The Week 9 reading discusses Web pages and harmony, how good and bad online marketers appear on the Web, and the effect of lack of balance between function and form. Evans and Thomas (2004, p. 12) say design balance is “visual distribution of elements in a composition… [and] “physical balance is a functional demand of three-dimensional design” and perhaps interactive, online screen design considers both. This article observes that visuals are considered to be the key website element although text still plays a vital part. A recent example is the profound effect of the Charlie Hedbo cartoons. Spiegelman (cited by Salyer, 6 May, 2015) says while visuals like Charlie Hedbo cartoons “use the same tools, symbolism, irony, metaphor” they create “immediate” impact as they carry a “deceptive directness” and are loaded with “visceral power”.

Dillon (July, 1999) says:

images work via a second communicative system,
one fully as expressive as natural language, but
separate and structured independently of it. Others
find visual and verbal meanings more dissimilar than
similar, with the visual lacking a kind of determinacy
or which verbal language seems better suited.

The article says electronic message construction, to considerable extent, relies upon classic design parameters and elements. The medium is complicated as visuals may be “encoded redundantly”, and while concrete concepts in certain “words, sentences and paragraphs” may create visual ideas text occupies a lesser place and abstract text concepts are not easily comprehended.

The article discusses the speed of technological change, saying digital screen design competency is essential, and provides useful information about avenues to “focus, rivet attention, integrate old and new information and ways to navigate” these online communication products. Donald Norman (2002) says: “Aesthetics matter. Attractive things work better”, and the reading uses thirteen headings to describe how to properly understand and implement visual screen design.

The reading obliquely reflects Norman, who says “the field of usability takes root in the cognitive sciences”. The article identifies new and emerging components including personal digital assistants, wireless markup language, accessibility guidelines. The Web’s “long term goals” – such as universal “website usability… semantics… legal, commercial and social issues” are mentioned. The article is impartial and provides no comment about the ethics involved, the validity of the medium, or its possible long-term effects, positive, or negative, on humanity.

Reference