Browsing by Subject "web design"

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    Designing digital experiences in 2020
    (AIGA Design Educators Community, 2016-06-15) Ganci, Aaron
    The students entering school next Fall will likely graduate in 2020. Most of those graduates will enter the field as designers who create digital experiences—what we think of today as websites, apps, or other screen-based media. However, they will enter a media landscape that looks quite different from that of today. As the educators of these future designers, it is crucial that we understand the digital platforms of the near future and try our best to prepare them to design in these new environments. Today, many programs are still trying to figure out how to deeply integrate digital media into their curriculum. The academy rightly moves slower than industry and it has taken us several years to adjust to the new realities of digital design. In recent years, we have had some relief as designing websites and mobile applications has become much easier: our tools have improved, clear visual patterns have emerged, and interaction paradigms have matured. That said, a new wave of technologies is quickly approaching—or in some cases, already arrived—that will alter designers’ methods, processes, and outcomes in significant ways. Over the next four years, the screens we design for will multiply and diversify, virtual and augmented reality will mature, wearable and ubiquitous computing will become commonplace, and artificial intelligence will enhance or replace everyday tasks. On top of the hardware changes, security, privacy, and ethics will be ever-present forces on how designers make decisions about their work. Students cannot prepare for these environments by simply designing a few websites or apps in school. To be successful, they will require a unique set of competencies. As educators, we need to take significant steps to update and augment or curricula to prepare our students for this new world. This 20 minute talk will outline several emerging trends that will likely impact the design of digital experiences in the near future. The insights in the talk are derived from qualitative interviews with professionals, personal experiences, and an analysis of technology-centric literature. The author will unpack these trends for the audience to reveal recommendations about the core competencies that are needed to design next-generation digital experiences. From those competencies, learning objectives will be derived that educators could use to inform curricular updates.
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    Designing for the dynamic web
    (Kent State University School of Visual Communication Design In-Vision Workshop Series, 2014-10-18) Ganci, Aaron
    Today, more Americans access the Internet through a mobile device instead of a PC. As the number and diversity of connected devices increases, websites are stretched to their limit. The visual design and layout conventions that web designers have relied on for traditional desktop-sized screens are quickly becoming outdated. There are new approaches that allow web designers to present content and improve the experience of using a site, regardless of the screen size. This workshop will provide a survey of these approaches—responsive and adaptive web design—with hands-on examples. We will discuss the differences between responsive design and adaptive design and the impact those methodologies have on web layouts. Emphasis will be placed on the dynamic web’s impact on the visual design of sites but will also include process, planning, technical implementations, and interaction and usability considerations.
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    The Influence of Holistic and Analytic Cognitive Styles on Online Information Design: Toward a communication theory of cultural cognitive design
    (2008-04) Faiola, Anthony; MacDorman, Karl F.
    Although studies have linked culture to online user preferences and performance, few communication researchers have recognized the impact of culture on online information design and usability. It is important to ask if people are better able to use and prefer Web sites created by designers from their own culture. We propose that to improve computer-mediated communication, Web site design should accommodate culturally diverse user groups. First, a body of research is presented that aligns East Asian cultures with more holistic cognitive styles and Western cultures with more analytical cognitive styles. Building on this contrast, a theory of cultural cognitive design is proposed as a means of understanding how cognitive styles that develop under the influence of culture lead to different ways of designing and organizing information for the Web.
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    Participatory Innovation: A Pedagogical Approach To Help Students Reveal Real-World Problems
    (IUPUI Research Day, 2014-04-11) Ganci, Aaron
    In the digital sector, ‘innovation’ is a frequently overused word. Entrepreneurs worldwide are trying to innovate within their market. However, the drive for innovation can blind the creators of these products, obscuring what people actually need and want to use. Countless applications struggle or outright fail because they are created without the user in mind. Digital technology can be a powerful tool in people’s everyday life but it has to be integrated in meaningful ways. Careful consideration must be placed on how these new products will integrate—and improve—life. When new products truly help people, they are more likely to resonate and succeed; this is real innovation. Everyone involved in the production of digital products—entrepreneurs, developers, and experience or visual designers (the focus of this project)—must abide by this philosophy in order for the product to be successful. Students who are preparing to be involved with the design or production of these products need to learn ways to more deeply understand their users, identify problems, and craft meaningful solutions. With this in mind, research was conducted to identify and test methods that allow students to acquire this deeper understanding. This poster will outline one pedagogical approach which utilizes participatory design methods to help students identify problems in people’s lives. For this research, visual communication design students utilized these methods in a project for the course Visual Design for the Web. An overview of the pedagogical approach, project, student outcomes, and implications for future work will be highlighted.
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    The Work/Life Portal: An Innovative Navigation Tool for Faculty Benefits & Policies
    (AAMC Group on Faculty Affairs Professional Development Conference, 2014-07-19) Ganci, Aaron; Krista, Hoffmann-Longtin
    Project Benefits and policies of large academic medical centers can be challenging for faculty to navigate. A recent survey of faculty at our institution reported large gaps in their knowledge about and use of benefits and policies related to career flexibility. For example, nearly half of our faculty didn’t know about clock stoppage policies and expressed concern about how polices were communicated. Thus, the goal of this project was to develop a web-based solution to clearly convey work life benefits and policies. Methods In partnership with our school of art and design, a two-phase project was developed to design a new web portal for benefits/policies. In phase one, we conducted qualitative, usability testing of current web and print resources with the goal of further explaining the survey results. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with new and veteran faculty, as well as campus HR staff. They reviewed the current resources; provided feedback on what was unclear or hard to find; and finished by drawing their “dream website.” Results In phase two, the team used the design-thinking methodology to develop a prototype of the website. After systematically testing ideas, the team settled on a modified natural language user interface, where a faculty member types in a question or idea (e.g. “I’m having a baby”) and a series of policies is returned, associated with keywords within the question. The simple design of the interface allows faculty affairs office staff to assign word tags to policies/benefits that may appear in the user’s questions. A free online tool (http://wordpress.org) was used to create the portal. Conclusion The new portal allows our institution to create a clear online presence for work life benefits and policies, demonstrating our institutional commitment to supporting faculty. At the same time, the program uses resources efficiently. The only expenses incurred have been faculty and staff time to conduct the study and develop the portal. Implications While the portal is still in development, it demonstrates a promising shift in how faculty affairs offices can collaborate with faculty and internal partners. By designing and testing ideas with faculty and HR professionals, we created buy-in for the project early on. These individuals have the potential to become early adopters of the new portal, sharing their positive experiences with others.