XKCD Review (post #1)
XKCD is a long running, extremely successful webcomic written and drawn by Randall Munroe. It describes itself as “A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language,” and it explores these topics with dry humor, irony, and a whimsical view of the world around us. The drawings are completely drawn in black and white, and most opt for very simple linework and stick figure depictions of humans. A few characters recur, but most just represent larger character archetypes. The XKCD website is the quintessential webcomic site. It features a clear and understandable website layout with a clear navigation bar, an obvious content portion, and lots of relevant links. Upon visiting the site, the main attraction is rightfully the strip- it occupies the main section of the page. The most recent strip fills the majority of this primary space, and above and below the strip are buttons to easily navigate to other strips that have been posted, in chronological order. Also in this section are links for easy sharing. The top left of the screen has an extremely clear navigation section, with obvious strip-related links such as the blog and the store. The bottom of the page is full of links to certain special comics within thumbnails, comics that Randall recommends, and finally, his copyright license.
Overall, this page is extremely effective at accomplishing the basic goals of a webcomic site. The reader is naturally drawn the the content, and can easily view more. If the visitor wishes to navigate to any other possible attractions, everything is laid out clearly and obviously. Though the simplicity of the site does make it timeless to a degree, it is certainly a bit bland in its overall visual aesthetic. However, this could also be attributed to the fact that the aesthetic of the comic is also very simple, and brevity and clarity are the elements holding the site together with its’ content. If it were up to me as a designer, I would certainly implement some more interesting color and visual hierarchy choices.
XKCD is an excellent comic I’d recommend to anyone with an interest in comics, science, or a unique worldview. It has a website that serves it well, and despite its’ age I have no doubt XKCD will continue for many more years.
Roasters Post
The process of building this Coffee site was pretty straightforward. Possibly the most difficult part of making the site match the design was making all of the borders, padding, and margins line up precisely. It was hard at first to ascertain which section of CSS was relevant to which spaces, and where to set margins and padding to zero. Something that tripped me up was the typing out of links; but I am getting better at catching those mistakes before I make them. I am a little confused as well by the natural behavior of the footer. It seems odd you need to use CSS to make the footer actually behave like a footer. Things that were clear: HTML page structure, Basic CSS application, Use of colors, and Use of images.
Things that were slightly confusing: The process of using CSS to achieve a desired look without this kind of guidance. Specific application differences between article, section, main, etc.
Why Aren't You Asking Questions?
This article provides an interesting approach to the problem of designing for someone else. As a designer, the odds are you won’t be making websites, designs, and logos for yourself all that often, and this article offers an in-depth look at the reality of meeting the needs of other people. The crux of the argument here is that in order to fully and truly understand what your client needs, you need to really comb through a lot of different hidden criteria. You need to acknowledge and question both your biases and assumptions as a designer, as well as those of the client, so that the end product satisfies all of the goals of the project.
The article argues that one of the most direct ways to accomplish the end goal is to make it exceptionally clear what exactly that goal is. This article really helped me to construct my questioning in a way conducive to success, and not just a pretty product. It also provided some tips to understanding the design being imagined by a client, such as asking clear and/or open ended questions, and reading between the lines of what they are saying when they are listing their requests. One of the most vital things that is mentioned is a method to question vague requests, in order to clarify what exactly it is they want. Working directly with a client for a major project is something I have not done very many times. In the few instances where I have, I have done a lot of listening, and reflexively proposing my own ideas and counter-ideas. This article shows me a way to work with my clients towards a solution to the problem at hand, instead of battling over who has a the better idea.
Design Made in Germany
For an in-depth look at a website featuring responsive design and a multi-platform inclination, I looked at “Design Made in Germany,” a website featuring a beautiful gray-scale color scheme and some fantastic illustrations. From the perspective of a desktop browser, the site is extremely accommodating to different viewports, ratios, and screen sizes. When viewed on a browser, the text assumes a two-column format, with well-spaced margins and excellent readability, assuming you speak German. The site features a nav bar and a scrolling content area that move over progressively changing background images, making the website flow across the screen. This effect is strong regardless of the size of the viewport, and will adjust some of the graphics if the site is being viewed in a very small window; clarifying and reducing the information on the page.
On an iPad, it assumes a single layout, with a majority of the information present in the desktop version. The text assumes a similar two-column layout for maximum readability, and in order to take advantage of the larger screen size of iPads and similar devices.
The site takes this organization in a slightly different direction on pocket-sized devices. Due to their smaller screen size being more conducive to a single column of text, it is rearrange to be more readable in this manner. The graphics and design elements remain largely the same otherwise, despite a reorganized nav bar and a seemingly reduced amount of information. Some of the title text gets cut off on the larger screened phones, such as the iPhone 6 and the newer Samsung devices. From what I could determine through the German-ness, it seems like the content cascades downward in chronological order. Due to the design and volume of the text, the necessity of moving through all the text to get to a certain piece of content, especially on mobile, seems like it could be streamlined in order to avoid a lot of the scrolling.