Catalog Description: Serving as a foundation to establish best practices for a user-centered approach for Digital Media. This course will be a prerequisite to the entire area of specialization to establish best practices and considerations. Students will convey a variety of pre-visualization methods for the on-screen environment that include user interface and visual sequencing for film/video/animation. Prerequisites: DM 2110 Computer Illustration: Adobe Illustrator and DM 2120 Image Processing: Adobe Photoshop

Goals:

  • To gain a thorough understanding of paper prototyping and user testing in order to design effective on-line experiences.
  • To understand how to express function, process, information hierarchy and structure through visual design.
  • To come to an understanding of the Internet and related technologies as social and cultural objects.
  • History of the Internet and protocols/terminology

Objectives:

  • To derive an approach to common problems of creating work for display over the Internet.
  • To be able to create a User Interface design based on Pre-design analysis
  • To understand the use and application of HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and WSIWYG development tools, namely DreamWeaver and ImageReady.
  • To understand optimization potential of JPEG, GIF and PNG images.
  • To understand how to establish domain and web hosting, how to integrate basic secure payment methods into a site.

Recommended Texts:

  • Macromedia Dreamweaver MX for Windows and Macintosh (Visual QuickStart Guide)
    by J. Tarin Towers
    Publisher: Peachpit Press; 1st edition
    August 22, 2002
    ISBN: 0-201-84445-1
  • The Zen of CSS Design
    by Dave Shea and Molly Holzschlag
    Publisher: Peachpit Press; 1st edition
    2005
    ISBN: 0-321-30347-4

Books/Articles on Reserve

  • The New Media Reader
    ed. Noah Wardrip-Fruin, Nick Monfort
  • experience design 1
    Nathan Shedroff
  • Don't Make Me Think
    Steve Krug
  • The Inmates Are Running the Asylum : Why High Tech Products Drive Us Crazy and How To Restore The Sanity
    Alan Cooper
  • The Design of Everyday Things
    Donald A. Norman
  • Information Anxiety
    Richard Saul Wurman
  • About Face 2.0: The Essentials of Interaction Design
    Alan Cooper, Robert Reimann

Materials:

  • For creating your work:
  • USB Flash Drive
  • Digital Camera
  • Digital Video Camera
  • CD-Rs, CD-RWs, DVDs
  • Sketchbook
  • Pens, ink, pencils, etcetera...
  • For displaying your work:
  • Laptop Computer
  • Paper
  • Solid Mat Boards or Chipboard
  • Spray Mount (3M Super 77 recommended)
  • xacto knife
  • Binding Materials as needed