Digital Communication aesthetics

Find both good and bad examples of digital communication aesthetics, based on this author's perspective and prior readings on Gestalt theory.
One of the bad examples of communication aesthetics would be the following site http://gutenberg.spiegel.de/autoren.htm. The scenario for this site is that a user is trying to find the Gutenberg database which used to be an independent database and website until it was taken over by Spiegel Online. The Gutenberg page is now what looks like 'pasted' into the main framework of the Spiegel page. The user ends up having multiple tools and navigation bars on top and on the left side. The formating of the text is badly done, showing squares and blank spaces on the pages. The graphics have a bad resolution and are not balanced well with the rest of the text. The pages don't really seem to follow any principles or guidelines. All in all the user is left with the impression that the site is incomplete.
A website that show good following of the Gestalt Principles as well as general communication aesthetics is http://www.benetton.com/html/index.shtml. The website shows content being well organized in comprehensive groups and colors. Images and text are well balanced and images support or enhance the usability of the site. The colors and images give the user an overall feeling of the company, its products, its mission and goal. Pages contain a minimal amount of text and pictures. Graphics make it easy to see more additional user options. It seems that the designers have used a grid system to lay out the pages. This website gives a very 'rounded' and complete experience to the user, from the easy to find categories, good relevant images, to the one click shopping experience. The page layout seems very clean and easy to maneuver. It doesn't leave the user with questions marks of what this site is about or where to find things.

RSS Comments

How does RSS (text or audio) change digital communication?
RSS enables users to have information readily available at their finger tips. The information is available faster and it is completely personalized If the user knows exactly what news he or she is interested in, the user will gather the information via RSS from different sources without actually repeatedly having to go to different sites. RSS greatly improves human performance by eliminating multiple steps such as searching for news, having to go to different sites, facing advertisements, etc. Now the user can create his or her page completely customized with the information wanted. However, as only the desired information is pulled from news sites such as BBC, these sites will actually lose customers. People will not specifically seek out the actual site anymore and look at all the other content that is available there. This potentially will have great effect on advertisements on these sites. The less people come to visit sites the less likely it is that advertisers want to put their ads there which means a big chunk of income is being lost for those sites.
Also, if people are only filtering for news stories as they come in e.g. via Reuters, the actual writing of detailed or 'opinion' articles might become more and more irrelevant. The movement towards more aggregated information could also mean that people's overall knowledge of the world and things in it might decrease as they will only receive their selected information while going to a website directly might confront them with additional information that they would have otherwise not known about.

Week 5 Gestalt examples

Find an online design example (good or bad) of three Gestalt Principles. Be sure to provide hyperlinks to the source and explain why you believe it is a good example.
The first website uses the principle of figure and ground. It shows a big stationed circle with rotating circles inside and a star background. http://www.thedivinecomedy.com/home.htm The page shows similar elements - the circles with dis-similar elements the stars in the background and combines them to a contrasting whole, making the page very interesting to the eye.
The second website the shows Gestalt principles of similarity, proximity and continuity is http://www.comcast.net/chsi.html. The circles on top of the page, even though they all have different subjects, form a line, a toolbar. The circles are seen as belonging together.
Gestalt principle closure, area and symmetry are shown here http://www.comcast.net/chsi.html in the rotating circle. The circle contains many different geometrical shapes but despite the many interruptions of the circle we see a complete shape of it.

Week 4 Reading

Identify three key learning points or best practices from your reading. How might these be applied, either in this project or in something your are doing at work?
One of the most important things to keep in mind when creating a website is trying to understand and identify the audience. The key is to define a target audience as accurately as possible in order to create content that will fit their needs. The wider the audience, the broader the content has to be and the more dynamic as well. In order to fit each users needs to site will have to address user search for details on a different level. This could be done buy not simply offering information in text form but also by adding diagrams (or other visual data) as well more link with additional information for more knowledgeable users. It is important to create a site that has key user scenarios in mind. A site map of scenarios could be created before hand showing where users with different knowledge levels would go to find their information. The more information is known about the target audience the easier it will be to create these scenarios and also write the site information for. There should always be the possibility on a page to provide the user with more or deeper information on a subject as well as simplify information. All these points illustrate the necessity of having a well defined audience and with that well defined scenarios with fitting information for different users.

Week 3 Question

* HTML, XHTML, XML : What, why, how used * Static and database-driven sites * Flash and other Multi-media
How do standards impact our ability as communicators to reach our target audiences? When (why) might we chose to deliver information that does not conform with standards?

Standards give us a 'common language' and enable us to use technologies world wide. Which means, communication across cultures and boundaries based on those standards and rules. These standards are not only good for world wide 'personal communication' but also for world wide business, especially as the world is becoming more and more of a global market place. Communication based on these standards is extremely fast and efficient. And since standards are used by a huge community there is usually a lot of support when something goes wrong. Therefore, if an internet site wants to reach a wide audience the developers of the site will make sure that they create the site so that it can be viewed with the most commonly used internet browsers. This will ensure the most broad customer base. Besides being able to understand each other, based on standards, people or companies also have a very easy way of collaborating with each other no matter what space or time zone they are in.
On the other hand to keep people from viewing certain sites or information the content is created in non standard formats. This could be the case if someone wants to reach very targeted audiences, e.g. people working on new programs and are sharing that information, sites that contain very detailed private information, sites that are intended to pass on information about criminal activities, etc. The decision not to use certain internet standards might also be associated with the fear of hackers. If a site is using technologies or formats that are not standard they are less likely to be at risk for security issues, hacker attacks and others. As in most cases sites that are attacked are sites that are based on standard tools and technologies.
The application of internet standards has opened a whole new area of world wide communication and business.

Week2 Discussion

Based on class discussion and reading, which team role most appeals to you? Which least appeals? Why?
The role that would most appeal to me would be that of the managing editor. I have some experience with managing people and content but would like to get more responsibility and knowledge in that area and this job would help me with using my current skills and expanding my knowledge in other areas. I have an understanding of the publishing process, as well as quality assurance. From my background as a tester, I understand what customers need and where potential problem areas in design and content of a website my exist. I also have people management skills and I am able to delegate work and motivate others. So far I have mainly worked on projects that would only require one or two of these skills from me. Being the managing editor would give me the opportunity to combine many different skills and knowledge areas in one position. It would be challenging for me and therefore highly motivating to get the job done well...
The role least interesting to me on the team would be that of the copyeditor. This job has too little hands on or management possibilities. The copyeditor is mainly working after other people and hardly creating anything him or herself.

Week 1 Reading Assignment

Think of a team you've worked on before. Was it effective or not? Why?
One of the teams I worked on was a workforce to finish a product release in a short amount of time. The team was effective and I think the reasons for the success were several. Firstly, the team had a concrete goal/objective that was made clear to everyone and was understood by everyone at the very beginning of the project. I think understanding what the outcome of a project is going to be and where every team member will fit in with their role is the key to building a good team and having an effective work process in place. In this team everyone knew what their job was and that their expertise was needed to complete the task on time and with good quality. I think this contributed to each team member feeling that their job was important, that the rest of the team trusted them with their work and had confidence in them. Which in return made each team member want to succeed. One of the most important parts for the success of this team was good leadership, that encouraged open communication and that kept everyone focused on the task at hand. Team leaders also understood to stand up for the team and bring forward as well as solve conflict situations, which established a great deal of trust in the team. Overall, key elements for the success of this team were great leadership, competent team members and open communication.

How do you prefer to communicate with team members? Why?
Through my work I'm required to communicate with people that are on my team in different ways. With some team members it is best to communicate via email so that they can have all the information in front of them and it is clear (sometimes email is best when language barriers exist) what task has been agreed on. Sometimes team members can only be reached by phone, or video conferencing. This is a more difficult way of communicating due to delay and the lack of being able to see the expression on the other persons face. My preferred way of communication is to talk face to face. I can see a person's reaction to the issues talked about and I can respond directly to those expressions, e.g. I see that a team member is concerned or seems confused. It seems that conflicts and misunderstanding as well as debates are best dealt with on a personal level because the body language is part of the communication. It gives the opportunity to see what the person is really intending to say and how passionate or not they are feeling about an issue.