Communication Technology: Evaluation

Jason Lowe
Communication Technology: Evaluation

I have learnt interactivity. A wide, all encompassing word such as this can be both problematic and useful. Problematic in that interactivity essentially left me in a bit of a wilderness at first, with the word needing further definition; which is posted on my blog. It was useful however as it allowed me to learn what I wanted to learn. I was able to learn both the theory of how people interact with websites, as well as put this into practice by learning a wide range of skills.

The first major step I took to start learning was to take an existing website and get creative. In this case, I took the St. George's website, which I have some control over, and came up with ideas about what I'd improve.

 I felt this was useful as it helped me define what I want to learn. I went with these ideas to Simon who told me what I need to learn in order to do these things. This was a list of programs and languages including JavaScript, Flash and RSS. I left a little lost as, in honesty, I had no idea what Javascript was in reality.



Therefore I watched tutorials on YouTube for Javascript having done this for Flash. I later realised this was unwise and time wasting as JS is a case of finding codes and embedding on the whole- but I wasn't to know this then. For me it's a bit of a double-edged sword, as I should have put my foot down a bit more with Simon rather than letting him tell me to 'go away and do tutorials'. A simple 10-minute crash course would have given me a springboard to learn it. Christian later did this, although by this time I had already wasted around two weeks.

The major stumbling block on this module for me regarded Action Script. A really simple problem, scripting buttons, made any further steps in Flash interfaces impossible. In all fairness I tried my hardest to get round this problem, seeking help from both Michael Corker and Mike Flower in the Bubble, as well as Christian- all of whom were unable to get to the bottom of the problem. I went back to visit more YouTube videos and online tutorials which too didn’t help. This all regarded Action Script 2.0, so I even made an effort to learn Action Script 3.0 just to get around this tiny problem. It took two weeks before I was able to see Simon again, who sorted the problem.

My context blog shows my engagement with critical discourse surrounding this issue. Typical of me to pick the industry that is changing the fastest, technological developments in my area are happening as I type. The major change is HTML 5, which will provide a uniform way of presenting media. It was worth learning Flash as a 'base' to the learning; I suppose it's a similar case to how typographers would find it useful to learn typesetting despite on screen type being used more now. This set up the next stage beyond the project perfectly though- get to grips with HTML 5. Thinking about PPD, I want to make sure that by the time I leave this course, I am at the forefront of new media design in terms of my skills base. Therefore, a similar Comm Tech project with HTML 5 is the next step. 



I've learnt that my work patterns fluctuate. Some weeks I get hardly anything done, and tend to be content with that. As the deadline approaches or there are less problems to be dealt with, I can work loads. I suppose this says that I'm a hard worker when there are things to be done, but when I'm 'wandering around', I'm happy with that. In the last three weeks I've been doing several 0900-1800 and 0900-2100 shifts with an eagerness to get things done- but this has only come since I exited the doldrums where I was going round in endless circles trying to get Action Script to work.



I've been told by Graham that I'm perhaps not that proactive. I'm not sure if I'd agree with this though- perhaps I take things at my own pace sometimes too much, but when something needs doing I get it done and seek the relevant people. Having said this, I think there's a fair point in there somewhere as I could actually up my game and take things up a level if I took a level of risk in my learning. By trying to get mini live briefs that would facilitate my learning could speed up the learning process and make it generally more relevant. 



I said earlier that the next step is to learn some HTML 5. I'm great at engaging with critical discourse. I check several news sites several times a day and am subscribed to various news providers. I'm also on a number of forums. I'm confident that there's absolutely no issue in my knowledge of where things are going in the industry. However I'm terrible at putting this into practice. If I had been more organised I could have learnt some HTML 5 in this project. 



Something that always disappoints me with web is that so much learning can have tiny results. To an average passive web user, they click buttons and roll over flash elements as if they've been made and posted disposably. It's taken me weeks to learn how to make the Flash widgets I've made, but they appear rather significant. I really want to make something more impressive using the same skills for my own peace of mind and self-satisfaction on a future project- and I already have ideas for this. 



Throughout this evaluation, time management has cropped up many times. My time management is... unique. I don't know whether I'm organised or not- I remember everything, get everything done before deadlines, and generally do quite a good job. But I am very flexible- there's very little structure in my time. I'm not sure if this matters though? What I do know though is that if I planned things a little bit more, but still allowed flexibility, I could get more work time in and thus learn more.

 I had an after thought later in the module where I decided it would be a good idea to upload the website I did to the internet so I could demonstrate what I had learnt and revised over the module, but I left this until the hand in day to do.

The brief asks to evaluate how well I manage projects. I know fully that this is one of my skills. I have previously organised some huge events, and I'm pretty good at getting people into order and chasing things up. I'm positive about my management of projects without a doubt.

I spoke earlier about my Context blog. I have three ongoing blogs that are linked together to make one organised portfolio of my work, engagement with critical discourse and assessment of typography. I find this is usually a good way to work and document things, but it became a problem for this project as my Comm Tech work is mixed in with many other things. To mitigate this I have labeled and tagged every Comm Tech post to make it as easy to view as a project as possible. I’ve not been that good at blogging through this. I have been blogging relatively regularly, and each post is accompanied with text, but to document a process fully I should have been taking screen shots much more regularly and posting these, not necessarily with text.



It's been a mixed project in conclusion. If I could do it again, I would. There was a very slow start, partly down to me but there were other factors in there too; Simon, the Flash specialist, had tonsillitis for two weeks for example. If I had got the Action Script problem sorted much earlier on in the project, I would have been able to develop my Flash skills to a much greater extent I think. It has only really been in the last two weeks I've been able to get creative with Flash after learning the bones.

Despite all this, I'm really happy that my skills base has expanded. I have a good skills base as a designer and now feel I could confidently design and build a standard, mainstream website. I am nowhere near fluent in Flash, but I can build simple interfaces and make simple animations in it; which I suppose is all I need for web design. When I put this into the context of the whole year, I've gone from not having a clue about how to make even the simplest web page to being able to make fully interactive websites. With my skills in other design programs, this gives me confidence I'm going to be able to get out there and do more and better live projects as a more rounded designer. My skills base will continue to expand once this project ceases, and this is the ongoing aim for me on this course.

Communication Technology Context: Widget Type

This is the first attempt at type for a widget. It's relatively standard and does the job, but there is perhaps too much text to make it easily legible, and it appears a little squashed.

This is the second revision. The first thing to note is that I've changed the header to a serif font (Plantagenet Cherokee) to provide some aesthetic contrast.


I've also added a subheading to make it more obvious what the text is about.


The final thing I've done is to choose Thonburi for the body text as one of its properties is relatively generous leading- this makes it much more friendly to the eye when viewed on screen.

Communication Technology Context: The Times

The Times looks more like a newspaper than comparable newspaper websites. Although most are similar, this has an explicit link, complete with a border and correct dimensions.

Times New Roman is interestingly used for both body and header text. It gives the paper a rather traditional, Conservative look which suits its target market, but is actually less practical on screen.

I notice that there is increased leading on the headers, and a large amount of space under the image caption to make a clear divide between that and other sections. To reinforce these boundaries, subtle grey lines have been drawn.

Communication Technology Context: Type on the Web

Type on the web is in its early stages of development. I predict that it will change radically, and a new set of guidelines on how to lay out type for web will emerge.

Already one difference is that the usage of serif and sans serif fonts seems to switch from the use in print. Previously, serif fonts were commonly used for body text to improve legibility, whereas sans serif fonts could provide strong, bold headers. On the web, technology has defined what is best. Sans serif fonts have become the accepted norm for body text. Because a screen is composed of pixels, it is not practical to have serif fonts in varying sizes for body copy- but they can add the critical contrast in headers.

So for usability purposes, sans serif fonts are the norm for body copy. But even that is constrained. There is a safe list of fonts, normally covering Arial, Times New Roman, Georgia, Verdana, Tahoma and Trebuchet MS- any other font choice and you risk making the site visually unappealing to the viewer as they may not have the font installed. Some websites, including nike.com, have adopted images on their headers/tabs so that they can use the type they wish.

Unlike print, screens operate the additive colour system (shown). It may not be a good idea to display lots of type on white backgrounds as instead of providing strong contrast, it can stun the viewer with glare and give them eyeache.

Type on the web has a long road of development ahead of it, but it seems to be increasingly the case that the type used is defined by the technological constraints rather than the wishes of the designer. Perhaps a good thing?

Communication Technology Context: HTML 5

http://www.williammalone.com/

My housemate introduced me to this great website. Not only does it give a contextual introduction to HTML 5, it enables the user to have a go with some simple tutorials. On the whole, it seems that HTML 5 will make the way things work much simpler, easier and more impressive

The site itself is built in HTML 5 and the level of interactivity is great. I've posted a screen shot on the right, but to really appreciate the website you must visit it and have a play around.

The tutorials marry Javascript and ActionScript to show the potential possibilities. I'll certainly have a go at some of these, although the amount of time this would consume means it could form a whole new project.

I personally feel it is quite exciting being able to get the 'basics' out of the way and onto designing cutting edge web sites.

Communcation Technology Context: Comments Widget

Today I came across this service, 'Disqus'. Disqus allows you to embed a commenting service onto your website; it's currently being used on the Transparency BETA for 10 Downing Street. Seems like it may be really helpful for me in trying to create more interactive websites though. All the syntax is relatively conventional; anyone used to using Facebook or Twitter would have no difficulty in using it.

http://disqus.com/

Communication Technology Context: ustwo: http://www.ustwo.co.uk/

I'm posting this website for two reasons; the design and the content.

It's an HTML website with some simple Flash elements embedded, but it looks contemporary and cool. Rollovers have been used effectively on the header text while a subtle drop shadow around the container lifts it off the background. The background must be an image, although I'm not sure how this has been achieved. I assume it must be one very large image so that it doesn't change form depending on the monitor.

Graphically, the site looks great. Really well chosen colours mix together to create a vibrant geometric background which is carried through to the container where the font is clean and legible. It's similar to Calibri but I can't find out exactly what it is as the CSS isn't showing.

Within the container is an embedded Flash banner. It works well as the user can scroll through 5 large images easily on the homepage, removing the need for clutter on standard HTML sites.

In terms of content, the website is for digital user interface design. In other words, they develop apps, games, content and other designs for mobiles, netbooks and tablets. I want to pick out their Sim City inspired design particularly, where the norm of gridded icons has been done away with and replaced with an interactive image.

Visually, the phone looks great. It's still in development so we'll have to wait and see for the reaction from the consumer, but I'm sure it will be a hit as form is preferred over function.