Week 7: Readings

In my opinion, the articles of this week are the extension of
what we read before-- the Gestalt theory, the uniform design and
the user-centered theory.

Aesthetic Experience and the Importance of Visual Composition in
Information Design
by Tim Greenzweig

"No matter how the information or information structures are
organized in a composition, the main objective in designing the
information is to provide the user with an easily accessible,
clearly structured, and aesthetically pleasing presentation."

I agree with the author: the idea of "look and feel" is
essentially an issue of how to "decorate" the information.
Although web design is a kind of technical-based work, it is more
like a work of art. Yes, web design should be like music,
painting or poem. I remember when I was a child, my brother-in-
law, who is a PhD of Maths, told me maths is so dulcet that it is
like music. I think web design and art are connected. We can give
life to our works. Art composition is the Soul; technology is the
skelecton; content is the flesh.

This article looks at the ways in which visual composition
contributes to a user's aesthetic experience and why such an
experience is important when designing infromation structures.

The author thinks what seems to be lacking in information design
is a concern for the visual composition of information (in a
given space) as an integral component of the overall information
structure. He recommends some tools of framework for developing a
visual composition: Grid systems; ABA form and varitations; the
rule of thirds; juxtaposition and combination.

Another important point--to negotiate a relationship between type
and image within a composition, is very interesting. "Roland
Barthes, in his book Image Music Text, states the following:
Formerly, the image illustrated the text (made it clearer);
today, the text loads the image, burdening it with a culture, a
moral, an imagination."


Web 2.0: Mistaking the Forest for the Trees?
By Dave Rogers

"users are not designers, but users are the ones using the tools
that we produce". This sentence affords for thought. Yes, Web 2.0
calls us to reach deeper into the minds and hearts of our users.

"It demands greater attention to end-users than ever before. Just
as its technological hurdles challenge developers, Web 2.0
requires more of user advocates".

What on earth is the exact definition of "Web 2.0"? The author
introduces Mr. O'Reilly's "compact" version: "Web 2.0 is the
network as platform, spanning all connected devices; Web 2.0
applications are those that make the most of the intrinsic
advantages of that platform: delivering software as a
continually-updated service that gets better the more people use
it, consuming and remixing data from multiple sources, including
individual users, while providing their own data and services in
a form that allows remixing by others, creating network effects
through an 'architecture of participation,' and going beyond the
page metaphor of Web 1.0 to deliver rich user experiences."