Proj3_Ex1_mw

Nikon | Uniscale

//Description of Site:// This website is educational (and no, it has nothing to do with cameras, unfortunately!), and is much like the Eameses' film production, //Power of Ten//. Its comparison scale starts as small as fm to the power of negative 15, where it says it is a realm that has not yet been measured by present day technology because it is too small, all the way to gigantic measurement of light year. Inbetween, there are objects such as the CN Tower that is measured.

//Visual Design:// As this site is a comparison of measurements and size, it makes sense that the window is rather large and has a horizontal navigation. The colours are rather muted and dark (black and olive green), with simple treatments (either a basic gradation from black to olive green or just a solid colour), typography is quite minimal, with the exception of descriptions about each unit of measure or of the object itself. To go with the 'scientific study' sort of theme, sans serif font is used, and bitmapped pixel fonts are used for the buttons that show each unit of measure.

//Hierarchy:// The site's content //does// have a hierarchy; they are based off the unit of measurements used. When an object is clicked however, I feel that the dominant illustration is competing against the text that describes the object itself sometimes, so there is a conflict of hierarchy there.

//Interaction:// The interaction between the user and the website resides primarily in the buttons clicked to gain educational information. When the user wants to know about a unit of measure, the section flashes as the mouse hovers it, to tell the user that that section is clickable. Another thing to note is that before the information is presented, the time between the user clicking the section and the information being presented, the section expands like the "genie" effect famously known on Mac interfaces. While the first animation is considered conventional, the latter is not as common. Also, while this is not an interaction, the objects scale larger by itself when the site is on with nothing interacting with it.

//Elements of Surprise//: Not really. I wasn't used to the sections of general information about the unit measurements at first though, because they seemed to pop up at me when I was expecting to see the scale of animals/objects instead.

2 Advanced Studios

//Description//: 2advanced studios is a company that specializes in digital media, especially interactive and motion media. The website is essentially their portfolio, and is filled with a lot of different special effects. A section of case studies is also included, as well as a section that outlines their awards and involvement in books and other various media.

//Visual Design:// This website is rich in visuals; the sheer amount of effects in this website really make it look like it was part of a sci-fi video game or something. The typography reinforces this with techno-looking fontface when the page is loading, while using a smaller (but readable) size of Verdana to make their content relevant to their style but still presentable at the same time. The content is organized into a grid layout in a neat manner. The colour is quite vivid, but not too bright that it looks like a retro malfunction. The backgrounds are colour themed, and the seem like they have been digitally painted in Corel Painter or some similar program.

//Hierarchy//: The content is structured by categories: Company, Portfolio, Services, Case Studies and Recognition. The bottom space is reserved for news or related media that corresponds with each section, while the middle is devoted to the presentation of the main content.

//Interaction//: Conventional interaction would be the hovers over links in the site; it is not completely conventional, but a glow hover is kind of expected in a sci-fi looking site. In addition, menus expand fluidly and has a really technological feel to it. Whens pictures load, there is a glow animation before the actual presentation of the picture, reinforcing the sci-fi feel. Lastly, for the links that are near the bottom, there is a different type of hover effect: there is a sort of pixellation that loads the window, again, giving a sci-fi feel.

//Elements of Surprise//: the amount of effects and fluid everything is.... very well put together.