Design issues in the production of hyper‐books and visual‐books

This paper describes an ongoing research project in the area of electronic books. After a brief overview of the state of the art in this field, two new forms of electronic book are presented: hyper‐books and visual‐books. A flexible environment allows them to be produced in a semi‐automatic way starting from different sources: electronic texts (as input for hyper‐books) and paper books (as input for visual‐books). The translation process is driven by the philosophy of preserving the book metaphor in order to guarantee that electronic information is presented in a familiar way. Another important feature of our research is that hyper‐books and visual‐books are conceived not as isolated objects but as entities within an electronic library, which inherits most of the features of a paper‐based library but introduces a number of new properties resulting from its non‐physical nature

Endless News Most Beautiful: Exploring The Visual Landscape of Journalism and Transforming The Carroll News’ Visual Identity

This project aims to explore the practice, value and impact of newspaper design and how its principles can be applied to construct a coherent visual identity for a college newspaper. The first part will examine primary and secondary sources on visual journalism, including both theoretical and visual analysis of renowned newspaper designs around the world. The second part focuses on designing a complete visual overhaul for The Carroll News. This part will include insights from key current and former Carroll News staff members through interviews, and a survey of Communications majors, who are frequently exposed to news media, to gather their opinions on the current visual presentation of The Carroll News and their inputs into the final look for the redesign

Visualising software in cyberspace

The problems of maintaining software systems are well documented. The increasing size and complexity of modern software serves only to worsen matters. Software maintainers are typically confronted with very large and very complex software systems, of which they may have little or no prior knowledge. At this stage they will normally have some maintenance task to perform, though possibly little indication of where or how to start. They need to investigate and understand the software to some extent in order to begin maintenance. This understanding process is termed program comprehension. There are various theories on program comprehension, many of which put emphasis on the construction of a mental model of the software within the mind of the maintainor. These same theories hypothesise a number of techniques employed by the maintainer for the creation and revision of this mental model. Software visualisation attempts to provide tool support for generating, supplementing and verifying the maintainer’s mental model. The majority of software visualisations to date have concentrated on producing two dimensional representations and animations of various aspects of a software system. Very little work has been performed previously regarding the issues involved in visualising software within a virtual reality environment. This research represents a significant first step into this exciting field and offers insight into the problems posed by this new media. This thesis provides an identification of the possibilities afforded byU3D graphics for software visualisation and program comprehension. It begins by defining seven key areas of 3D software visualisation, followed by the definition of two terms, visualisation and representation. These two terms provide a conceptual division between a visualisation and the elements of which it is comprised. This division enables improved discussion of the properties of a 3D visualisation and particularly the idenfification of properties that are desirable for a successful visualisation. A number of such desirable properties are suggested for both visualisations and representations, providing support for the design and evaluation of a 3D software visualisation system. Also presented are a number of prototype visualisations, each providing a different approach to the visualisation of a software system. The prototypes help demonstrate the practicalities and feasibility of 3D software visualisation. Evaluation of these prototypes is performed using a variety of techniques, the results of which emphasise the fact that there is substantial potential for the application of 3D graphics and virtual reality to software visualisation

Adaptive Layout for Interactive Documents

This thesis presents a novel approach to create automated layouts for rich illustrative material that could adapt according to the screen size and contextual requirements. The adaption not only considers global layout but also deals with the content and layout adaptation of individual illustrations in the layout. An unique solution has been developed that integrates constraint-based and force-directed techniques to create adaptive grid-based and non-grid layouts. A set of annotation layouts are developed which adapt the annotated illustrations to match the contextual requirements over time

5555555 55555 555: A (constrained) narrative on the z-axis

This paper discusses the creation of typographic systems as artworks in three dimensional online builder's worlds, also known as the metaverse. An installation based upon text will be presented as an exemplar that will attempt to delineate the playful approach that has been taken whilst constructing a typographic art ecology that can be traversed and experienced through the agency of avatars. The focus is upon how such screen-based virtual three dimensional spaces may utilize text within a context that departs from the primary attribute with which writing has inherently been associated - namely the display of informational content. In such environments semantics may be displaced through the usage of text as a playful device, displayed as artifacts that are riddle-like configurations, or constructs that are meant to be understood through means other than straightforward reading; bringing about states of heightened engagement and 'play' through their manipulation or indeed simply by being immersed inside them. The awareness that providing a means for straightforward reading might not be an appropriate goal in this regard lead to a search for sources that would address a need for play, for personal readings and interpretations; in other words, text that is meant to be 'felt' as an artwork, rather than to be 'read' as informational content

Educational Handheld Video: Examining Shot Composition, Graphic Design, And Their Impact On Learning

Formal features of video such as shot composition and graphic design can weigh heavily on the success or failure of educational videos. Many studies have assessed the proper use of these techniques given the psychological expectations that viewers have for video programming (Hawkins et al., 2002; Kenny, 2002; Lang, Zhou, Schwardtz, Bolls, & Potter, 2000; McCain, Chilberg, & Wakshlag, 1977; McCain & Repensky, 1972; Miller, 2005; Morris, 1984; Roe, 1998; Schmitt, Anderson, & Collins, 1999; Sherman & Etling, 1991; Tannenbaum & Fosdick, 1960; Wagner, 1953). This study examined formal features within the context of the newly emerging distribution method of viewing video productions on mobile handheld devices. Shot composition and graphic design were examined in the context of an educational video to measure whether or not they had any influence on user perceptions of learning and learning outcomes. The two formal features were modified for display on 24 inch screens and on 3.5 inch or smaller screens. Participants were shown one of the four modified treatments, then presented with a test to measure whether or not the modified formal features had any impact or influence on learning outcomes from a sample of 132 undergraduate college students. No significant differences were found to occur as a result of manipulation of formal features between the treatment groups

Thinking interactively with visualization

Interaction is becoming an integral part of using visualization for analysis. When interaction is tightly and appropriately coupled with visualization, it can transform the visualization from display- ing static imagery to assisting comprehensive analysis of data at all scales. In this relationship, a deeper understanding of the role of interaction, its effects, and how visualization relates to interaction is necessary for designing systems in which the two components complement each other. This thesis approaches interaction in visualization from three different perspectives. First, it considers the cost of maintaining interaction in manipulating visualization of large datasets. Namely, large datasets often require a simplification process for the visualization to maintain interactivity, and this thesis examines how simplification affects the resulting visualization. Secondly, example interactive visual analytical systems are presented to demonstrate how interactivity could be applied in visualization. Specifically, four fully developed systems for four distinct problem domains are discussed to determine the common role of interactivity in these visualizations that make the systems successful. Lastly, this thesis presents evidence that interactions are important for analytical tasks using visualizations. Interaction logs of financial analysts using a visualization were collected, coded, and examined to determine the amount of analysis strategies contained within the interaction logs. The finding supports the benefits of high interactivity in analytical tasks when using a visualization. The example visualizations used to support these three perspectives are diverse in their goals and features. However, they all share similar design guidelines and visualization principles. Based on their characteristics, this thesis groups these visualizations into urban visualization, visual analytical systems, and interaction capturing and discusses them separately in terms of lessons learned and future directions

Engineering data compendium. Human perception and performance. User's guide

The concept underlying the Engineering Data Compendium was the product of a research and development program (Integrated Perceptual Information for Designers project) aimed at facilitating the application of basic research findings in human performance to the design and military crew systems. The principal objective was to develop a workable strategy for: (1) identifying and distilling information of potential value to system design from the existing research literature, and (2) presenting this technical information in a way that would aid its accessibility, interpretability, and applicability by systems designers. The present four volumes of the Engineering Data Compendium represent the first implementation of this strategy. This is the first volume, the User's Guide, containing a description of the program and instructions for its use

Exhibition design + contemporary encounters

This research is practice-based and explores the role of exhibition designer, the parameters of exhibition design and the exhibition design techniques that affect the experience of art in an institutional setting. Investigating the design methodology of current standard institutional practice in contemporary art display and audience engagement, techniques and strategies are researched, tested and developed to activate gallery space as medium. The research investigates techniques that can be constructed and implemented in exhibition design that provide engaging experiences for the viewer that are manifold in an institutional context