Uncategorized – Page 2 – Introduction to Digital Publishing

Usability Summary

This article focuses on the five principles of visual design in UX. Principles of visual design refer to how “design elements go together to create well-rounded and thoughtful visuals.” It starts by stating that for the most part, at a glance, a user can immediately tell whether a visual is appealing or not. Kelly Gordon then states and defines those five principles.

Scale – This principle uses size to draw attention to certain visual elements. Something that is bigger is more likely to be noticed. A visual appealing design should not use more than three different sizes. The biggest size should emphasize the most important part of the website. Using different sized visuals also establishes a visual hierarchy.
Visual Hierarchy – The second principle in the article refers to how our eyes are guided in a website. Usually, the user knows where to look in a website when a visual hierarchy is well-established. “Scale, value, color, spacing, placement” can all be used to establish a hierarchy. Using a bright color to signal something more important and a muted color for something less important is an example of a visual hierarchy
Balance- Balance occurs when there is an even and satisfying arrangement or proportion of design elements in a website. Visual signals must equally distribute between both sides of an imaginary axis that either runs vertically or horizontally. The balance may be symmetrical, asymmetrical or radial, but balance must be achieved so that no one area draws “your eyes so much that you can’t see the other areas.”
Contrast – This principle refers to “the juxtaposition of visually dissimilar elements in order to convey the fact that these elements are different”. Contrast also helps empathize differences between two objects in order to highlight that they are distinct.
Gestalt Principles – Gestalt principles explain how humans tend to analyze images as a whole rather than as individual elements. Proximity, one of the principles of Gestalt is particularly important to UX design because humans tend to perceive images that are close together as part of the same group.

The author finishes the article by stating that these principles help increase usability, provoke emotion and delight, and strengthen brand perception.

Experience, World Leaders in Research-Based User. “5 Principles of Visual-Design in UX.” Nielsen Norman Group, https://www.nngroup.com/articles/principles-visual-design/. Accessed 2 Mar. 2020.

Usability Summary

In the article, “First Rule of Usability? Don’t Listen to Users” by Jakob Nielson it overall states that web designers should not listen to what users say that they want, but listen to the actions they do. Previously websites used to focus on how flashy they looked, now they focus on the simplicity. Typically when customers think they will like an idea, is it not actually functional or something that is easy to use. The article mentions that even when users have taken surveys about what they want to see on a website, they will choose things because it ‘sounds cool’ not because they actually want it.

The proper way to collect data from users is by seeing their actions on a webpage. It is also not recommended for designers to try and predict what is the next move that users will make, it is best to just focus on their current needs.

Nielson, Jakob. “First Rule of Usability? Don’t Listen to Users.” Nielsen Norman Group, 4 Aug. 2001, www.nngroup.com/articles/first-rule-of-usability-dont-listen-to-users/

Disability, Mental Illness, and eLearning Summary

Kent, Mike. “Disability, Mental Illness, and eLearning: Invisible Behind the Screen?”. The Journal of Interactive Technology and Pedagogy. 8(2015). Web. 25 February 2020.

Open Universities Australia offers the option of disclosing that they have a disability so that the specific schools can tailor the program to their needs, but admissions are finding that many students are hesitant to reveal their disability. This has divulged that a high percentage in the country’s population reported suffering from a mental illness, but because it was not disclosed in the application process, those with disabilities were highly under-represented, which also restricted their opportunity to learn. Students with disabilities felt their impairments were made even more invisible in an online context because of universities’ decisions to under-represent those with invisible disabilities. Open Universities Australia decided to conduct a study by giving a survey to its students. The questions consisted of students’ demographics, studies, accommodations, issues around disclosure, accessibility of technology and services as well as opinions of the university and free-response suggestions.
There were notes from the study that those who reported having a mental illness struggled with online accessibility, but they offered suggestions for improvement like “breathing space” during exams. The study also revealed that the most common mental illnesses among the students were depression, anxiety and PTSD. Many students conveyed their frustrations with the stigmas attached to these mental illnesses, as it was part of the reason they may have chosen not to disclose the information originally. The different types of impairment must be accounted for in the design of these institutions, which can be a tricky task, but that is why the study was conducted. Researchers wanted to know what can be changed to improve students’ experiences. The conclusion of the study was that online learning provided an easier learning environment for students with disabilities, but there were still areas that could be improved.

Greenspring Review

Green spring review: layout 1
Effective:
Navigation bar towards the top: black bolded ink is easy to see
Love the logo. Something about it’s simplicity is nice and calming
Submission Guidelines are up there with the navigation bar which promotes people to submit
Search bar being in the top right is easily accessible and gets readers to reach their goal faster
Lots of whitespace: doesn’t feel overcrowded with content

Not effective:
“Welcome to The Greenspring Review” ink is so light I can barely see it
The spring 2020 issue button is so small that I completely missed it and had to look a second time
Books on either side are distracting, although I like the home-y feel. I have more interest in looking at all the books at first
Under Issues, the way “spring 2020” and “fall 2020” is displayed is rather unprofessional. It feels out of place and I feel pressured to click it
Maybe it would be helpful to have a list of authors with several published works here where someone could just click it? I don’t think outsiders know off hand of a couple authors to search up in the first place

Greenspring review: layout 2
Effective:
Having an actual place on the website to submit more work encourages people to submit. If it’s easy and accessible, there is no need for an extra step and this eliminates them.
There is an efficient use of white space. It creates for perfect balance
It’s simple; yet elegant and sophisticated.
The font is interesting and keeps me engaged. It’s different, but not too different to where it is distracting.
I like how the editors chose quotes instead of putting their own bios. It makes it more interesting and unique and maybe they could go somewhere with that; make a quote of the week would be pretty cool

Not effective:
I feel like the ___ is too much. It takes up too much space when the site is first open. Kind of confusing as to what to do / where to go next
The navigation bar is so small at the bottom and it should be placed at the top, because it is important and you want people to click there
The articles on the featured issues page are not hyperlinked. You cannot click it to read more, rather you have to go to the general topic to learn more which is definitely aggravating (for me)
Issues are the only thing with a drop down menu. It doesn’t make much sense to have a dropdown menu for issues if there is none for any of the others.
The header is cropped when click on other parts of the navigational bar. You only see “review” and letters are chopped off at the bottom

Greenspring review: layout 3
Effective:
Design is sleek, draws my attention to where it needs to be and isn’t too distracting
Creates a nice vibe. It feels current and inviting as well
The blue text here and there really makes it for me. It is appropriate and certainly a nice touch
The navigation bar is clear and easy to see, and spatially is placed perfectly. It fits so well where it is
Love the use of pictures when you look under “issues” for the spring and fall. It’s a nice touch and adds another element

Not effective:
Under issues when you have the choice of spring or fall, I wanted to click on the words themselves to go there but instead it was just the picture. This was a bit confusing: maybe link both?
Where it says “Follow my blog” and ask for an email submission, what / who’s blog is it? Should maybe be more specific
On the right side, the feature bar is at the bottom to where one sees the Facebook posts first. I had to scroll down to look for it, and by having it toward the top, it could become more effective and help people achieve their goal
On the submission page, the guidelines are below where you submit it, so you would submit it first maybe before looking for the guidelines. They aren’t organized in an easy fashion either.
Game Jam is the first thing I see on the website. It would be nice to see the featured articles or something, moreso what it actually is instead of advertising for something else

UX Summary

Boag, Paul. “Software as a Service (SaaS): How to Be Sure of Success.” Boagworld, Boagworld – User Experience Advice, 14 Jan. 2020, boagworld.com/digital-strategy/software-as-a-service/.

This article acts as a guide for those looking to develop a software as a service. The author of this article has experience in his failed attempt at creating such. The first tip he suggests is to test the market before becoming too invested in the software idea. This saves lots of time and money from being wasted on something that the public is not interested in and/or willing to pay for. The market can be tested by creating a “fake marketing campaign.” The first step in this campaign is the construction of a “landing page,” which should include things like pricing, videos, and what the author considers to be most important, a “call to action.” This is what will invite users to purchase the actual product. The next campaign step is to compile emails to the users who expressed interest in the software. The author explains a five day email list that should draw users into the product. The third step is to create a set of surveys to distribute to those who failed to engage with the call to action, those who signed up for the emailing list, and those who actually preordered the product. The last step is to “drive traffic to the landing page.” Once people reached the page, it is then most important to understand their interaction with it.

From this article, I learned the importance of advertisement prior to the actual release of a product or service. I obviously know that marketing is a key role in any product’s success, but I thought it was an interesting idea to make a “fake” campaign for it in order to really get a feel for what the products’ receptions would be like. I also have never come across surveys in this context. This could be because I don’t subscribe to many things (mainly due to a lack of money), but I cannot recall being asked to complete a survey for a product I have never used. I think this is a good idea in principle, but it heavily relies on customer response. The likelihood of hearing back from even half of the surveys sent out is low. Because there is a tendency to lack responses, the analysis of the product/service may not be entirely accurate.

The idea of sending out designs of The Greenspring Review to students and faculty is great because it will allow the creators and editors to hone in on what the public audiences find appealing in a literary magazine. I also think that getting students to engage with the magazine is important because most students don’t realize the extent of creativity in it or that it even exists. Once again, it is not likely that a large amount of responses will be received, but it can aid in the process of rebuilding, which is very important in success.

Rendering Intentionality

Braga, C. (2020, January 16). Rendering intentionality. Retrieved from https://uxdesign.cc/rendering-intentionality-1a57df40b585

The article begins with the process of how products begin. They start small and focused and are successful at what they do. As time goes on though, developers began to make the app more sophisticated by adding more features. This happens for a number of reasons, one of them being that users ask for updates and features and the developers and designers comply. However, a lot of times it is because businesses get ahold of the designers and they began to push for more features because they evaluate their performance based on the number of features and not their function or relevance. What businesses don’t realize is that with added features comes a decrease in the user’s experience on the app. Newer apps, like Tonic, have created a news app that does not even require a sign in, which makes it extremely…simple and user-friendly. Being intentional about ones’ design is knowing that the job is to solve the needs and wants of the user and not to keep the developers happy. This means that the designers need to care about the wants and needs of the user, therefore, caring about the impact of the work over the work itself.

This articles information was very informative and brier, which kept in line with the subject matter. Less is more, and for this article delivering the information was more important than trying to be fancy and use unnecessary wording.

The information in this article was very useful. Something that I learned from this article is that less is more. Adding features doesn’t make the website or app cooler or fancier, it actually makes it harder for the user to use. The simpler the application the better, as we do not want to decrease the user experience. I will apply this to the redesign of the Greenspring review by making sure that every application and feature is necessary. We do not want to turn users away because of the business of the website.

Guernica Rhetorical Analysis

Guernica Script

Guernica is a literary magazine where art and politics intersect. The site is comprised of poetry, essays, photographs, and podcasts to name a few, with each continent being well represented. This literary magazine attracts a wide range of individuals from young adults to middle-aged adults who all express interests in global and multi-cultural perspectives and stories. The site’s purpose is to teach, inform, and provide insight into what is going on in the world through the artistic and creative lens. Guernica is an unconventional literary magazine website because at first glance its layout and design are one that resembles a news website. Since it throws in art, news, politics, and entertainment it stands out compared to its other literary counterparts giving it an artistic reality feel like a genre. The site’s use of colors, shapes, and fonts creates more of that rough hard news aesthetic, whereas most literary magazines have more of a softer approach to their sites.

As you see when we get to the site’s Homepage and click around, you can jump around to the different themes of the site. Like we’ll see here “Politics” is a major theme or this site. The layout of these posts is that of a major news site, but if you actually look at the thumbnails you’ll see: poetry, commentary, fiction, essays, and interviews. They are all related to politics, but politics have shown through an artistic lens.

The next theme we’re going to explore is the “Lives” tab. Notice how the colors on this site are only black and white with a dash of red. The red is only used to highlight where you are on the site and also highlight certain tabs that the creators want you to focus on throughout your navigation. So, as you see I clicked the “Lives” tab and now it’s highlighted in red. Even looking at the font on this site, the font is plane professional and very easy to read. What makes using this type of font in a literary magazine different from most is that for this type of site, it works. They don’t need the soft pretty font, or big bold font to make it artistic, the art lies within the posts and the whole site’s aesthetic.

To my surprise, a popular and effective literary magazine does not have to be the “pretty in pink” with cursive writing splashed everywhere to be considered a literary magazine. They can be just as great without having to actually look like one. This is the case with Guernica. That is probably why it also attracts a wide range of people because they share that same common ground of world news but make it artistic.

Works Cited

“Advertise.” Guernica, www.guernicamag.com/about/advertise/.

“Lives.” Guernica, www.guernicamag.com/about/advertise/.

“Politics.” Guernica, www.guernicamag.com/about/advertise/.

Paris Review Rhetorical Analysis

Jordan Mitchell

Dr. Licastro

ENG 256

2/14/20

Rhetorical Analysis of The Paris Review

Introduction: The Paris Review is a literary magazine that was created in 1953, with the express purpose of emphasizing creative works without the main point being to criticize it. The content that the Paris Review publishes is very intellectual in nature and minimalistic in design. This leads me to believe that the primary audience is upper-middle to upper class highly educated white women between the ages of 30-60.

First, the use of the color pink as being the only defining color gives the website a very feminine vibe.
The slightly cursive font of the “the” in The Paris Review, followed by a serif font type also further reinforces the dainty and minimalistic feel of the website.
The lack of color and the use of minimalism shows that the website is mainly interested in attracting older viewers as younger generations would more than likely find this website boring.
The ease of the site’s user experience also points to an older audience. With the majority of websites tending to move away from drop-down menus, the Paris Reviews entire site is navigated using dropdown menus, and scrolling.

TO NEXT PAGE

The context the Paris Review comes in, which is not only an online subscription but a physical magazine also points to older audiences.
Members of younger generations tend to move away from paper materials in favor of digital copies.
The reasoning behind the audiences being upper-middle to the middle class are because of the subscription process and price.
In order to fully view the majority of their creative content, you have to subscribe to the Paris Review. However, one subscription cost $49 a year and your average middle-class family will not be paying close to $50 for a literary magazine when there are numerous free literary websites available.

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The Paris Review’s primary audience is assumed to be white also because there is not a large emphasis on writers of color.
Even during Black history month, there is no article or mention of celebrating Black writers. Also, among their featured writers, almost all of them are white.

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Building on that, the type of content published in the Paris Review is not for the everyday person who is looking for entertainment.

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There are numerous academic interviews, such as the interview with Helen Vendler. In fact, the first article that you see is a work by Chantel Tattoli which is essentially about antique postcards.

Conclusion: The Paris reviews content is definitely aimed at older affluent white women primarily as the use of color creates a feminine feeling, navigation is easy, the website still offers physical subscriptions that cost at a minimum $49, there are no featured authors of color even during Black history month and the subject matter is often very dull.

Works Cited

About. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.theparisreview.org/about/

Cole, H. (2017, June 12). Helen Vendler, The Art of Criticism No. 3. Retrieved from https://theparisreview.org/interviews/1324/helen-vendler-the-art-of-criticism-no-3-helen-vendler

Homepage. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.theparisreview.org/

Subscriptions. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://ssl.drgnetwork.com/ecom/TPR/app/live/subscriptions?org=TPR&publ=PR&key_code=ENAPRFX&type=S&gift_key=TESTFXG

Tattoli, C. (2020, February 13). How to Leave Your Lover with Lemons. Retrieved from https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2020/02/13/how-to-leave-your-lover-with-lemons/

Literary Magazine Tin House

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tExkfnc2cQo-xsOd8DIHWykD54_uZABw/view

The Tin House literary magazine is a website that allows readers to view and reader original stories and poems by unknown talent freelance writers. Although they do publish a ton of original work, the site does not explore all types of poetry and view may find too much of the same kinds of poems. From reading poems on their site, such as Above the Tunnels by Sandy Fontana and Practical Joke by Brian Barker. Both of these moments speak on a hidden issue and looking deeper than the surface. I believe, Tin House selects these writers and these poems to appeal to their professional audience full of creatives who have more to share.

Modes:

Through the Tin House literary magazine website, there are several different modes that allow the reader to better understand the site. When looking at the linguistics modes on the site, what stands out the most is title heading. The title is a very simple yet elegant font and allows the animation of a two-story house to become a focal point for the audience. The font remains the same kind of simple yet elegant font throughout the site.

In addition to linguistics, the Tin House site also uses very visual modes to catch the audience’s attention. When a viewer enters the site, you immediately see a larger front page changing slide with six different colorful titles of original poems and stories. The colors of the title slides range from turquoise, blues, yellows, whites, browns, and oranges. The rotating colors and images in the slide contrast very well with all the negative white space around the margins. This brings me to the examples of spacial modes on the Tin House site. The layout of the site continues straight down as you scroll to see different samples of work from authors such as Patricia Smith, Brian Barker, and Sandy Fontana. But all around these reading, one will notice the side margins are very wide on both sides and cause the site to have a ton of white, unused space throughout. The Tin House layout starts with the revolving slides on the front page and simply list three smaller boxes underneath to highlight three different literary pieces. Below that, Tin House leaves its own message for the readers as a “Thank you” for their support and to inform them of a new policy they are implementing. The layout and structure of the site are organized in a way that allows viewers to continue seeing new poems just by scrolling down; making the site very easy to navigate.

The last type of mode seen throughout the site is the gestural modes. Throughout the site, viewers have the ability to scroll up and down through the featured poetry. Through the different gestural modes, a viewer will find three lines in the top left corner of the screen that brings them to a menu that gives new options, additional information and resources to purchase books, workshops, magazines, and even internships. Allowing people to buy and have a chance to purchase the poetry they are reading is an upgrade to the literary experience.

Affordances

The Tin House gives readers a variety of poems to engage in without interruption. Tin House affords readers with a chance to purchase books of the authors they may have really enjoyed from their site. I feel like this is a great way to promote different authors and not only allow readers to get a glimpse of their work but to get more of what they are interested in. One way in which Tin House does not afford the audience is through a top navigation bar. Most sites have the navigation bar right under the title, along the top of the site so that the information tabs are easy to find. The three-line menu bar (mentioned before) is not in an eye-catching spot to locate.

Conclusion

When analyzing the Tin House literary magazine, I was able to find and go through a very modern and sleek website design while reading new poems. Through the different modes and affordances, Tin House was not able to offer all genres of poetry by they are very successful in giving audiences a chance to explore original pieces of work from various poets.

Rhetorical Analysis Assignment

https://drive.google.com/open?id=19eVbqAx5Rb28e4CYIEZd3eOEo5R0EbiE

“I pledge on my honor that I have neither given nor received unauthorized assistance on this assignment/exam.”

Introduction: [Daily Page] The Paris Review is a literary magazine that promotes a wide variety of artists and writers including photography, poetry, fiction, and artwork. It has been in publication since the 1950’s and contains decades of expression, which are released in quarterly issues.

[move mouse over the tabs where you can access such] You can subscribe to an online version of the Paris Review, which gives you access to podcasts, videos and interviews that you would not be able to view if you buy the hardcopy, which can be found in bookstores all over the world.

Though the Review is representative and diverse, its content seems to be entirely based around its accessibility and targeted audience, which limits the amount of subscribers; however, for the audience it does reach, it seems to be mostly effective in communicating an expression of art and literature without criticism.

[Daily Review] The Review’s primary audience seems to be middle-upper class women interested in art and writing. The basic colors of black, white and pink attract a feminine audience, and [Subscription Page] it costs $49 to have a year’s subscription.

[“Yet You Turn to the Man” Fiction Story] That being said, The Paris Review is also bound to attract literary scholars. Many of the submissions contain elevated subject matter, like this one talking about drugs, sex, rape and death.

[Under Poetry Section] For those looking to delve into this expansive literary world, the online version makes navigation simple. Under each of the “review” categories, you can search for artists and writers based on either their name or by decade. This is an effective way in categorizing all of the pieces considering there are thousands spanning back decades. Though the works are able to be broken down into subsections, each page still contains an overwhelming block of text, which can make it harder for the reader to appreciate the individuality of each piece.

[Daily Review] The Home Page contains an abundance of images that aid in attraction to all the art pieces and writings. This side suggestions bar also contains only an image and a title, which is much more intriguing, at least to me, than a text wall to try and get me to navigate the website further. However, even the titles of the suggestions, like “What Men Have Told Me” in addition the fact that all the authors are women, nearly guarantees a female audience.

Conclusion [Daily Review]: The Paris Review contains thousands of representative literary and historical pieces. Though the review is inclusive and diverse in its published artists and writers, its readers and viewers seem to be limited to intellectual and wealthy women. Though it has a dynamic and ever-changing genre, the review is static in the people it reaches. It is effective and relatively easy to navigate, but modes as simple as its color scheme and linguistics restricts the allure to other types of audiences, which in turn could be its biggest flaw.

Works Cited

“The Daily.” The Paris Review. Web. Accessed February 13, 2020.

https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/.

“Poetry.” The Paris Review. Web. Accessed February 13, 2020.

https://www.theparisreview.org/poetry

Scanlan, Kathryn. “Yet You Turn to the Man.” The Paris Review. No. 231, 2019.