Before i started this course, i have created this blog to blog about my eldest daughter. However, due to work and partly my laziness, i stopped. As this course requried me to do my assignment in blog, i revitalise the blog and gave it a new facelift.
I did not know that there are so many functions being added for free for me to beautify the blog. I took this opportunity to use their setting and create a better looking blog that it is now.
When i first started, i know nuts about designing for blog or even online or print publications. The course has thought me so much about designing for publication that i began to take notice of this aspect when i read publication print or online.
I have to aadmit that i am a disaster in designing as i do not have the creativity mind in this area, but with the help of this course and the dummy setting that is created for a dummy like me, it makes me happy that as least i can create something presentable.
This knowledge that i gain will be with me as long as i live, it helps me to look at things at another perspective and understand the hard work that designers had put in.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
List of Professional Links
Channel News Asia Website is one of the website that i visited often for the latest updates for new. I personally think that this site is professionally created and its very easy to navigate and read. The layout of the page is nicely frame where it segregate informations in columns and you will not mix up. It is mostly light in colour which make it easier to read. Link to other pages are also easy to see and very interactive.
I like to vist Fifth Gear website as i am interested in cars. This site provide latest information of new cars and reviews of their handling capabilities. The layout is nicely done, the framing of information is very clear as it is box up in different places. Although they have created three columns in the page, but the layout is not so long that alot of scrolling need to be done to read the informations.
Another site that i think is professionally done is gamespot.com. This site introduce and review video games from Wii to PS3. It is nicely done with a dark colour background picture and information on just 2 columns. The right column is the main information and it is nicely segreated, the right side contain all the sub-links to other pages. There are alot of colours because of the pictures they posted, but they not clastered together, information is easy top read too.
Issues related to online publication, Part 3
In print publication, the main body of text is usually small with Sarif Fonts to guide the reader's eyes to the next word. It is done this way because all the texts are claster togther as space is limited.
Sarif Fonts
For online publication, it is recommended to have alot of white space in between lines, sub-heading and paragraphs. It is also adviseable to have wide space margin at the texts boundary. In contrast to print, it is also recommended to have bigger text and titles to be bigger than the main text body and in blold in online publication
In order to provide readers for a better and enjoyable read, it is recommended that online publication to use San Serif fonts as the text are bigger and avoid thin, ornate typeface. The thin fonts tends to get lost in the surrounding of whiteness when projected on screen.
San Serif Fonts
Colours should be used with restraint. consider to use shades or tints of darker colour to add interest to the page, darker shades of colour unify your documents.
Roger C, Parker 2003, Looking good in print, Designing documents for web distribution, 5th edition, Paraglyph Press, Scottsdale, Ariz.
Sarif Fonts
For online publication, it is recommended to have alot of white space in between lines, sub-heading and paragraphs. It is also adviseable to have wide space margin at the texts boundary. In contrast to print, it is also recommended to have bigger text and titles to be bigger than the main text body and in blold in online publication
In order to provide readers for a better and enjoyable read, it is recommended that online publication to use San Serif fonts as the text are bigger and avoid thin, ornate typeface. The thin fonts tends to get lost in the surrounding of whiteness when projected on screen.
San Serif Fonts
Colours should be used with restraint. consider to use shades or tints of darker colour to add interest to the page, darker shades of colour unify your documents.
Roger C, Parker 2003, Looking good in print, Designing documents for web distribution, 5th edition, Paraglyph Press, Scottsdale, Ariz.
Issues related to online publication, Part 2
Multicolumns Layout
In print publication, it is common to see mulitcolumns of text clastered together. Multicolumns makes the best use of space to include word counts to the maximum. It is easy for readers to read as they can just follow the margin frame reading from top to bottom of the first column than mre their eyes up to the next column and down again. It s systematic and easy.
However, it is not adviseable to do the same for online publication. Online publication has space limitation on the screen. If multicolumns is used, readers will have to read by scrolling down the page and scroll back up to read the next column. This is very troublsome for readers. Worst still if readers need to refer back to the bottom of first column, readers will need to scroll back down again to take a look. It is just not feasible to have multicolumns. It is recommended to use single column.
It is also recommended for online publication, to have alot of space on the screen so that it does not look so claster together. The spacing in between text and lines need to be wide enough too.
Roger C, Parker 2003, Looking good in print, Designing documents for web distribution, 5th edition, Paraglyph Press, Scottsdale, Ariz.
In print publication, it is common to see mulitcolumns of text clastered together. Multicolumns makes the best use of space to include word counts to the maximum. It is easy for readers to read as they can just follow the margin frame reading from top to bottom of the first column than mre their eyes up to the next column and down again. It s systematic and easy.
However, it is not adviseable to do the same for online publication. Online publication has space limitation on the screen. If multicolumns is used, readers will have to read by scrolling down the page and scroll back up to read the next column. This is very troublsome for readers. Worst still if readers need to refer back to the bottom of first column, readers will need to scroll back down again to take a look. It is just not feasible to have multicolumns. It is recommended to use single column.
It is also recommended for online publication, to have alot of space on the screen so that it does not look so claster together. The spacing in between text and lines need to be wide enough too.
Roger C, Parker 2003, Looking good in print, Designing documents for web distribution, 5th edition, Paraglyph Press, Scottsdale, Ariz.
Issues related to online publication, Part 1
One of the big difference in print and online publicatiion is light. On print, it is easier for a reader to read because lights reflected on the print surface, much of the lights is absorbed on the print surface so the contrast range is not as much.
Publication online is different because reader have to read it on screen which directly projected lights into reader's eyes, this causes fatigue to their eyes more easily. If the contrast on the screen is not adjusted to suit the reader's eyes, readers will tend to stop reading very fast.
Another difference is, on print publication, readers get to see the big picture of what is presented to them first, from there, readers are able to skim through and choose which area they want to focus on. But for online, it is on a limited area of view on the screen, and readers are only shown part of the page, reader have to go through all the pages just to find out which part the reader is interested in.
Roger C, Parker 2003, Looking good in print, Designing documents for web distribution, 5th edition, Paraglyph Press, Scottsdale, Ariz.
Publication online is different because reader have to read it on screen which directly projected lights into reader's eyes, this causes fatigue to their eyes more easily. If the contrast on the screen is not adjusted to suit the reader's eyes, readers will tend to stop reading very fast.
Another difference is, on print publication, readers get to see the big picture of what is presented to them first, from there, readers are able to skim through and choose which area they want to focus on. But for online, it is on a limited area of view on the screen, and readers are only shown part of the page, reader have to go through all the pages just to find out which part the reader is interested in.
Roger C, Parker 2003, Looking good in print, Designing documents for web distribution, 5th edition, Paraglyph Press, Scottsdale, Ariz.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Print related issues - Framing
Framing of a layout can either be connected or disconnected. Information may be presented as one unit of information for connected and the vice versa for disconnected.
Connection and Disconnection comes in different ways, an example is frameline, the thickness, the colour and empty space can indicate the strenght of connectivity.
An American typographer and teacher Edmund Arnold mentioned "we're taught to start reading from top left corner to bottom right corner and from left to right." As such, printed page text is liner and stictly coded. Pages are design to be read left to right and top to bottom.
Newspaper pages are read differently, the reading path is less strictly coded. They are scanned through before an article is read.
There is a path in scanning too. Layout of pages can determine scanning path. reading starts from the most salience and move on the the next salience and so on.
Framing on print is important in a sense that it leads the reader on the layout of the page and bring them to where their attention is needed most in a page.
Kress, Gunther and van Leeuwen, Theo 1998, Approaches to media discourse, Front pages: (the critical) analysis of the newspaper layout, Blackwell, Oxford.
Wheildon, Colin 1990, Communicating or just making pretty shapes: a study of the validity -- or otherwise -- of some elements of typographic design, Newspaper Advertising Bureau of Australia, North Sydney.
Print related issues - Salience
The fundemental of layout is textual, layout as a whole will provide ordering and coherence. Layout involves degrees of salience on a page. Salience can create importance in an article, it can reflect the importance or worthy attention of an article.
Salience is a complex realtionship between a number of factors: size, sharpness of focus (amount of details and texture shown), tonal contrast, colour contrast, placement in the visual field and perspective.
It is not easy to weight salience as different people have different view and perspective, what one percieve as nice may not be agreeable by others, therefore reading and assessment of salience is a complex process.
In order to meet the complex process, one have to strike a 'balance' in all the elements mentioned above.
Kress, Gunther and van Leeuwen, Theo 1998, Approaches to media discourse, Front pages: (the critical) analysis of newspaper layout, Blackwell, Oxford.
Salience is a complex realtionship between a number of factors: size, sharpness of focus (amount of details and texture shown), tonal contrast, colour contrast, placement in the visual field and perspective.
It is not easy to weight salience as different people have different view and perspective, what one percieve as nice may not be agreeable by others, therefore reading and assessment of salience is a complex process.
In order to meet the complex process, one have to strike a 'balance' in all the elements mentioned above.
Kress, Gunther and van Leeuwen, Theo 1998, Approaches to media discourse, Front pages: (the critical) analysis of newspaper layout, Blackwell, Oxford.
Print related issues - Information value
As mentioned in my earlier post, Information value decides which part of the print the article will appear in.
An article 'does not have the same value and meaning when it is placed on the right or left, in the upper or lower section of the page, in the centre or in the margin.' (Kress, Gunther and van Leeuwen, Theo 1998) Basically, where an article is placed in a print matters alot.
Left versus Right
Article on the left is presented as Given and article on the right is presented as New. Given means something a reader already know and New is something the reader does not know.
Top versus Bottom
Article at the upper half is presented as Ideal and article on the lower half is presented as Real. In Ideal, its information is generalised, in real, the information is more specific.
Centre versus Margin
Article in the centre is called Centre, and what other information around it is called Margin. Article in the centre are information that are subservient and article in the margin are identical or at least similar to the Centre.
Kress, Gunther and van Leeuwen, Theo 1998, Approaches to media discourse, Front pages: (the critical) analysis of newspaper layout, Blackwell, Oxford.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Classification of blogs
Blogging phenomenon has come to stage where millions of postings are up every single day. Topics for blogging are not able to be classified as there are too much. Usually each individual will have different topic to posts every other day and most of them will not post only one specific topic on a single blog.
Chris Heuer has blogged that there is an urgent need to think of a way to classify blogs. He expirence is when he goes through an individual blog, he find all sorts of topic in it, and only one of the post is of his interest. Time is wasted to scroll through that blog just to find the post that he is interested in. He is pushing his stands for classification of blog to the big blogging community.
In a more conventional way, people of different blogging community set up their blog community tagged to the topic that they are interested in. An example is The Dublin community Blog, this blog is dedicated to anything that happened in Dublin or anything the blogger wants to talk about Dublin, comments can be made there and the discussions carry on from there.
Another example is Lonely Planet Community Blog, this site is dedicated to travellers who want to find out more on a specific place that they want to visit. Anyone can post a topic on any travel destination that they may be going and ask for comment or get reviews of interesting places that they can go.
New forms of media publishing
For decades, newspapers and magazines are published using print. As technology progress, there is now a new way in publishing newspapers and magainze, and that is online. While print for newspapers and magazines are still acceptable at the present stage, there is a need for more creativity way in publishing. Online is the answer.
The advantages for online publishing is, it can be constantly updated up to the minute. Readers will get first hand information as it comes in. The design can be changed as often as requried. Videos clips can be added for online pages. Movement and sound can be seen and heard instantly, this give a very interactive side of the media. It will bring reader closer to the topic and even feel what is going on during that particular incident.
Print will not have the interactive side compared to online. Colour in print is less on broadsheet newspaper as it cost more to print. The good side about print is it can be bought easily and be brought along anywhere, compared to online, you will need to have internet connection before you can go online.
Examples of online newspaper and magazine:
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/
http://www.topgear.com/uk/
The advantages for online publishing is, it can be constantly updated up to the minute. Readers will get first hand information as it comes in. The design can be changed as often as requried. Videos clips can be added for online pages. Movement and sound can be seen and heard instantly, this give a very interactive side of the media. It will bring reader closer to the topic and even feel what is going on during that particular incident.
Print will not have the interactive side compared to online. Colour in print is less on broadsheet newspaper as it cost more to print. The good side about print is it can be bought easily and be brought along anywhere, compared to online, you will need to have internet connection before you can go online.
Examples of online newspaper and magazine:
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/
http://www.topgear.com/uk/
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Designing print Vs Designing online
In a world which relied heavyly on techonology, more and more documents are read on screen rather than on print. Although the shift is imminent, print still has its fair share of audience.
Designing for print is different from online as it has space limitation, articles are in competition with other articles for attention and no changes once its printed. An example of print is newspaper, the layout system involved three signifying systems; Information value, Salience and Framing.
Information value
It is important to understand which information is of vaule where it attracts attention from the audience. In a newspaper layout, different information value will get a different zone or visual space.
Salience
Layout to get reader's attention varies in degree, placement of information on foreground or background, sizes, contrast in tonal value or colour all makes a great different.
Framing
Framelines or whitespace between informations can connect or disconnect the information instantly.
Designing for online is a different ball game altogether. Information in this aspect is more define as they focus more on one specific information. You can have instant modification to the pages and you can modify it as often as you want. It is more interactive as video clips can be added to add movement in the page.
Layout for online is not as tedious as print, it is not recommneded to claster all the informations together. In fact, it is adviceable to spread out the information out evenly and have alot of whitespace so that it is easier for readers to read.
One crucial point to note for online designing is the use of colours, different screen give a different colour reading, as such, it is adviceable to choose the colours carefully.
Parker, C 2003, Looking good in print, Designing documents for web distribution, 5th edition, Paraglyph Press, Scottsdale Ariz.
Kress, Gunther and van Leeuwen, Theo 1998, Approaches to media discourse, Front pages: (the critical) analysis of newspaper layout, Blackwell, Oxford.
How blog affect our community.
Blogging started in the 1990s where forum discussion is common. It was develop for individual to have their own space and personal expression of views.
A study was done by Akshay Java, Pranam Kolari and Tim Oates in 2006 on Modelling the spread of influence on the Blogsphere. The report has shown that it took the world by storm. It is common that blogging goes by interest or topic from saving the cat next door to politics.
Some of the blogger treat blogging as their online diary, they would blog their daily living, what have they done in the day, or things they want to share with their friends. It became personal and intimate at times.
Blogging has become very common and people can visit all these sites daily and spent hours reading through those blogs understanding and giving comments as they wish. It has also become a money making place as advertiser can advertise on popular blogs for their products and the blogger can earn income by maintaining their blog regularly and keep people interested and visit their blog regularly.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Overview
As i have mentioned ealier that this blog was revived for me to carry on my assignments for my degree studies, so here it goes.
Overview
The purpose is to help me in understanding the fundemental of drafting out a Professional Weblog. I have to create at least 8 posting on different topics related to media. The topics are as follows:
1) Introduction on the purpose of this weblog. (which i am doing now)
2) Phenomenon on blogs and how it affects the community.
3) Discuss designing for print Vs designing for online.
4) New forms of media publishing.
5)Classification of blogs or two of different blogging communites.
6)List of professional and hyperlinks to important site.
7) Additional 4-6 regular blogs on media/publishing issues.
8)Reflection on the process of creating weblogs and skills acquried, theoretical posting and standpoint adopted as a blogger.
In addtion to the above points where i have to take note, I would have to design the weblog based on the following criteria:
1) Scannability
2) Usability
3) Readablity
4) Credibilty
More post is on the way.
Overview
The purpose is to help me in understanding the fundemental of drafting out a Professional Weblog. I have to create at least 8 posting on different topics related to media. The topics are as follows:
1) Introduction on the purpose of this weblog. (which i am doing now)
2) Phenomenon on blogs and how it affects the community.
3) Discuss designing for print Vs designing for online.
4) New forms of media publishing.
5)Classification of blogs or two of different blogging communites.
6)List of professional and hyperlinks to important site.
7) Additional 4-6 regular blogs on media/publishing issues.
8)Reflection on the process of creating weblogs and skills acquried, theoretical posting and standpoint adopted as a blogger.
In addtion to the above points where i have to take note, I would have to design the weblog based on the following criteria:
1) Scannability
2) Usability
3) Readablity
4) Credibilty
More post is on the way.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)