omg. finally i’ve finished my assignment, and what a relief because i liked every part of it except for the storyboards. no offence but why do they have to make storyboards SO confusing and not to mention hard to read and etc etc.
anyhow, so that was that, and i shall upload my activities and different technology styles later on AFTER work. wootwoot
okay my dates are getting a little mixed up.
but anyhow, we did our exam today on the three websites, the different websites sure did have different visual attributes and techniques and i liked the BBC language one. mainly because it looks pretty as compared to the airforce one or something.
the most important thing about a website is the way it looks i rekn, put the techniques and all aside, because if a website does not appeal to an audience, the effects that it has tried to achieve wouldnt really work out anyway. first impressions are always important.
The following is a brief overview of the 4 basic principles of design :
C R A P
Reference: Williams, R. 1994, The Non-Designer’s Design Book, Peachpit Press, USA
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Contrast |
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Contrast can be the most important visual aspect of a page. The principle is to avoid elements on the page that are merely similar – if they are not the same – then make them VERY different.
Purpose: § To create interest § Aid in the organisation of information § Supports visual hierarchy Eg. use of colour |
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Repetition |
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Repeat visual elements throughout – colour, shape, etc. Develops organisation and strengthens the unity.
Purpose: § To unify and add interest § For consistency Eg. navigation, colour identifiers, layout – anything your learner may visually recognize.
Avoid repeating the element so much that it becomes annoying and distracts from the message
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Alignment |
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Nothing should be placed on your page randomly. Every element should have some visual connection with another element on the page. This creates a clean, sophisticated look.
Purpose: § To unify and organize your page design § Be conscious of where you place your elements – always try to find something that aligns them
Avoid: § More than 1 type of text alignment on the same page § Don’t always centre align
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Proximity |
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Items relating to each other should be group close together. Items in close proximity become one visual unit rather than several separate, unrelated units.
Purpose: § Reduces clutter and confusing your reader § Organizes information – reduces cognitive load § Logical information is more likely to be remembered
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Understanding Colour
Review the Colour Matters site and determine why some colours appear to hurt the eye!
From the same site – Color Matters – explore how computers generate colours and what this can mean to your multimedia images:
The Psychology of Colour
Some colours make us happy and others, sad. Colours have the ability to provoke a psychological reaction. Look at the objects around you: their colours have been chosen specifically because they create a mood or an association for the viewer.
Because of their power to provoke reactions in us, we use colours for their symbolic meaning. It is no accident that fire engines are painted red; red is a hot colour and denotes the idea of danger. Police uniforms are blue; being a cool colour, blue projects the idea of being under control, being calm and collected.
You can use colours in your visual designs to convey a mood, create an association or express your feelings about a particular event, activity or object.
q Aggression – red
q Friendly – yellow
q Solid – black
q Weak – baby pink
q Serious – dark blue
q Depressed – grey
Visual design takes the composite of elements: text, symbols, photos, colours, video, in fact any graphic element and much more, to communicate your message – it is your primary connection with the learner.
Visual design is the process of producing visual images that are able to communicate information to other people.
Visual images are made up of lines, colours, textures, tones, hues and shapes applied in a spatial composition. We are surrounded by visual images in our everyday lives. Each visual image is trying to tell us something.
Understanding Perception
When you look at a visual image you see lines, shapes, colours, tones, hues and objects in a spatial dimension.
The eye collects visual information from these images and objects and this information is transmitted to the brain. The brain interprets and constructs meaning from this visual information.
To design visual images that are meaningful to an audience you need to understand the way your audience actually sees. That is, how does the eye collect visual information and how does the brain interpret it? This line of inquiry is called the science of perception.
Discovering the way the eye works will help you understand how visual elements function in visual design.
Understanding Visual Communication
No two people ever see the same thing quite the same way. Cultural differences, the level of acquired knowledge, an individual’s psychology and socialisation will all affect the way we construct meaning from a visual image.
Physiology can also affect the way a person sees. The eye itself can have defects in the retina lens or suffer from colour blindness. The brain can also have its own problems that affect perception such as brain dysfunction, and alcohol and drugs.
To cater for these differences in perception you need to construct a clear, unambiguous image and know your audience well enough to construct visual images that they will easily recognise and comprehend. For example, a road sign needs to communicate its message to a wide audience instantaneously.
ONLINE QUIZ COMPLETE
7 Principles of Multimedia Design
1. Multimedia principle: Students learn better from words and pictures than from words alone.
2. Spatial Contiguity Principle: Students learn better when corresponding words and pictures are presented near rather than far from each other on the page or screen.
3. Temporal Contiguity Principle: Students learn better when corresponding words and pictures are presented simultaneously rather than successively.
4. Coherence Principle: Students learn better when extraneous words, pictures, and sounds are excluded rather than included.
5. Modality Principle: Students learn better from animation and narration than from animation and on-screen text.
6. Redundancy Principle: Students learn better from animation and narration than from animation, narration, and on-screen text.
7. Individual Differences Principle: Design effects are stronger for low-knowledge learners than for high-knowledge learners and for high-spatial learners rather than low-spatial learners.
What is Multimedia?
How do you define multimedia in today’s e-Learning context?
It can be defined as tools engaging learners interactively.
