User-centred design!
How can the interactive presentation of information provide an enhanced user experience compared to traditional online static communication methods on the web?
Interactive Presentation of information is more suited for the type of user and what they want to do (purpose) sometimes it's more appropriate to some situations than others. Knowing when it will be useful in context to the product is important in determining if it's useful or not.
Designing for types of users.
- What do they want to do? Find something else quickly and effectively?
- Complete an operation or a task e.g tax forms?
- Or a user who loves discovering new cool interactive websites?
Retailers follow a trend of having the same user interface e.g river island, top man etc they are all the same layout. Com formative design, nothing different or exciting. It's functional and it works! It works from user frameworks, metaphors such as basket and checkout. They follow the f shape which is how users look around on the page. Companies with websites such as these make a lot of money.
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| F-shape website |
Is a non-interactive (no sliders, obscure navigational structures, roll overs, multimedia content) website better for functional operations such as filling in tax forms online or applying for housing benefit. These experiences are forgettable: you don’t need to create a lasting impact. You get in and get out after fulfilling what it is you want to do.
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| functional website (that people only go on to perform tasks) |
I think brand websites have to be more interactive because this is more engaging and persuades the user to buy things. Quite often eCommerce or film websites have big images, splash pages, interactive sliders or multimedia content.
Also it is useful to think about the audience the website is intended for. Do people who already know what it is about or do new people go on it? What role does the website make in the wider picture of advertising? "transmedia." For example, films are often advertised on tv but the website's role is to raise a social interaction with fans and create a hype around a film. This is where an interactive website is used.
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| interactive websites for promotion/advertising and transmedia |
Sometimes it is about balance.
Top man website is both a persuasive and functional, e.g. advertise new fashion trends as well as going through a checkout process. Therefore there must be a balance between usable and interactive design? Similarly, banking websites do this too:
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| Balancing usable and interactive design on banking websites |
Artefact Idea:
- Make sonic machines interactive splash page versus the main site. Which one is more persuasive in advertising band and music. Would the user be more likely to buy a CD from visiting a interactive splash page or a more functional website with a more traditional layout?
- Or design a website that should be a very functional website (that people go on to perform boring tasks such as tax forms) and make it into the most interactive, crazy site ever. And see what people think! ;)
- Or the other way round. Create the most functional website for a film. Make it dire and plain looking as possible (and bore them to tears)
References
Banking websitehttps://www.salemfive.com/
HM Revenue website
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/sa/
Form versus Function
http://thenextweb.com/dd/2011/07/10/function-is-nothing-without-beauty-10-sites-doing-it-right/
Narratives
http://alistapart.com/article/narrative
