designing for new media ii

Austin and Doust’s New Media Design

Designing for New Media II

More New Media Design

VocabularyIn our excerpt from their book New Media Design, Tricia Austin and Richard

Doust add nine more terms to our growing vocabulary

of new media design.


VocabularyOn Tuesday, we began with

Williams’ terms:• Contrast• Repetition• Alignment• Proximity


VocabularyToday Austin and Doust add nine more design terms to

our list: layout, navigation, images,

color, sequence, continuity, sound,

movement, narrative.


Vocabulary

Layout: • “concerned with how

words and images are organized on the page”• Utilizes an “invisible grid” that can be used to “control the alignment and proximity of text or images and create an

overall rhythm” and also to define the “position of

elements that are repeated on every page”


Vocabulary

Navigation:• To help users sort

through information and to help users remain

aware of where they are in the website

• “Information Design”


Vocabulary

Images:• Self-explanatory, but, as

rhetors with awareness of the power of images and of an ethical use of

images, we should reflect carefully on our

images choices


Vocabulary

Color:• We already talked about

the value of designing a color palette, but as A+D note, color can also work as a visual way to code information and assist your users to navigate

through it


VocabularySequence:

• In terms of media design, the order in

which the text progresses can “affect the message and the

mood”• “Storyboarding” as a

valuable technique in design as a way to “get

an overview of the structure”—this can be

applied to website design too


VocabularyContinuity:

• Similar to Williams’ idea of “repetition”, but A+G

aim to avoid “mere repetition” because that

can get dull• “Elements of action or

change can be introduced while building a coherent, progressive

order and conclusion to a sequence”


VocabularySound:

• Sound design as a way to “reinforce actions” of users (ie. the sound of

departing email)• “Sounds can evoke

physical materials, weight, speed and

spatial context, and change mood and suggest irony.”


VocabularyMovement:

• Like sound, “can be used to structure, dramatize,

inform, create mood, and evoke associations”• But, as we saw

yesterday (ie. the creepy backwards walking cat), too much of this is not a

good thing!


VocabularyNarrative:

• “involves developing a plot that propels the story forwards and

structuring events that unfold over time”

• For us, our narrative is in the text, since we’re

unfolding B+G’s arguments to our audience, but this

progression can also be demonstrated visually as well (via use of the other

elements of design)

Web Writing Style Guide 1.0

“The Rhetorics of Web Pages”

Web Writing Style Guide 1.0In this chapter of the Style Guide, the authors aim to remind us of the role of rhetoric in the design of webpages (or any digital

text for that matter).


“Contextual Hyperlinks”:• Helping your users

understand why they should click on the link• “we can better assist

readers by putting the links in context” and this

well help “create effective transitions” for

them


Titles and Headlines:• this takes us back to the

rhetorical canon of arrangement

• “Your headline is the first, and perhaps only,

impression you make on a prospective reader. Without a compelling promise that turns a

browser into a reader, the rest of your words may as well not even

exist. . . .”


Lists:• “Lists, both numbered

and bulleted lists, are another form of

subheaders in that they make the underlying

structure of your content visible to your readers. A good list can make clear the steps in a process, the advantages of an

option, or the requirements of a

program.”• (or help clarify B+G’s

text for your audience)


“White Space”:• Your friend

• The background of your page

• Effective use of white space allows the text to “breathe”, making the web page more user-

friendly and accessible


Images:• Make sure your visuals

are appropriate and relevant

• Make sure your images are good quality

• Crop images to remove unnecessary info

• Beware of stretching images

• Provide captions• Reduce very large images using a graphics

program


Fonts:“However, if you. . .have the option of choosing

different fonts, start by first considering your rhetorical

situation: Who is the audience? What is your purpose for designing? What is the context? Do

you want to be humorous? Serious? Are you

announcing an event? There are a million things to take into consideration,

but the most important thing to consider is

readability.”


Another thing to keep in mind: we’ve all selected different mediums, some that provide more control over design than others.

Although some of you are working with templates,

these rhetorical principles still apply, just in a different

way.“Different genres of web

writing offer different degrees of control over the rhetoric of your pages, but

these issues are always present to one degree or

another.”

Remediation 3.0 Projects

The rest of the class will be devoted to continuing your

work on your Project 2.However, as you do so, I would like each group to

select three of Austin and Doust’s nine design terms that you see being used in

your own projects and write three or four sentences

telling me:1)What design principle

you are using and whether it is effective as is or needs

revision2) If it is effective, why and

how; if it needs revision, why and how

Designing for New Media II

designing for new media ii

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