Response to Readings Week5

I have to say that the first point of McGovern's text "Information architecture versus graphic design", that the web is a literate medium and not a visual one, is not entirely accurate. I agree that you have to be able to find some information of substance on websites, and that all too often, especially in the flurry of many business to make their websites Flash based, information can take a back seat to content - BUT - graphic design, in my view, is not all about making things pretty, but organising information. So, in this case, I'm not really sure what the point is of making the distinction between a literate site and a visual one.

Even books are designed for easy reading - cover design that represents what the book is about is naturally followed by well-organised pages in a sequential order. I don't really think that websites are so different. Many are still ordered in logical sequence (such as Home, then followed by a logical hierarchy of information), and needs to be easily navigated by the user. Organising text in a way that makes sense, is pleasing to the eye and attracts attention is just as important as the content itself (but not more important!).

Also, McGovern was writing in 2001, and in those 7 years there has been a massive change to the way in which many websites have been built, mainly due to software advancements that can drastically reduce the size of the files for the visual components of a site. With this last point in mind, I think that both content and the visual should complement each other.

I agree, though, that the Web is a library, and one that, frankly, I can't live without these days! There's nothing more annoying than finding a site that takes ages to load and is all eye candy, but no substance!

Adobe's "Typography Primer" was a great document to come across, and one that I will keep coming back to again and again. I'm really interested in the idea of type as illustration, and tis paper was a great exploration of type's possibilities!