Visualizing the Web: Evaluating Online Design from a Visual Communication Perspective(1 Visual Communication)

This book analyzes Web page design from a visual communication perspective. Visual communication is an emerging field which draws on numerous disciplines concerned with the creation, perception, and interpretation of visual messages. The transdisciplinary nature of the field allows us to see the sites examined from new visual vantage points – metaphorical, cultural, and rhetorical; cognitive, perceptive, and evaluative. With an introduction and eight essays by visual communication scholars, the book also includes an insightful interview with Hillman Curtis, one of the foremost Web page designers in the world.

Table of Contents:
Contents: Sheree Josephson/Susan B. Barnes/Mark Lipton: Introduction – Sally Gill: From Page to Screen and Beyond: The Evolution of Web Metaphors and Their Impact on Communication Design – Susanna Paasonen: Something New, Something Old, Something Borrowed: Web Pages and Visual Culture – Valerie V. Peterson: An Elemental Approach to Web Site Visuals – Craig Baehr: Thinking Visually: Heuristics for Web Site Analysis and Design – Sheree Josephson: Using Eye Tracking to See How Viewers Process Visual Information in Cyberspace – Roxanne O’Connell: Web Site Usability: Tips, Techniques, and Methods – Ulla Bunz/Juliann Cortese: How Do Users Evaluate Web Sites? – Susan B. Barnes: Visual Evaluation of the World Wide Web – Amanda Carlson/Sheree Josephson: Epilogue: An Interview with Hillman Curtis.

About the Author :
Sheree Josephson is a noted eye-tracking researcher who has studied how people process visual information on the Web, on television, and in print. She has published several book chapters and numerous scholarly articles. She is a full professor in the Department of Communication at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah. Susan B. Barnes is a full professor in the College of Liberal Arts and Associate Director of the Lab for Social Computing at the Rochester Institute of Technology. She is the author or editor of several books, and has written numerous articles and book chapters about the Internet, human relationships, and visual communication. Mark Lipton is an associate professor in the College of Arts at the University of Guelph. His current work with the Media Education Project considers how Canadian teachers engage with media and information and communication technologies in the classroom, to assess how ICTs function within a broader context of teaching and learning.

Review :
«As we move from a world of text and conversation to one of screens and imagery, our ability to communicate visually will determine not just our success in this new terrain, but our ability to orient, understand, and make meaning. These essays provide the foundations for navigating the visual landscape, as well as the principles through which to create it.» (Douglas Rushkoff, Author,‘ Program or Be Programmed’) «This innovative collection of analyses builds a badly needed bridge between solid visual communication research about legacy media and emerging scholarship about Web-based media.» (Julianne Newton, Professor of Visual Communication in the School of Journalism and Communication at the University of Oregon; Co-author of ‘Visual Communication: Integrating Media, Art, and Science’) «In the twenty-first century, visualization is the next big thing, and it is transforming how we understand everything – from storytelling, to bodies, to science, to information itself. The principles of visual communication too are in a constant state of flux as they try to catch up with these evolving information spaces all around us. This timely book explores the origins and history of the field, crystallizes the current moment in visual design and Web aesthetics, and gives would-be architects sound principles upon which to build their own structures.» (Carolyn Guertin, Assistant Professor of Digital Media and Director of the eCreate Lab at the University of Texas at Arlington; Faculty member at Transart Institute in Berlin) «As we move from a world of text and conversation to one of screens and imagery, our ability to communicate visually will determine not just our success in this new terrain, but our ability to orient, understand, and make meaning. These essays provide the foundations for navigating the visual landscape, as well as the principles through which to create it.» (Douglas Rushkoff, Author,‘ Program or Be Programmed’) «This innovative collection of analyses builds a badly needed bridge between solid visual communication research about legacy media and emerging scholarship about Web-based media.» (Julianne Newton, Professor of Visual Communication in the School of Journalism and Communication at the University of Oregon; Co-author of ‘Visual Communication: Integrating Media, Art, and Science’) «In the twenty-first century, visualization is the next big thing, and it is transforming how we understand everything – from storytelling, to bodies, to science, to information itself. The principles of visual communication too are in a constant state of flux as they try to catch up with these evolving information spaces all around us. This timely book explores the origins and history of the field, crystallizes the current moment in visual design and Web aesthetics, and gives would-be architects sound principles upon which to build their own structures.» (Carolyn Guertin, Assistant Professor of Digital Media and Director of the eCreate Lab at the University of Texas at Arlington; Faculty member at Transart Institute in Berlin)