The Modern Art Historian

Post 4. Oh, Tufte, where to begin?

I suppose I’ll just take a quote from Tufte himself:

“Muting these secondary elements will often reduce visual clutter – and thus help to clarify the primary information. Minimal contrasts of the secondary elements (figure) relative to the negative space (ground) will tend to produce a visual hierarchy, with layers of inactive background, calm secondary structure, and notable content. And conversely, when everything (background, structure, content) is emphasized, nothing is emphasized; the design will often be noisy, cluttered, and informationally flat.” (Page 74)

If only Tufte had applied this to his own book. I found this book to be so frustrating to read. It was really, extremely frustrating. It was cluttered, a visual assault that was over-stimulating, distracting and nearly impossible for me to read. The graphics, the footnotes, the flaps that lift up, it was overwhelming.

For a book that was about presenting information and the proper use of visuals, I find it bizarre that the author employed such an insanely chaotic layout. I had such a difficult time focusing on the information because my eye kept getting pulled to the images, and then to the footnotes, which weren’t really presented as footnotes, but almost as another graphic next to the text. There was no visual hierarchy in his book. Everything was on the same plane on the pages, and it made it very hard for me to get through an entire page at a time. I had to set myself little goals during the reading (“Just finish this paragraph, don’t let your eye wander – you can do – hey look at those cubes over there…dammit!”) I have never had such an experience reading a book where I had to so frequently remind myself to read the text.

The information I was able to pull from the book was helpful in pointing out the importance of how information is presented, but wow, it would have been nice if it wasn’t so painful to read. I realize I may be alone in this struggle, but my eyes tend to be drawn to images when I read, and there was just too much going on most of the pages for me. 

On to the readings and site visits I did like:

From “The Non-Designer’s Web Book,” chapter nine, what made the biggest impact on me was the difference between print color and web color. 

I found David Shea’s Photographic Palette to be straightforward with helpful hints such as how to achieve shadow and highlight. Ideabook, Tip Sheet: Color Strategy was helpful in reminding that neutral colors help emphasize the content of your site of the design. This is also emphasized in Luke Wroblewski’s Natural Selections: Colors in Nature, as he states the importance of “having a palette that does not fight for the user’s attention.” On the Compendium of Color Tools, I found the Color Blend tool more useful than the Easy RGB tool, since you the Color Blend doesn’t require you to know the numbers for the shades. I will definitely be revisiting ColorSchemer. Overall, I think this week’s readings and visits were helpful in explaining some of the basics of how to relate information through color and visuals. 

Typography Assignment

My typography page is now up for viewing: http://www.modernarthistorian.com/Typography.html

Post 3. Thoughts on the Polyglot Manifesto, Parts 1 & 2

       Let me begin by saying that my first aesthetic impression upon visiting these posts Manan Ahmed’s blog, Chapati Mystery, was very positive. Aside from confusion over what his blog title meant, (which out of curiosity I had to look up in the “About CM” section.) I liked his layout, his choice of fonts, his color and overall design. I particularly liked the image he chose to accompany these two posts, the marchers waving a banner imploring historians to “be a Connector.” 

            Aesthetics aside, I enjoyed these two posts, and found that much of what Dr. Ahmed stated made sense to me. In the Polyglot Manifesto, Part 1, he outlines the difficulties facing modern historians, especially in regards to how historians should interact with the public. He states that the historian’s role is to serve as an interpreter, to translate events of the past to audiences in the present.   In demonstrating the necessity for historian’s familiarity with digital media, he brings up what I think is a key issue: the accuracy of the translation. Digitizing history is not as simple as scanning documents.  If an historian relies on computer scientist to transfer all of the information, how can the historian expect that all data will be transferred properly? (He states “The computer scientist does not know the head of a critical digital edition from the tale of a critical digital edition.”) I think by becoming familiar with new media, historians can take more ownership of the material and also ensure more accurate information is being presented to the audience.

            In Part 2 of the Manifesto, Ahmed goes into greater detail about why historians should learn new languages (such as XHTML).  A great point he brought up was how being digitally savvy can help engage audiences. He writes:

“What if my reader could annotate and tag and link my medieval Persian text to another medieval Persian text and another still? What if the texts spoke to one another and threads connect the reader, the text and the historian?” 

This made me think about the immediacy of digital media and how much it opens communication between historians. If you read a book and have thoughts on it, how likely are you to contact the author to share your thoughts? Whereas with the Web, you could easily communicate through e-mail, comments, blogs, or on a forum, making it that much more likely that you will put your thoughts out there and that they will reach the author.

            As I was reading this, I was thinking of how much more this is applicable to art history. As an art historian, I think it’s especially important to be able to communicate with audiences digitally. Art history as a discipline is extremely reliant upon visuals. (Have you ever had been in an art history class where a projector isn’t functioning properly? We NEED our images!!) As audiences use digital resources more frequently, they will grow more and more to expect that these images be accompanied by images, and that these images are of high quality, are logically placed, etc. As always, I think it is important to consider and to meet (or at least try to) audience expectations. For example, I know that when I visit an art museum’s Web site, I expect that it will be well designed, informative, and aesthetically pleasing, but even more, I expect that it will be creative, distinct, and have a personality that matches the museum. When I go to an art history Web site that is heavy on the text but light on images, or has tiny, low-res images that can’t be enlarged or zoomed-in on, I am immediately turned off. As an art historian, I think I understand better than a computer scientist what an art history audience wants and how to present the information to them. That’s the great benefit of being an art historian familiar with digital media – I will be able not only to make information accessible to audiences, but do so in a way that meets their expectations.

Post 2. Footnotes and Typography

This week’s readings addressed on two topics: selecting footnote styles and fonts.

 Footnotes

             The articles concerning footnotes discussed the history of footnotes on the Web, the various options for citing references on Web sites, including the pros and cons of each option. One of the points I found most interesting was Jenny Lynn Bader’s observation that children today learn to use links on Web sites well before they reach the level in school that they read books with footnotes. This never would have occurred to me, but it make since, and shows a benefit of making scholarly material available online: it makes searching for further evidence or resources intuitive from a younger age. Another important benefit Bader discusses in her article Forget Footnotes, Hyperlink, is the impact of citing on search engines. According to Bader, the more frequently a site is linked to, the higher it appears on search engines such as Google. Bader does discuss one caveat in Web linking: the right to link and the possibility of plagiarism. She makes the case that one should be aware of who is referencing your site and linking to it, and

    Dr. Petrik’s article Scholarship on the Web: Managing Footnotes offers a more detailed assessment of types of citation. She notes the lack of resources available for guiding people in which type of footnote to use, as well as the challenges that scholars have faced in incorporating footnotes into pages. In describing five various options for footnotes, she explains the history of each style’s use by Web designers. She then explains how this would appear to the reader and how it would be achieved in code. Dr. Petrik also clearly explains the advantages and disadvantages of each of these options. What I really appreciated about this was that it weighed the balance between ease of reading for the audience and ease of coding for the site manager. Another aspect that was helpful is the importance of how footnotes or citations print, as, she points out, many scholars are still paper-oriented. 

            Jean Baptiste Piggin’s Macro-Typography: A Style Guide covers these same issues in detail, and is certainly a resource I will be revisiting during the semester.

            I think these resources were helpful in showing the significance of footnotes and linking, especially in how they can help your content seem more credible, as scholars expect to see references.

 Typography 

            The other articles discuss typography, both the font styles as well as sizing. In Typography Matters, Erin Kissane emphasizes that audiences aren't always going to be attentive readers, so she states that it is important to make reading easier for visitors, as most people have short attention spans when reading. She explains that typography can assist readers who scan the page by guiding their attention. Kissane also explains the similar function of punctuation and why certain punctuation styles are more effective. In How to Size Text in CSS, Richard Rutter discussed the importance of sizing so that text would be resizable across browsers, which we had discussed in our last class. 

            Jason Santa Maria described the typographical challenges Web designers face in his article On Web Typography. He explains the importance of selecting an appropriate font, especially as an increasing number of fonts becomes available. I like how he explained that each font has a personality, and is often identified with a culture or time period. This can be either helpful or detrimental depending on how you select your fonts. I know that for me personally, when I encounter certain fonts in Web sites or electronic communications, they trigger a reaction in me that, and some fonts always make me automatically think “unprofessional” or “amateur.” (For example: Comic Sans MS)

            As a final note, one things these articles kept reminding me is that the audience for our projects in this class are presumably scholars and historians, so I will need to keep that in mind as I design. As different audiences have varying expectations for both design and content, it is important to consider these when developing my site. 

Post 1. Wrobleski, Norman and Fogg

            From the moment you begin to plan a web site, it is important to keep in mind the audience and how they will experience your site. Of the three readings by Wrobleski, Norman and Fogg, I was pleased by how these emphasized the importance of audience, both in expectations of and reaction of the various audiences. These authors also addressed a variety of aspects of Web design such as color, layout, font and images, and how these affect a site visitor’s perception of how trustworthy or professional a site is, and also how this can impact usability.  Ultimately, the goal is for people to visit, return to, and recommend your site to others. 

            I found David Wrobleski’s Who Are You? the most enjoyable article to read. While Wrobleski doesn’t go into great detail on each of the topics, I feel that he provides a comprehensive overview of each topic, including why it is important, mistakes to avoid, and strategies to improve these aspects. While much of what Wrobleski covers might seem like common sense, I can say from my experience working on professional Web sites that many of the aspects Wrobleski covers are often ignored or overlooked by designers, and do make a great difference to the audience. I found myself frequently nodding my head in agreement while reading this chapter.

        Donald Norman’s “Attractive Things Work Better” was very successful in emphasizing the importance of keeping the audience in mind when designing and maintaining a Web site. However, one aspect of the article I found disappointing is the ending. To me, it seemed that much of the article was focused on showing that people  from many backgrounds will react similarly to the same experiences, but then he closes by reminding us how important cultural influence is, and how this presents a major challenge for designers. I found this an odd way to end a chapter that opened with an experiment proving that different cultures share certain aesthetics.

            Overall, I found these articles helpful in establishing an effective mindset when beginning a new project, as they emphasize important aspects of audience, aesthetics, and reactions. As I currently work in Web marketing, one of my hopes for this class is that I’ll be able to learn new skills or concepts that will be immediately applicable to my daily work. I found these readings rather timely, as right I am currently assisting in two new ventures for my office: a new Web site to replace our current site, and a new e-mail marketing system, while we are at the same time going through re-branding. What I found in these articles is reinforcement of many of the issues our web team has been working through over the past year and a half. Topics such branding, layouts, aesthetics, intuitive navigation and yes, typeface, are at the front of my mind most days at work. For me, it’s always nice when something you learn for a class directly

            As a final note to some of my classmates who were overwhelmed by “Stylin’ with CSS” …don’t stress! As with any manual, the first reading is for overall information, but you’ll always be going back to certain sections for more clarification when it’s actually relevant to you. Learning computer skills is like learning a new sport or instrument - it’s one thing to read about it, but nothing will help you learn more than actual practice and time.

 

My very first blog post

Hi everyone, and welcome to my blog.

Like a number of you, I have never kept a blog before, so this is new to me. In fact, if it were not for this class, I don't think anything would have ever compelled me to start one. I am writing this first post to get my blogging jitters out of the way, and also to see what my blog looks like with actual content.

I am looking forward to seeing everyone’s blogs – so far I think there is a good variety in design and writing styles. I'm also curious to see how they look at the end of the semester, as I'm sure they will evolve quite a bit, especially with feedback and suggestions from each other.

Best of luck getting started with your blogs, classmates!