21/5 Class
Majority of this class was spent looking at websites for next weeks assessment. Mark highlighted to us the following aspects that would be looked at and analysed:
- What is the purpose of the website, does it communicate its message across effectively, are the colours appropriate, are there many graphics or big chunks of text, is it easy to read and does it involve interactivity.
THE DESIGN EVALUATION
- Describe the screen layout
- Visual Heirarchy (Evaluate the use of contrast to draw attention to key elements)
- Placement of Graphics (Evaluate in terms of multimedia principles,alignment and proximity principles)
- Style of graphics
COGNITIVE LOAD- too much attention all at once. Overloaded pages with text, graphics and colours
VISUAL DESIGN
VISUAL HEIRARCHY- The size of the image/s, a common mistake is that images lesse the focus of the actual content, Movement of pictures can be annoying, Placement of graphics, consisttency, page dimensions, page length
COLOUR- Contrast between colours, businesses love blue, colour schemes, Colour associations (For Ex. Red is often associated with emotion, danger, blood etc), Is it harsh on the eyes, Use of colours to be selected enhance or detract from the content
TEXT- Text is elovated and is bigger for importance, big chunks of text are often overlooked.
MULTIMEDIA DESIGN PRINCIPLES
Important things are often put in the foreground and less important things in the background.
STYLE OF GRAPHICS-
- Choice of graphics
- Are they appropriate/relevant
- Multimedia coherence principle
- Are static pictures best
- Animations
- Should the graphic be animated
- Is it best to use a video
- Interface design
WEBSITES LOOKED AT:
BBC WEBSITE- Bold font, bright colours
AFR (Australian Financial Review)-Text is dominant
SMH- Big graphic in the left hand corner grabs attention,
CNN-no big headlines, pictures and statistics, eyes are drawn to the colour red
CIRQUE DU SOLIEL- Entertainment focused, Highly visual, colour scheme is appropriate, bright colours, moving graphics, pictures distract the eyes
McDONALDS- Highly visual and highly effective- Simple graphics, 3D graphics, very interactive, simple and easy to use, graphical interface, no big chunks of text, text is a medium size
