Week 1 of Interaction Design for Web is complete. In week 1 we began with an introduction to the unit and foundational elements of website design.
What I found particularly interesting was the way the process of a website creation is divided into three primary areas; Information Architecture (hierarchy of information), Interaction Design (function and familiarity) and Experience Design (user experience).
Activity 1
Our first task was to create a mind map with many ideas for a mini site that would feature daily content. This site could be about anything, and I decided to start with my interests.
I used my mind map as inspiration to generate some different ideas that fell under each of the main categories, where were; Creative, Design, Entertainment and Other.
After this, I selected my top five favourite ideas and wrote more detail about would be included on each.
Why did I choose each of these ideas? You’ll find this question answered below.
1. Digital Resources
Why: I selected this idea because I have an interest in creating digital files and sharing or helping other people. I thought that I would be able to include many designs I have created myself and could even be used as a long term project.
2. Stationery Showcase
Why: I selected this idea because I am a stationery addict and thought it would be a lot of fun to share many different stationery items with other people. There are so many great stationery designs and brands that there would be a lot of material to include.
3. Digital Patterns
Why: I have recently started experimenting with creating digital patterns. I find this medium very interesting with many different effects and design choices. It combines my interest in digital art into a website form. Like the free resources, it could also become a long-term project.
4. Colour Inspiration
Why: One of my favourite aspects of design is working with colour. This started when I began creating websites years ago and using CSS to create unique effects. Over time this transferred into a love of colour in digital illustrations. Featuring a new colour each day as inspiration to artists or others that like to view different hues.
5. Creative Everyday
Why: I am a creative person, and I also like to try and challenge myself. I like many different mediums and thought a website that produced a new piece of art or creative form every day would be interesting (possibly daring as well).
Further Research
I decided to do some further research on each idea or concept and look at 12 websites that were similar to my own ideas.
Activity 2
The second task required looking at a website and creating a site map. I selected to create a site map of the website Color Hunt.
Week 1 Summary
During week 1 of Interactive Design for Web I found it enjoyable to complete the two activities. The exercises required us to generate ideas for our mini sites and observe a current website and define the site map. I read the book HTML and CSS: Design and Build Websites by Jon Duckett which shared a vast insight on using HTML and CSS to create websites. I found it particularly interesting on the sections that covered planning and research and how important it is to know your target market and focus on the presentation of information in a concise format.