budd's blog

Friday, September 5, 2008

VISUAL LANGUAGE: project 1, part 2b: icon, index, symbol

alright. so. . . some of these might be a stretch. :p

VISUAL LANGUAGE: project 1, part 2a: icon, index, symbol

Thursday, September 4, 2008

MULTI MEDIA EXPERIENCE, project 01, FINAL + slices

MULTI MEDIA EXPERIENCE, project 01, FINAL

MULTI MEDIA EXPERIENCE, project 01, sketch1 R 3

MULTI MEDIA EXPERIENCE, project 01, sketch1 R 2

MULTI MEDIA EXPERIENCE, project 01, sketch1 R 1

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

MULTI MEDIA EXPERIENCE, project 01, sketch4

through research i found that a lot of baby boomers are interested in "staying young" through keeping up with advances and updates in technology, brands, services, etc. so, the concept for this idea is to be based on the idea of reinvention. i felt it could be interesting for one from the baby boom generation to find a nostalgia -- but then to mesh that with the digital, ever so technological age. thoughts and ideas around this were to draw from the actual, tangible new york times and intertwine it with the digital interactivity..... each category would be like pulling a different section of the newspaper off of the shelf. >>>needs work, but so far so.

MULTI MEDIA EXPERIENCE, project 01, sketch3

this idea again implores the use of icons (that would appear in each newsletter), to try to make a stronger and faster connection for the user and the category of the articles that they can view in each newsletter. each category would show the full article, but one at a time. -- this would eliminate the never-ending scrolling -- something i can get impatient with.

MULTI MEDIA EXPERIENCE, project 01, sketch2

the idea behind this sketch is to have each article in full length accessible, as well as multiple jump points. the names of the articles are stated at the top as jump points as well as at the bottom of each article a 'back to top' button. this idea is to replicate the idea of a newspaper, to which baby boomers are clearly familiar with-- yielding less time for the user to interpret the document.

MULTI MEDIA EXPERIENCE, project 01, sketch1

the initial idea behind this sketch is to not only familiarize the user to an easily recognizable icon system, but to also directly connect favored categories to stories through color. because research has shown that the older one is,the more time it takes for them to process items on a page, it seemed appropriate to have extra clarifiers as well as a simplistic, easy to read document.

Monday, September 1, 2008

MULTI MEDIA EXPERIENCE, project 01, research

MY AUDIENCE: baby boomer, business owner, parent

NY TIMES ARTICLES:

"living longer, in good health to the end"
"a new battle is beginning in branding for the web"
"microsoft faces a new foe in google"
"in texas school, teachers carry books and guns"

GENERAL:

born between 1946 and 1964

on the younger side, they're in the throes of kids, education costs, careers and commuting.

at the upper end, they're empty-nesting, grandparenting and reinventing retirement.

with life expectancy growing, boomers' focus is on health and hipness quotients to fight "old" aging and keep them in the game.

IDENTITY:

the baby boomers were the first group to be raised with televisions in the home, and television has been identified as "the institution that solidified the sense of generational identity more than any other." starting in the 1950s, people in diverse geographic locations could watch the same shows, listen to the same news, and laugh at the same jokes.

the boomers found that their music, most notably rock and roll, was another expression of their generational identity.

in 1993, time magazine reported on the religious affiliations of baby boomers. articles stated that about 42% of baby boomers were dropouts from formal religion, a third had never strayed from church, and one-fourth of boomers were returning to religious practice. the boomers returning to religion were "usually less tied to tradition and less dependable as church members than the loyalists.

BABY BOOMERS & THE WEB

statistics are showing that "web performance declines with age"

two factors cause the 0.8% increase in task time. for each additional year of age, users:
• spend 0.5% more time on each page, and
• visit 0.3% more pages per task.

the biggest factor is that older users need more time to understand pages, scan the text, and extract the information. a smaller — but still substantial — problem is that people have more trouble navigating websites as they age.

there is also a covariant: the age at which people started using the web. because the web is relatively new, a 50-year-old might have started using it at age 40, whereas a 30-year-old might have started at age 20. this added experience might eventually allow older users to catch up and somewhat reduce the 0.8% gap.

BABY BOOMERS & VISUALS

as the largest population group in history moves into middle age, the incidence of vision impairment -- including those that make it difficult to read small print -- among middle-aged and older americans is rising. according to lighthouse international, the leading resource for people who are visually impaired, large type is best not only for people who are visually impaired, but also for all of us as we age.

when all of the nation's baby boomers are 45 or older, 20 million will report a visual impairment. that means by the year 2010, 20 million boomers will experience functional vision problems even when wearing glasses or contacts. this statistic bolsters the argument for promoting design of printed materials that are accessible to as wide a group of people as possible -- in large type, braille and raised letters.

lighthouse international is taking steps to increase public awareness of the growing need for broader application of universal graphic design standards, particularly among the professional design community.

as the baby boomers enter middle and later life, they represent a significant segment of society that will require new considerations when designing visual media. otherwise, there will likely be a major backlash against hard-to-read visuals as this powerful group exercises its influence and demands greater legibility.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

VISUAL LANGUAGE: project 1, part 1: object

the object that i have chosen for the project on semiotics is the chinese lantern:

the chinese lantern holds a remarkable history as well as ties to chinese culture and craft, beginning many hundreds of years ago.

there are several different types of lanterns which originated in different cities in china. from each of these cities a different shape, size, structure, and material were used in construction of the lantern. one example of the cultural tie to these lanterns is in the use of communication, or a type of signage, to where one may hang a red lantern to denote a birth or a marriage--a blue lantern to represent illness--or a white lantern to signify death. another more well known attribute of the lantern is its annual lantern festival, which occurs on the 15th day of the 1st lunar month, where the first full moon of the year can be seen. Sources say that it is also a festival that began revolving around religious worship.

i believe that an audience for this type of exhibit could range greatly. People such as lantern collectors, artists (craftsmen, painters, calligraphers, textile designers, etc), historians, participants of the lantern festival, and parents and their children would all be likely candidates, as well as the general public. There seem to be a large number of collectors of these lanterns, and an exhibit about their history and construction could aid in their knowledge of the subject, as well as feed their interest in the subject. Artists might enjoy the craft of the lantern, as well as the conceptual base of the more intricate details and stories that they might hold. Historians may be able to get a better understanding of the background, uses, and innovations to the artifacts. Participants of the lantern festival may enjoy to see an exhibit devoted to something that is a tie to them and something that they participate in each year. Just like most other museums, this would be a great opportunity for parents to learn with their children about a special object and craft-that is also visually stimulating.

strong religious, cultural, visual, and fascination feelings can result from this object. the religious and cultural ties to the object in the history, day to day use, and festival are of the most obvious. however, one's fascination and appreciation for the object and its significance may be different from one person to another. a collector's appreciation for uniqueness may differ from a craftsman's appreciation for the strength and durability of the structure--to where one in textiles may appreciate the intricacies of the fabrics or papers used.

this object is not only connected to a hobby but also as a career. people certainly have to make the lantern --- and they traditionally hand make each one --- but people also use them frequently for function and to signify certain events or feelings. people can be introduced to these lanterns in a number of different ways: growing up with them as a part of one's culture, learning about them from an outside source such as school or general talk, seeing them in stores and in photographs, etc.