Austin and Doust’s New Media Design

In 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.

On Tuesday, we began with Williams’ terms: Contrast Repetition Alignment Proximity

Today Austin and Doust add nine more design terms to our list: layout, navigation, images, color, sequence, continuity, sound, movement, narrative.

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”

Navigation: To help users sort through information and to help users remain aware of where they are in the website “Information Design”

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

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

Sequence: 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

Continuity: 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”

Sound: Sound design as a way to “reinforce actions” of users (ie. the sound of departing ) “Sounds can evoke physical materials, weight, speed and spatial context, and change mood and suggest irony.”

Movement: 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!

Narrative: “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)

“The Rhetorics of Web Pages”

In 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.”

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 revision 2) If it is effective, why and how; if it needs revision, why and how