Good Use Of Navigation

Researching Website Design- Navigation

Navigation and its importance:

1) Helps us find whatever it is we’re looking for.

2) Tell us where we are.

3) It gives us something to hold on to.

4) It tells us what’s here.

5) Tells user how to use the site.

6) It gives the user confidence in the people who built the site.

It needs to be clear, easy to use, easy to find and consistent on every page.

Different types of navigation:

1) Site structure navigation

2) Function navigation

3) Direct navigation

4) Reference navigation

5) Dynamic navigation

6) Breadcrumb navigation

7) Step navigation

Ways to do navigation:

1) Horizontal text

2) Vertical text

3) Drop-down menus

4) Sub-menus

5) Text with description

6) Icons or graphics

7) Experimental

Inspiration Websites to get started

Some sites to provide inspiration:

www.ianbilbey.com

www.sarafanelli.com

www.adrianjohnson.org.uk

www.johnburgerman.com

www.jambonbon.com

www.anthonyburill.com

www.thisisthenewyear.com

www.whynotassociates.com

www.wolffolins.com

www.motherlondon.com

www.ddb.com

Final Critique

I was very pleased with how well this went, there were hardly any changes to be made after this crit. I had answered the brief well and sorted out the problem of not knowing who my target audience was. I did have to change my imagery for the Cement Garden, but this was no problem after I knew what my graphic system was. The idea was simple yet visually effective and they worked well together as a set. There were only small adjustments to b made like making sure the elements on the page were on the grid and the text on the baseline grid. Other than that, there wasn’t really anything major I needed to look at before the hand in.

Although if I had more time I would force myself to look more at the typography because this would probably be my weakest skill in my area of practice, although I do feel I am improving gradually. In addition, if I had the opportunity I would visit a printers and get a feel for the different types of stock I could use to print my book designs out. Obviously because I was limited with the materials and facilities at university I couldn’t really experiment with this part of the project but I will note it down for next time.

Back To The Drawing Board

After some further research I then began scamping a number of design layouts which might work, I felt this really helped me realise the real potential in the designs and I was able from then to clearly pick out and experiment with the best of the layouts on Indesign. During this experimentation period I came across the font Abalone which is a serif, when used as caps, it provides a sense of overpowering figures yet a little vulnerability which was the exact style I was going for.

After choosing the layout that I thought would work best, I then tried using different methods to illustrate it, vectors, gradients, cut outs of photographs but they either gave a too bright and happy feel to the imagery or it was just plain boring. I needed something to break the imagery up and make it more interesting and engaging. That’s when I thought of using photography again and to have that entwine with the typography. One, it would raise the question of which is meant to be more powerful (like struggling or fighting to be better than the other) and two it would be like the imagery is encased in the typography, not being able to get away (reflecting some of the characters in the story).

At first I was really set on using vectors for my imagery because all the other McEwan’s book illustrations would just be photography which seemed like a boring solution. But in the end because the stories seemed so realistic and serious, it seemed wrong to not represent it using the real thing, photos. I also researched what colours complimented each other and picked a colour palette that would best suit the modern feel I wanted as well as engage my target audience.

Tutorial

During this tutorial I received a lot of advice that would help push my idea in the right direction. I was bogged down with how the layout would look as a whole with all the design elements in it, but what I didn’t do before using Indesign was look at the elements individually and get a better understanding of what it was I wanted from each of them.

It was also evident that I need to think about who my target audience is, at the moment, because my use of vectors and dull colours, the design didn’t look interesting or modern at all and most likely aimed at the older generation, which was not what I wanted. The format of the book needs to be carefully thought out too, whether a thin book would suggest vulnerability or if a thick one would show overpowering characters within the book. I need to experiment more with a variety of typefaces in order to arrive at my final choice and not just plonk in what I think looks good.

In order to get a better idea of what type and colour worked well together, I started to look at books with a graphic system, ie. A set of books in the same collection. I found that large imagery worked well, there also needs to be some sort of pattern going on in the background which would feature in the book design to tie all the books together.

Initial Ideas and Type

Not knowing where to start with my book design I decided to just jump in at the deep end and start creating layouts in Indesign which was not the best of ideas, but I didn’t even realise at the time. I tried using vectors in the layout but I didn’t kno what it was but it didn’t really work, it turned out a little bland and old. It was obvious that I had to take a close look at colour at some point during this project too because I wanted to go for something classic but also something that would bring out a modern-feel to the piece.

I looked a little into the typography I was going to use in my layout. Overall, because McEwan’s writing has a certain eeriness yet classic feel to it I felt that serifs worked best to give it a more traditional and authentic style.

Book Design

Today I widened my area of research and looked at some traditional book covers as well as more modern ones. From this I found that a lot of covers used vector images and mixed media as a part of their imagery. These were still effective in summarising the story in a serious way.

McEwan's Existing Book Designs

I didn’t want to copy his previous book cover designs but felt this was a vital part of my research to see how other people represented his work. So I figured I should get this part of my research over and done with to begin with so that once I’ve picked out the main important parts, I can concentrate on other things and not be encouraged to copy work that already exists. I found that a lot of the past book covers used photography which brings out the realism in the stories and makes it that more terrifying because it’s more believable.