website if it helps in their experience. Readers will find the New York Times to be trustworthy simply because they are not attempting to trick you like the other multiple page websites. Also, in my experience on the web, it seems like the website that are looking for the highest amount of clicks, often have the weakest of content. A look at any top 20 images of memes or albums of the month will show that some web developer are able to string a single paragraph of information into 3 or 4 pages by displaying a single sentence as the caption to an image. Sometimes they are effective because users want to find out what the top album of 2015 was and will click through all the pages, but many will be offended by this layout of information, since it could easily been displayed with a simple grocery list.
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