Noah’s Blog

About me and this blog

This blog is comprised of varying information from my class of Interactive: Digital Media and contains classwork, notes on lecture pods and other useful and important subjects and information relating to the class.

I am currently studying Visual (Design Communication) at Western Sydney University and am in my second year. What motivates me as a designer is exploring outside of the box. It has always annoyed me seeing so much mainstream design in so many areas of the world around us that could be easily be taken from a different and more unique approach whilst still maintaining it’s mainstream appeal. I have always found myself designing and redesigning things to stand out and catch eyes rather then fit in within the world. I work in a ray of varying mediums ranging from computer software such as Adobe programs; Photoshop, Illustrator, After effects to physical mediums, primarily; printmaking, drawing, collage work. I often combine these mediums I am skilled in to create more unique and striking work.

Definitions

Interactive Design

Interactive design is design that allows users to interact with a form of media, primarily displayed on digital devices but can be in physical forms as well to create an engaging and striking effect. It allows users to directly communicate with what is being presented to them and often does this by integrating forms of animation to eliminate the feeling of a static flat media allowing for an effective connection and allows the user to feel in control as the media responds to their actions.

WebFlow

Webflow is an interactive website tool to allow users to easily create a website from a template. The website is also filled with forms of animation on the homepage where it informs users of the history of web design.

This has been done to present users important information in a fun and engaging way. Webflow is a great way of displaying the impacts and usefulness of interactive websites while also providing the tools necessary for users to engage in their own interactive website with ease.

In Pieces

In Pieces is an interactive website exhibit that displays information of 30 endangered species, represented by 30 pieces, hence the name. While it is an interactive website, it feels much more like a game or app due to the immense use of animation, gifs and other forms of movement incorporated within the site. The site is easy to navigate and has been made fun to do so due to the design.

Everything has a unique style and due to the movement and textural design gives a realistic feel to what is flat design.

It gives information on each endangered species, and gives other links to videos and more information if users are interested.

BlackNegative

BlackNegative is a design portfolio of their completed and successful interactive designs.

There is an abundance of varying forms of interaction incorporated within this site, ranging from videos, animations, sound and much more.

While navigating the site is not as easy as it could be designed to be it has been designed in a way that creates an atmosphere of a fun and mysterious adventure discovering the different designs listed.

Information/Instructional design

Information and instructional design are two very similarly related concepts. Information design is design that provides users with data of a certain topic. It’s main focus is on presenting easily understood accessible information. Instructional design takes on a learning perspective and will give users a series of informational steps on how to complete a task. It’s main focus is helping users learn. Both designs give users steps and information regarding a certain topic that they may or may not need the knowledge of.

Infographic: The Sound of color

Infographics are arguably the most popular form of information design. This is because they give a large and useful amount of important information or sets of data in an incredibly easy to understand and small factor format.

This infographic gives information on how they created their own colour palette based on music, it is a fun and creative concept which has been displayed in an equally fun and creative format, they have also provided the information needed on how to create your own colour palette based on your music taste.

Fire emergency instructions

Emergency instructions are a great example of instructional design, often in the form of signs they must be made to be clearly visible and understandable, as well as not fail against cultural differences, such as different languages, symbols meaning different things and so on. As a result they will generally have multiple languages on them, in this case only English and French have been displayed, most likely meaning it is used in France. They also have easily legible picotgrams presenting what the user must or should not do in the emergency scenario.

A well-Balanced Blog

This example of an infographic takes a humorous and satirical metaphorical approach on how to create a good blog and why it should be done through another form of familiar imagery of a well-balanced diet. It provides a lot of useful and straight to point precise information on the best content to include in a well designed blog. It is displayed through an unlikely yet familiar format of another common infographic of a well-balanced diet. This allows for a creative and fun experience for the user to learn about the topic being presented.