Take+Home+Quiz+1


 * CCT360: Take Home Quiz #1**
 * Assigned: September 27th**
 * Due: Oct. 4th (in class) ﻿**
 * Evaluation: 15% of final mark **




 * Overview:** This quiz will test your knowledge and comprehension of the assigned readings – more importantly it will ask you to deploy the concepts you've learned in a problem-solving capacity.


 * Exercise:** Answer the following three questions, print your completed answers and submit your work in class on October 4th.


 * 1) Keeping the four outcomes of 'Design for Wayfinding' (//Information Architecture: Blueprints for the Web// pg. 2) in mind, use annotated screen captures to analyze the design of Facebook. //Response limit: Three pages (single-sided) of annotated screen captures.//
 * 2) The second chapter of //Information Architecture// discusses the importance of "knowing you materials" – code, delivery mechanism and content. You have been put in charge of designing an e-commerce site for a clothing retailer, describe how analyzing/considering the latter two of the 'materials' mentioned above could inform your design. //Response Limit: 500 words.//
 * 3) Oliver Reichenstein of the design studio [|Information Architects] states that [|"web design is 95% typography"] – do you agree with this statement? Argue for or against it and draw on the principles covered in the readings and examples culled from your experiences with the web. //Response Limit: 300 words.//


 * Submission Guidelines:** Students are expected to print out their answers to the above quiz and submit their work (with a cover page noting their name and student number) in class on October 4th.

Two additional requirements:
 * 1) E-submissions will not be accepted and the late penalties outlined in the syllabus will be applied to any material that is not turned in in class.
 * 2) Include a word count after answers #2 and 3.


 * Evaluation:** Each response will be marked out of five. This breaks down further to 3.5/5 for content 1.5/5 for style. The content mark will take into account the soundness of your arguments and the degree to which you //demonstrate your comprehension// of the readings (rewriting material from the text or lecture notes should not be confused with comprehension). The style mark will be based on the strength of your writing, your grammar and the clarity/legibility of your annotated screen captures in question #1. Surpassing the 'response limit' of any of the questions will result in a one mark penalty for that question.

// Hint: this class is about information architecture – consider this an opportunity to 'organize' a personal response to the readings covered thus far and treat these questions (and the document you submit) very seriously. //


 * Selected Answers from the class: **
 * 1. Annotated Screen Captures **


 * Cathy Chan **


 * Shizra Saqib **
 * Iqbal Sandhu**




 * 2. "Knowing your Materials" **


 * Trisha Arocena**

Delivery mechanism and content are two imperial factors in designing an e-commerce site for a clothing retailer or for any content displayed over the web. Having an effective delivery mechanism for your website simply means providing a user-friendly and easy to use system of presenting and distributing information via your website. An efficient delivery mechanism would enhance ‘findability.’ When users can easily find the items that they are looking for, then basic business logic would dictate that users are more likely to buy. However, if the user/ customer cannot find whatever it is they want to buy, then they are more likely to become frustrated over the whole process and end up substituting either the e-commerce site with something else or the item with some other item; either way, it’s a loss of revenue. A good suggestion would be to manage the data (in this case, clothing data) into categorized panels and then streamline related items accordingly. For example, www.guess.com employs a delivery mechanism that seems to work. The main page is divided into six main items (however assuming the hypothetical retail online service sells clothing exclusively, we can rule out the other irrelevant categories like shoes and accessories leaving us with these two panels: women and men). Each main category will then bring the user to either women or men apparel including a subset of channelled options like sale items, jeans, tops, [dresses, skirts], shorts etc. These options will differ depending on the season and also be refined with search. This brings us to another rudimentary yet fundamental piece of running an e-commerce site – knowing your content. So often, e-businesses fail due to content mishaps like failing to place an item under the correct heading category or failing to include it altogether; leaving the user scurrying around in circles mislead by an endless list of hyperlinks that eventually lead to everything but what they are looking for. A perfect example of a dot-com failure is 1998’s www.boo.com. It was also a retail e-commerce site that tried to single itself out from other e-commerce booms by deploying a ‘unique’ method of searching for query items – by using a digital shopping assistant they so called Miss Boo. Miss Boo was a digital medium that aided customers in carrying out purchases step-by-step, automatically assuming that all users were tech illiterate. Tech Savvy users eventually opted out due to the extensive guiding process Miss Boo offered for every single purchase leaving regular visitors restless. Not only did it emphasize the definition of poor delivery mechanism, but boo.com also had a poor categorization of clothing data. Boo.com divided merchandise by price forcing users to either 1) know the exact price of the product or 2) settle for whatever items are pulled from the query search. In both scenarios, users did not get what they want. To better user-friendliness and subject matter expertise, it might help to do research; conduct a landscape analysis; see what options work and which ones do not. And of course, learn from boo.com.


 * Amanda Schwab**

When designing an e-commerce site for a clothing retailer, knowing the delivery mechanism and the content will help strengthen my site design. My site will be viewed using computers and laptops, but there is a possibility they will be viewed using smart phones and tablets. I will need to keep this in consideration when designing the site. The site should be user friendly on multiple forms of media. If the site not only works, but works well specifically to each form of media, the site will have more traffic, which will increase sales. The structure of the site itself is also very important. It should be clear to the user where the items they are looking for are. The navigation bar on the top and to the left of the site should be clean and simple, making it easy to go from one page to the next. The items should be arranged according to type (ie. shirts, pants, etc.), making it easy for the client to search for exactly what they want without having to click on multiple links and possible moving on to a different site out of frustration. The home page should include what is relevant to the context at the time (ie. a sale, clothing specific to season, etc.) and should be engaging for the visitor, making them want to spend time on my site, as well as want to come back. The look of the site should compliment the items that are being sold and to the audience my client wants to target. Also, the site, through various meta tags, should be found on common search engines.

In dealing with content, I would have to know and understand what my client wants to include on their site. Being a clothing retailer, I would have to know about the clothing items being sold and which categories to place them in. If someone comes to the site looking for sweatpants, it should be easy enough for them to find what they are looking for in a matter of seconds. If they are looking to browse, they will have the option of searching for an item according to clothing type, size and price. I would also look at various clothing retailers online, figuring out which navigation system works best. When I have completed the site, I would get various individuals to test it, making sure it is easy to use for people who always shop online, as well as first time online shoppers.


 * 3. "Web Design is 95% Typography" **


 * Alicia Brown**

To a large extent, I agree with Reichenstein’s statement that “web design is 95% typography;” however, I question the validity of the statement – I believe typography accounts for less than 95% of web design. It is merely an issue of relativity. However, I can appreciate the value of typography in relation to the aesthetics of a webpage. One should not undermine its influence and effects as I, myself, know that I cannot bear to engage with a poor typographic design. Visually, my eyes strain and the pit of my stomach churns. I will gladly result to searching elsewhere for the information I originally intended to find. If news sites like The New York Times had poor wayfinding due to bad typography, it would most likely be the demise of the news source’s online presence. I understand that clarity of typography is crucial to wayfinding and wayfinding is crucial to a successful website. Thus, I respect and appreciate typography to the same extent as Reichenstein.

However, lets revisit the issue of relativity. In my understanding, web design is largely dependent on audience, material and content; some sites may not require much typography at all. Consider online gaming sites or online virtual worlds like Second Life. Such sites place emphasis on realistic and highly sophisticated graphics rather than typography. Therefore, my only critique of Reichenstein’s statement is that he did not give enough credit to the other components of web design like graphics etc. I recognize that one can argue that Reichenstein credited 5% to other components however; I do not believe that is a just representation. Reichenstein must not forget the importance of the iceberg theory discussed by Wodtke and Govella, which focuses on the importance of taxonomy: identifying, arranging and grouping of materials. I believe taxonomy bears a greater significance than 5% in web design.


 * Chris Gomes**

Oliver Reichenstein is a famous typographer who values nothing more than written material that translates into movable type. Typography on the web is the practice of text marked up through HTML and CSS. He makes a very bold statement that ‘web design is 95% typography.’ This statement at first is hard to believe, especially myself being a visual learner, I look for sites that give a great eye massage and keep me on my feet. Must put in perspective though that what one sees on the user end is totally different to what web designer’s see on their end. Typography gives text a voice through characters, symbols, fonts, typefaces, scale, rhythm, emphasis, content, grid and composition.

Everyone has a voice, just like everyone has a font that well represents their tone or pitch of their voice. Finding the right font and typeface for each individual is dependent on the content on the site, and then can be exercised to make sure the site flows well. User experience should be the same throughout all operating system platforms. Being aware of web standards issued by W3C and what content is actually servicing to users on the other end will help towards finding a font that suits the text.

Simplicity most often is what makes a great website. Sites now make text as the user interface, consisting of various hyperlinks. This allows for ease of networking among various websites, making it feel like a more semantic way of using the web. Twitter is a great example of text being brought to life through hypertext and links, while keeping certain type standards. Keeping ease of wayfinding together with fluid web typography goes a long way to achieving a great customer relationship and value to your company.


 * Monique Scicluna**

Web designers today are faced with a new challenge. The challenge is the decline of attention in individuals on the web. Web users want their information accurately, clearly and instantly. With this in mind web designers must accommodate these needs and can do so with typography. The statement “the web is 95% typography” stated by Oliver Reichenstein is very true. To demonstrate consider the following:

With so much content on the web, its design needs to be readable, accessible and usable. The correct typography in the website’s design enhances the readability, accessibility and usability. To demonstrate, in 1969 Emil Ruder made this statement: “Today there is so much printed matter that the work has become depreciated in value and people cannot take in everything. It is the typographers task to divided up and interpret the mass of printed matter in a way that readers will have a good chance of finding what they want.” Now consider changing the word “printed” into “online”. The statement remains true. With the decline of individual’s attention, and need for instant information, precise design due to clear and clever typography, can improve the whole website. Typography has so much to do with setting the tone for the design, and the design is interconnected to the content and the content makes up the website. These relationships need a balance. It is the web designer’s job to begin the balancing act with good typography.

For instance, the Ikea website is an example of good typography which improves the design and content. The navigation bar has large letters, emphasized by a white font colour on a blue background. The typography clearly labels where you can find certain products, as well as organizing the rest of the website. If the font was not spaced correctly, to light in font weight, not placed in logical order, the whole usability of the website would be affected. The website could be confusing and the content therefore lost.

This really demonstrates that the web and all of its content is only made valuable by good typography, therefore completely agreeing with Oliver Reichenstein’s statement.