CS 4634 – Design of Information

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Resources This page will contain links to additional content that may be of use to students in this class. If you have a suggestion for a link to be placed on this page, email the instructor. Read This Regularly! o designerobserver.com has the best readings about design. Everyone should read this at least once a week. Learning web development tools o The Innovation Space is the place to go to produce, transfer, edit, etc. non-textual content. It is also a place to find a machine with Dreamweaver and other web design tools. o w3schools is the first place to look to learn the basics (and the fine details!) of website tools; webmonkey is another. Information architecture o Usable Web Lots links about Web design, IA, and usability. o Boxes and Arrows is a blog devoted to IA issues with some great articles on IA and site design. o The Information Architecture Institute is an organization of IA practitioners. membership is $20 / year for US students. Lots of very timely and useful articles and services. o Ontologies.org is a less clear portal to the world of ontologies -- the controlled structuring of knowledge and information for a discipline or an enterprise. Lots of pointers to sources for tools. Public Information Display o Urbanscreens - a mostly European movement to place large information displays in public places like plazas and town squares as a public good (such as the display of art work and public service announcements) rather than advertising o Walker Art Center New Media blog - a moderately reliable source for new and cool displays o IAC Building- the world's largest video wall. (MUCH BIGGER than the gigapixel in the CRC!) Visual and information design examples o Ed Tufte and his many books on visual display of quantitative information are essential reading and references. o John Maeda's Laws of Simplicity are the first line of aesthetic and interaction evaluation for information systems. o Jonathon Harris designs what has been called the soul of the internet. In particular look at his "We feel" , www.wordcount.org, 10x10 (no, not Powers of Ten), love lines, and time capsule. o AIA SOLOSO an interesting mash-up design using Javascript and Flash to provide both an animated mind-map of connected ideas and a set of categories (controlled vocabulary) that feeds a search engine for articles in its database. o GUIMP.COM is the worlds tiniest (at least in pixels) website. o Saul Bass was a great graphic designer who died before there was an Internet or websites. This website showcases his work in film, film credits, posters, logos, and general graphic design. o Stefan Sagmeister is a wild-man of graphic design. o The Blu Dot clock is not an interface, but a simple clock that puts up a different image every minute. This reinforces the sense of time passing and since some images are more interesting than others creates anticipation. o Minimal design is an approach that sues lots of white space to make its point, Hive is a good example. The Apple website tries, but has become a bit less minimal in recent years. Right brain drawing: o Edwards, B. Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain Left brain drawing: o Dan Roam, The Back of the Napkin is the most accessible text on visual thinking and the basis for our conceptual design phase of work. o Hanks & Belliston, Rapid Viz try to get the second edition o Woolsey, Kim & Curtis, VizAbility Copyright © 2011 Steve Harrison