Navigation and Interface Design
Yesterday, in my Design Perspectives class, we discussed navigation and
interface design. We looked at a number of websites, and microsoft.com was
an example. We noticed that most of the websites listed their links in the top
left hand corner of the webpage, and we could make conclusions about what
they thought was important based on the order in which they had their links.
Microsoft.com first listed their products, which were most important to them.
At the bottom of their list, they had "Learning Tools" and "Events and
Webcasts." These links are obviously the least important to them because
they were at the very bottom of their navigation. Because of this, I feel that
Microsoft was most interested in making money, not helping their customers.
In my Professional Writing class, we discussed our final projects. Our
class presentation must be tight because companies will not always have
much time to sit and listen to a campaign. We must provide a quick
history, discuss the technology, and explain how the new technology or
software will help the users. I realized that, in order to make our
presentation, we must decide what information is most important to us. It
is like making the navigation for a website. We must organize our
information according to what we most want the audience to hear and
understand. The paper that we hand in will be more detailed, but our
multimedia presentation must be a very condensed version of the material
that we feel is most beneficial to our campaign.
I feel that understanding navigation and interface design of websites will
help me design any multimedia presentation. It has given me an idea of
what users and audience members value most, and it has showed me how the
designers can help to determine what pages their users and audience view
and what information they hear. Designers can have much influence, but
they must know how to use their skills to their advantage.
Winged Sandals
I found an article online titled "Winged Sandals Wins Top World Interactive Multimedia Award." This interactive website, Winged Sandals, brings Greek mythology to life for young audiences. In 2004, it won The Gold World Medal, "the top prize in the Education category at the New York Festivals 2004 Interactive Awards." This was the fifth major award that the website received. Its other awards include the top Australian new media accolate of Best of the Best at the AIMIA Awards and the AIMIA award for Best e-learning or Reference. It also received prizes at the SXSWeb Media Festival and Flash Forward Festival Awards.
I never realized that there were so many opportunities for interactive multimedia projects to be acclaimed and receive acknowledgement. The Interactive Multimedia major at our school is small and still in the process of developing, but there are others who appreciate interative multimedia around the world. After looking at the website itself, I realized that a project like Winged Sandals is something that I could eventually work towards. Winged Sandals was a collaborative project, and I will be able to contribute my skills to projects like this after I graduate. I am already working on a collaborative project in my Design Perspectives class, but it is obviously not as large of a project as Winged Sandals. Hopefully, I will keep improving my skills and be able to work with others on more advanced projects in the future.
Looking at Pixar
I realize that I need to gain more work experience before I graduate. Lately, I have begun to look online for internships, and I have found that there are many available to students with my skills. While writing my resume and cover letter in my Intro to Professional Writing class, I found that my list of skills was much longer than my list of job experience; however, these internships will allow me to employ my skills and gain more experience. This will help make my resume more impressive.
Today, I looked at job opportunities at Pixar, specifically the Animation Internship. Pixar has always interested me. Their short films are hysterical, and their full length features are amazing. I always found the sense of humor in their films very much like my own. Therefore, when I saw this internship opportunity, I looked at it closely.
I cannot apply for this internship because you must have completed at least your junior year of college. I still found the information on the Web page very informative; I now have a sense of what skills I must develop to attain internships like this one in the future. I must continue to develop my computer and communication skills. I must gain a strong understanding of basic principles, be able to work collaborately with others and clearly communicate my ideas. This page stated that the applicant must have completed some college coursework and that they did not need extensive work experience. I feel that if I continue to work hard in my courses and gain more experience in the field, I will have a much better chance to attain the kinds of internships that I would like.
So Here's My Blog
Professor Kim Pearson came to my professional writing class yesterday, and she taught everyone how to create a blog. I will update this every so often. I plan to use this blog to post articles and information that I find that concern my majors, Interactive Multimedia and Communication Studies. I'll probably post anything that relates to my hopes, dreams or career goals.
