Elements of Webpage Design

Exploring the elements of design in website development, I chose to examine one of my favorite websites, rockcreek.com.

Rock Creek Outfitters caters to the outdoor enthusiast; offering a variety of outdoor clothing for men and women, recreational gear and accessories.

The site’s most important content is located at the top of its home webpage and the bottom of its home webpage. The site’s header includes the Rock Creek logo at the topmost left and then across the page lists the most essential aspects of a customer’s shopping experience: My Cart, My Account, Wish List, Shipping, Customer Service, and Track My Order. Below this includes the site’s search bar, its telephone number, and its acclaimed free shipping on orders totaling over $49. The footer of Rock Creek includes the site’s legalities and contact information, such as its return policy and mission statement. Each of these remains constant and does not change as the website modifies its seasonal offerings and sales, thus these are the site’s “given”.

In addition to the site’s topmost header and bottommost footer, the webpage employs the use of sub-headers, (Announcements, Events, Features, and News), in the heart of its homepage, keeping the site precisely organized. The simplicity of the site is what often makes Rock Creek a pleasurable shopping experience.

Utilizing the “given-new”, the “new” being the site’s variables, Rock Creek’s “new” can be found below the header and sub-headers, or by clicking on each of the “given.” Coupons and web exclusives are often found beneath the header, which are ever changing, as are the site’s featured products and awards.

The site’s development has made a great use in incorporating the “tree” model. The “tree” model easily breaks down the categories of each header and sub-header, and most notably the site’s “shop,” found on the right of the site’s homepage. The consumer is able to easily choose what product they would like to peruse simply by clicking on the various “branch” of the “shop” tree. The expansion of each branch allows the consumer to then further narrow down what they wish to possibly purchase through the greater “branches” of gender, size, popularity and price.

The “given-new” and the “tree” model are chiefly the main element of design used, however quite obviously the “table” model is used efficiently in conveying the measurements of the size chart, which aids in selecting the perfect fit unique to the consumer. In a way, the size chart is often another form of the given, as most sizes of tops and bottoms are universal in their dimensions/measurements.

http://www.rockcreek.com

Twitter -"It's All The Rage" -- Tweet Tweet --

Omg. Wat i do w/out texting? Fo real. W/out the need to speak, texting allows fast, simple, broad, concise communication anywhere, anytime.

3 Mediums

Forget “To be or not to be,” “To Blog, PowerPoint, or Write” that is the new question. From the classroom, home, and office, more and more people have begun to explore the possibilities of the newest mediums of expression. So of the three, (blogs, PowerPoint, and the essay), which do I value most? –Actually, I would have to say that each holds its own niche; primarily after an author has established exactly what he/she is looking to best obtain, will an author choose one of three for use; each medium’s use is dependent on its nature of presentation, organization and formality.

The essay holds the trophy for being the most revered form of text and formality (essays are scholarly). The essay clearly captures the subject matter with its much defined structure: intro, thesis, body, and conclusion. For simple organization and its concise nature, I like the essay best. However, it can often times be boring, and if written poorly can become hard for any reader to keep focus on the essence the author failed to convey. But also, any author can attest that they know firsthand that essays can be boring and can be tedious for their readers if their writing becomes unclear, so thus essays are almost always edited at some point.

PowerPoint, is a great tool for the both the classroom and the board room. However, they have received a bad reputation in my personal book of likes. Why? … PowerPoints have seemingly become the sole tool, used by teachers and students alike, to convey information; and more times than not, the information conveyed becomes lost in an overexploitation of colors, whizzing/whirly things, and a chaotic compilation of noises. Personally the best PowerPoints are simple ones; with few animations, sparse text and more graphs/pictures than anything. Less is more … and PowerPoint is at its best as a uncomplicated visual aid. Utilizing PowerPoint as a substitution of one’s own thoughts, such as pasting up an entire pulling of quotes from a book or as a crutch of notes to read off, has made PowerPoints receive a bad rap too … especially in college where everyone is typically expected to have read the textbook. Personally, I have learned that the best way for me to best grasp the key elements of any topic/subject, is when I must be fully engaged with my ears and pen, and write my own notes. I confess, the convenience of simply printing out key slides from PowerPoint presentations has made me a lazier student.

Blogging, the newest source of text is often times my least favorite way of communicating/receiving text as I have a hard time finding reputable sources of information in many blogs. For me, blogs seem to be all hearsay, gossip, and personal gripes --not cold-hard facts, and few ever seem to be edited for an overall consensus of content, structure or censorship. Mix in even sillier uses of animation; many blogs look like something Jackson Pollock might have created while under the influence. The ability for anyone to write their opinions down and the informal nature of the blog are the only practicalities of the blog I find desirable –the mobility of a blog and its shorthand text can be fun and worthwhile when quickly reviewing something say like the Grammys or the latest scoop (just as long as it’s reputable, or from a source I have determined to hold an interesting/humorous viewpoint).

Three Mediums of Publication

For my three mediums of publication, I chose to look at Twitter "tweets," text messages, and blog posts. You will notice that my three selections are all within the digital medium. I wanted to compare these three mediums without having to take into account the differences between the print and digital (which could be its own post).

Twitter is the shortest, most open, and one of the most popular forms of communication. It's all about the conversation with other tweeple.

TXTs R soo popular (specally with tweens! lulz). TXTers have thur own language. less conventinal then blogs. ppl change da way they say things. ttyl my bffs.

Blog posts are the most conventional and arguably closest relative to print media. Blogs are often written in a more formal manner than "tweets" or texts. Because blogs are targeted to a more specific audience than "tweets," authors can often take more liberties in what they write. There are no limits on the length of blogs, but the often are around 250-500 words as people's attention spans are far less than the readers of print media.

These examples are only several types of mediums for publication. As you can see by the way each is written, each medium has a unique way of presenting and communicating information. These mediums will continue to change as the authors and readers of information continue to transition from print to digital.

BBC Sport Football

I examined the design elements on the BBC Sport Football page. The page incorporates all the elements of non-linear design.

First, the page uses the given-new model. The BBC logo is on the left hand side (given) and everything else is the right of it (new). The page's content bin also uses the model, with the most important stories to the left (given) and other information such as ads, league table, and links to the right (new).

Next, the page uses the ideal-real model. The BBC logo and page name are at the top of the page (ideal) and the rest of the information is below it (real). It is interesting that the page has an ad above the logo. Is this ad supposed to represent the ideal and therefore move the BBC logo and page name to the real?

The page also incorporates the star model. The center of the page centers on a picture (usually of the latest story. From there stories branch out to cover specific aspects of the main story. This is the star model as all the side stories go back to the picture and the main news event.

The page uses the tree model on the left hand side of the page. The tree breaks down the various leagues. When you click on one of the leagues, it expands to show specific areas of news coverage. The tree model is also used towards the bottom of the page, where it lists a league and then the most relevant story below it.

The table model is incorporate if you click on a specific league (i.e. Premier League). On the right hand side of the page, the table is used to show the teams, goal differential, and points in the race to win the league title. In fact, football supporters refer to this table as “The Table” as they address where their team lies within it.

Finally, the BBC Sport Football site uses the network model. On the right hand side of the page, the site links to stories as covered by other news organizations. Therefore, the site is a node in the news network of coverage of a specific football related story.

The site uses all the non-linear models to organize itself and this list is just a brief synopsis of all the different ways the models are incorporated within the BBC Sport Football website.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/default.stm

ESPN Table

Since it's football season, I found a table on ESPN that was comparing all of the football teams through their stats. This is a table because it is overall comparable, you can look at multiple teams and compare their stats to one another. The table also has a generality as well as the same types of levels for each component. Example: Each team has stats on their wins, loses, interceptions, yards thrown, yards ran, etc. Which allows an individual to scroll through each time, comparing the number of wins to loses. The table is visible as a table, because it has rows and columns that compare teams, which are seen as the cell of the table.

Website design

I have looked at the website, forever21.com
I think this site is built up as an ideal and real formation. At the top you have the most important facts like customer service, store locater and track order. Also now for Christmas there is a wish list button. Below that there are all the different headings for the sections or departments of forever21´s products. Further down on the site it is less important information where you can see for example clothes and news.

The site is also a “kind of” tree. The different sections/headings, for example accessories, then drop down into different kinds of accessories, for example belts or jewelry.

www.forever21.com

Design Elements on Hulu.com

To look at design elements of a web page, I visited hulu.com. 

One technique it uses is the star. The biggest, most central item on the home page is a slideshow of various TV episode advertisements. There is additional information located above and below the slideshow, including episodes and clips that relate to the advertised shows in the center. 

Another element it uses is the table. When you select the drop down box for channels, a 3x6 table with options such as music, comedy, drama, etc. is shown.

The bottom half of the page is a tree, as well. There are four headings listed: Popular Episodes, Popular Clips, Featured Content, and Hulu's Pick. Under each is a "kind of tree," because each clip is a kind of Featured Content, Popular Clip, etc. For example, The Simpsons: The Devil Wears Nada is part of the "kind of tree" for Popular Episodes because it is a kind of Popular Episode. 

Also, under each individual clip is a "part of tree", because parts of the clip like the channel they come from or their expiration date are listed. 

http://www.hulu.com/

Three Mediums

Three Mediums

The standard essay has become the "formal" kind of standardized form of writing out there. We have been taught since elementary school, how to write and format an essay. The most popular was the five paragraph essay-opening, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion. This writing is helpful for school, but when it comes to social networking and discussions, I believe the essay is outdated. It's refreshing to think that there are other ways of publishing one's thoughts. I do believe there is a time and place for the essay, but with blogs, powerpoint, and other technologies increasing in popularity, it gives students a different way to view what they're saying in the different mediums.

I know a lot of people dislike the powerpoint, but I happen to think it's a great technique to be used in school presentations and business meetings. Now, I don't agree with students typing paragraphs on the powerpoint slide, but I do see this medium as a helpful way to convey a message. If students and professors limit their powerpoints to brief bullet points and then elaborate, students can visually learn as well as hear the professor explaining the concept. However, the powerpoint has become so normal to my generation that students seem to be forgetting the purpose of the powerpoint and not using it to its full potential. Since powerpoint is such a big part of presentations, it's almost as students don't realize that they are communicating in a different medium and they have to change their writing styles to take full advantage of this technology. But overall, I believe the powerpoint is for short bullet points that do get across points, but also need to be accompanied by someone de-briefing on them.

Lastly the blog, I think the blog is the most casual and informal medium of them all. When I tend to write in a blog, I'm not as worried about the grammar and spelling, as I would be in a formal essay because blogs are less informal. It seems like people feel more "free" to express themselves on a blog and less monitored in what they can and cannot say. Actually writing in this blog, I tend to find that I'm not so concerned with my actual writing techniques but more with my messages. This is what the blog represents, ideas and freedom, not strict guidelines telling someone how they are "supposed" to write.

All in all, I do realize the the differences in the three mediums and I am more aware of how to tailor my message to each one. I believe that the medium is the message, and you have to understand how each one works and the purpose it serves in communicating your ideas.

Twitter Post

Texting is a quick, casual, and popular form of communication used for chatting with friends, flirting, and conveying emotions with people from around the world.

Powerpoint, essay, blog

Comparing these three different mediums for writing is difficult. It is impossible to choose one over the other because the areas where they functions the best is so different.

Writing a printed essay is often more formalized and demands a different kind of writing then what a blog does. Often essays are more boring and there is little room for you to show your personality. There are little ways for you to be creative when writing a standard essay.

When writing blogs you are freer to chose your own style in writing. It does not have to be standardized, on the contrary you have stand out when writing a blog or else people won’t find it interesting. Sometimes I find it more difficult to write a blog post just because you have to be a great writer to get people to read your blog. Also when writing in a blog you can write more freely about different subjects without having to worry about if it is suitable or not. A good written blog post is much more interesting to read than a standard essay.

A lot of people don’t like PowerPoint. But I do. I find that PowerPoint is a great support for all kinds of presentations; with the catch that it has to be a well designed PowerPoint. If the PowerPoint is poorly designed I do agree with them who feels that it becomes more of a distraction than a helpful support. Could you just imagine how boring it would be to sit in a lecture for three hours without anything more to focus on then the professor? You would easily lose track of what I being said, but with the correct use of PowerPoint you can always know that your listeners are with you even if they let their minds wander from time to time.

Twitter

FYI texting is great! With just a few clicks on your phone you can get in touch with anybody, anytime and anywhere!

Three Mediums of Publication

After participating in a print essay, blog post, and PowerPoint, I value each medium for different reasons. I like doing standard essays the most because they are comfortable. I write papers every week so it just seems second nature. I don’t know if an essay is the best way to get my ideas across to a wide range of people—maybe if it’s done really well, I guess. It's very likely that someone who isn’t extremely interested in the subject will ignore a plain essay in Times New Roman. But, I do like the feeling of being able to print out and turn in a hard copy; it just makes me feel like I accomplished more. When I turn in a paper, I have a sense of physical completion. I don’t get this same feeling with a blog.

I like the blog, however, because of its informal nature. I feel less structured in the publishing format of a blog, so I am more inclined to say how I feel, rather than worry about how proper it is. If I really wanted to make my opinion heard for a lot of people, a blog would be a good option. Also, for an audience that values visual appeal, blogging is successful, as well.

Of the three publishing mediums, I like PowerPoint the least. I always feel like I have more to say than is standard for a PowerPoint slide. I also think the visual aspect of it is really overwhelming. Too many options for backgrounds and colors turns me off. However, I do like that it is easy and quick to format for a project or presentation. It may serve some purpose in the professional world, but overall I think PowerPoint is not super useful because it is more of a distraction than an aid. 

Twitter Summary of Texting

Through its own language, texting aids in politics, education, bullying, and flirting. Its uses are taken advantage of worldwide. 

A Response to Hume

Response to David Hume, “Of the Standard of Taste”

In this essay, David Hume argues that taste is objective, universal, and can be taught to anyone. Hume says that we can all agree that a piece of art is beautiful, but everyone’s explanations differ. He agrees that everyone has their own opinion, but he goes onto argue that without objectivity and universality one cannot study the science of art.

I personally agree with this statement. What makes Picasso’s paintings better than my doodles? There is something in his artwork that is identified by most people and considered to be “beautiful.” I might have a different reason than you as to why the piece is considered great artwork, but we both see something in his painting which makes it good to us. This is what Hume is saying is the universality factor in art.

We consider a piece of art to be beautiful because it does something to us; it moves us in a way. When I look at Monet’s paintings I feel something, I know it’s beautiful because it evokes emotions from me. This is what Hume is studying, the science of art. People thought you couldn’t study art, because it was just looked at as a sentiment, however Hume is saying there is a science to it, that by studying artwork we can come up with rules as to why we consider something beautiful. His philosophy makes sense, there has to be some guidelines as to what we as people judge a piece of artwork on. Many people associate art with a belief, and science as something that is either true or false, whereas Hume fuses the two ideas together to come up with the idea of taste.

Hume states that everyone has different tastes, which is very true from my experiences. My good friend is an art history major and we recently went to a Museum to look at a collection of art. There were many pieces I couldn’t understand and didn’t consider to be “good” art, however my friend studied the rules of art and had a completely different opinion than me. She understood the art, and therefore perceived it as beautiful, whereas I didn’t. This is an example of two people with completely different tastes, and one person who studies art compared to one who doesn’t. Everyone perceives art different and I believe Hume is right in saying that taste varies from person to person. The foundation for the rules was evident in the way my friend viewed the artwork, and she gained this skill from experience both in the classroom and in museums. I on the other hand don’t fully understand the rules, and therefore I am not the best critic of art.

I do believe that artwork is objective and universal and through Hume’s arguments, it’s clear that the rules and guidelines help determine good artwork from bad artwork. There is a reason that something painted two hundred years ago is still looked at as brilliant, it’s because of universality that this exists.

The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction-Walter Benjamin

Walter Benjamin’s essay “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reporduction” begins with the statement that “In principle a work of art has always been reproducible,” meaning that in all that we make we are in some ways capable of remastering the original product to the same extent. Thus Benjamin is making the statement that Art is indeed flexible. Benjamin’s purpose of writing this essay can be explained that Benjamin wants his readers to evaluate what happens to their experiences with the arts when they become too reproducible.

He argues that the human race has mastered the process of reproduction since the Greeks first began “stamping and founding” and has today continually transgressed our capabilities to include mastering sight, light, and voice reproduction with such inventions as the telephone, radio, motion picture, and camera to name a few. Due to such inventions, we have forever changed the way in which we view and value art.

No longer is it necessary for you or I to travel to museums or galleries in far off cities to view a rare painting by the great DaVinci, or go to a live play to gather in the “aura” of Cats, but instead we are able to log on to any computer with the world-wide-web to view filmed or photographed reproductions of either.

We, in fact, are also freely able to purchase such masterpieces at a fraction of the price thanks to the age of mechanical reproduction in the same exact way we are able to read or purchase Benjamin’s essay; either in tangible print or in digital format on the web. Benjamin points out that our capacity to do such is the very essence of the way we receive our arts;

"For the first time in world history, mechanical reproduction emancipates the
work of art from its parasitical dependence on ritual. To an ever greater
degree the work of art reproduced becomes the work of art designed for
reproducibility.”

-Meaning we no longer need to value the original or even ever view the original, when like with a photograph we are able to gain copies of the original from the copied version; also summarized in that “the technique of the reproduction detaches the reproduced object from the domain of tradition.”

Ironically, since we are so freely able to purchase and view copied art, this has fueled an escalation of price and demand for the original piece, as only those desiring the original most will be able to pay top dollar to satisfy their want.

“Mechanical reproduction of art changes the reaction of the masses toward art,” in that in much of early history only the rich and well-connected were ever able to experience great numbers of art. Nowadays 'Masterpiece' and everyday art is proliferated beyond museums, churches and school textbooks making its debut anywhere and everywhere as marketing, home accessories, and hospital wall décor to name a few. This transition has allowed long ago producers of art like Picasso and Mozart to become globally recognized names and images in the same context celebrities and the President enjoy today.

The art forms of film and photography can only exist as reproductions, as they only capture one view of a time and space, and if in visiting a place of a picture per say we would not be able to see everything that we see in a picture taken in the same location, but at a different time; therefore the “aura” is lost and indistinguishable from the authentic and original piece. With film making and motion picture the “aura” is also lost because when one enters to view a live rendition of a play, mistakes can be expected to come into view, but as they say in theater, ‘the show must go on’, … unlike photography and motion picture, where quite frequently the process is to keep the good and weed out the bad, or re-tape the mistakes, so that the final product is as flaw-free as it can be.

If one is to think about it, without the age of reproduction, each and every one of us here on earth would be living quite an isolated life, as over 99% of all our news is in some way a product of reproduction; newspapers, television, and radio must rely upon images, reproduced sound and copied text to advance their goods to the everyday being. Capitalism would not exist without the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, and neither would any other political movement as all require technology to advance their messages. It is fair to say, that Benjamin himself would be wowed by the advances in technology since his death and would agree that art today is at its highest peak in regards to the number of those who have the capabilities to experience art.

A Response to Horkheimer & Adorno

Reading” The culture industry as mass deception” by Horkheimer and Adorno gives you much to reflect and think about. As the title indicates, the picture of the culture industry that they want to show or give their opinions about is not very positive.

I do agree with them saying that films, radio and magazines are uniformed and that all mass communication is identical. If you watch any movie, they are all built up the same way and you often find them to be very predictable. The same goes for radio and magazine. Even though you listen to different radio channels or read different magazines, they often talk and write about the same subjects. Everything is controlled by the people in society that holds the greatest economic power. Often there are only a small number of owners to the many different publication companies that exist. The people are reading, watching and listening to what they think comes from different actors, but in the end there is no difference and it is all actually coming from the same owner. That makes you as a consumer feel pretty dumb and gullible.

Horkheimer and Adorno also say that “talented performers belong to the industry long before it displays them; otherwise they would not be so eager to fit in”. Performers that we see on for example TV or read about in different magazines, we tend to believe that they are real people that act how they want to act without somebody controlling them. But a lot of what we see performers do is already made up and constructed by somebody else in charge so that the industry can make more money on them, and many people don’t realize that.

All of these ideas might be true and it gets you, as a consumer of the industry, thinking. Are we as consumers so easy to play? We accept everything that the media hands us without asking too many questions. We accept that everything is formed by the people that control the culture industry. So I agree with the thoughts of there being some kind of mass deception in the culture industry.

A Response to Locke

The Enlightenment was a time of questioning of traditional institutions, customs, and morals. During the time, the consensus was that people were born with all the knowledge they would ever have. For example, kings were kings because they were born with the knowledge to be kings. This helped the monarchs and other rulers perpetrate the idea of divine right, because they were born more knowledgeable than the serfs that served them.

John Locke's essay questions these ideas of human understanding. Locke viewed people as almost a blank slate, which would acquire knowledge through sensatory experience and then produce their own ideas. He argued that, "Idea is the object of all thinking." We learn that a chair is a chair because we have seen it, heard it described to us, touched it, and experienced it. Experience is the basis of knowledge.

Sensation is the primary focus of experience. The direct senses allow us to form ideas from our ideas from experiences. As Locke explains, "All ideas come from sensation or reflection." Reflection, or reason, is the ability to think about the experiences we have had. Reflection allows us to use our "inner sense" in order to understand ideas.

John Locke, like other Enlightenment thinkers, was radical. He changed the way we viewed human understanding. He stated that we form ideas through a combination of experience, sensation, and reflection. Locke taught us how we fill our blank slate, but leaves it up to us to fill it with ideas.

Photo courtesy: http://lindseyreadenobles.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/istock_000002580646small.jpg