For the downloadable link I was thinking along the lines of doing a student testimonial. I’d set it up in InDesign, so the layout can be drastically modified easily and therefore be engaging for the reader. Since it’s also a downloadable link, it’s not a clearly tied to the website’s design and can be somewhat different in its look.
This also allows for something that will add to the persuasive argument of my site, but not add something entirely necessary to the understanding of my message (since many people will not want to download the pdf).
This also adds a student presence outside of my own, which makes my own argument (upperclassmen apathy) less opinionated and drive home the fact it is an issue.
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Got Any Tips?
So I found this video on Youtube that might prove helpful to some of you. They’re pretty simple tips, but some of the ideas are worth noting. I’ve summarized the information for the most part, but the video explains it best. This covers most of the design elements we’ve covered in class, but also touches on issues I use in advertising all the time to direct the reader to where I/they want to go.
1. Use simple color schemes. Don’t make it distracting from the content you want them to focus on. Make it appealing, but not overbearing.
2. Define content with bold areas. This makes it stick out. Make sure to keep everything aligned in some ways.
3. Maintain a consistent layout and scheme. This avoids confusion and the audience thinking they’ve been led to another site.
1. Use simple color schemes. Don’t make it distracting from the content you want them to focus on. Make it appealing, but not overbearing.
2. Define content with bold areas. This makes it stick out. Make sure to keep everything aligned in some ways.
3. Maintain a consistent layout and scheme. This avoids confusion and the audience thinking they’ve been led to another site.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
3 Click Rule
So in advertising we always follow a simple rule of web navigation: If you have to click more than three times to get to it you’re clearly not designing right.
In other words, for the sake of finding information, your navigation bar should be well designed (like how ecollege has multiple subheads under each category). Although our own sites aren’t as big, it is important to keep in mind what the big sites are doing well and incorporate those ideas into our own (on a much smaller scale of course).
Even a simple site can outdo a flashy site if its usability is there. Sites that keep you from getting lost allow for both readability and navigation. Also, I tend to keep the headers on my sites linked to the home page, just for ease of navigation.
In other words, for the sake of finding information, your navigation bar should be well designed (like how ecollege has multiple subheads under each category). Although our own sites aren’t as big, it is important to keep in mind what the big sites are doing well and incorporate those ideas into our own (on a much smaller scale of course).
Even a simple site can outdo a flashy site if its usability is there. Sites that keep you from getting lost allow for both readability and navigation. Also, I tend to keep the headers on my sites linked to the home page, just for ease of navigation.
Friday, October 14, 2011
01010000011100100110111101101010011001010110001101110100 Update 4
I’m considering for my project the issue of “campus overpopulation” and the problems being brought about as a result. As we all know. TCU has steadily been growing each year, and due to this, there has been a lack of housing for students and less room in classes.
Although this allows for TCU to make a name for itself and increases the revenue from students, this alienates many of the older students who are driven off campus. Yet, what I’m proposing is not a halt to the growth of the campus population, but a delay to the increase in size until we can appropriately accommodate the amount of people who will be attending.
In the long run, this will make for a more hospitable living experience that doesn’t lead to crowding rooms full of more people than they were meant to handle and allowing for upperclassmen who choose to live on campus to do so. This will also help in keeping juniors and seniors a part of the campus community instead of pushing them all into other housing options that remove them from the TCU experience.
Let me know what you think.
Although this allows for TCU to make a name for itself and increases the revenue from students, this alienates many of the older students who are driven off campus. Yet, what I’m proposing is not a halt to the growth of the campus population, but a delay to the increase in size until we can appropriately accommodate the amount of people who will be attending.
In the long run, this will make for a more hospitable living experience that doesn’t lead to crowding rooms full of more people than they were meant to handle and allowing for upperclassmen who choose to live on campus to do so. This will also help in keeping juniors and seniors a part of the campus community instead of pushing them all into other housing options that remove them from the TCU experience.
Let me know what you think.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
The Good, the Bad, and the 01110101011001110110110001111001
When I first looked at this site I had a visual sensory meltdown. At its core there is no contrast, which destroys its readability and knack for navigation since my eye isn’t drawn to any one point. I looked at it for roughly 30 seconds and still have no idea what’s going on, although most of that time was spent trying to figure out what was and wasn’t part of the background.
So this one is a little over the top, and probably cheating in a lot of ways since it is trying to be bad. But all the elements are there: the cheesy/crappy gif background, the obnoxious colors, and the poor layout. It does its job well though in getting its point across through example, and I almost don’t want to say this site is necessarily bad. Yet for the sake of design I’m throwing it in as bad, since the site itself will agree with me. Really the tipping point for me was I had no idea what it was immediately and what its overall point was. Only when I started reading the content did I figure out it was a learning site. So on this one communication killed it once again.
Besides the fact I spend hours on this site, it does provide easy navigation for the amount of content on it. Overall this site is a gallery of videos, images, and news conversations, which can really be a mess to look through if set up poorly (and even when it’s set up well in some cases). Yet the different tiers of pages allow for the user to quickly narrow down the categories before even looking for a specific subject matter, which makes for easy navigation. The only problem is if the subject has a lot of material in and of itself, which is still piled under one tab. Yet I’ve never gotten lost, so this one is going under the good.
Who doesn’t like Hulu? They post recent videos on the homepage, and recommend to you based on what you watch. This site interacts with the user and is easy to search through a semi-interactive search bar at the top of the screen. It’s so image driven, with the majority of the text being the descriptions of the episode when you scroll over the button. This site is so intuitively driven, which is how a multimedia site should be.
So this one is a little over the top, and probably cheating in a lot of ways since it is trying to be bad. But all the elements are there: the cheesy/crappy gif background, the obnoxious colors, and the poor layout. It does its job well though in getting its point across through example, and I almost don’t want to say this site is necessarily bad. Yet for the sake of design I’m throwing it in as bad, since the site itself will agree with me. Really the tipping point for me was I had no idea what it was immediately and what its overall point was. Only when I started reading the content did I figure out it was a learning site. So on this one communication killed it once again.
Besides the fact I spend hours on this site, it does provide easy navigation for the amount of content on it. Overall this site is a gallery of videos, images, and news conversations, which can really be a mess to look through if set up poorly (and even when it’s set up well in some cases). Yet the different tiers of pages allow for the user to quickly narrow down the categories before even looking for a specific subject matter, which makes for easy navigation. The only problem is if the subject has a lot of material in and of itself, which is still piled under one tab. Yet I’ve never gotten lost, so this one is going under the good.
Who doesn’t like Hulu? They post recent videos on the homepage, and recommend to you based on what you watch. This site interacts with the user and is easy to search through a semi-interactive search bar at the top of the screen. It’s so image driven, with the majority of the text being the descriptions of the episode when you scroll over the button. This site is so intuitively driven, which is how a multimedia site should be.
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