information architecture definition

Info Design, Inc. features a lengthy definition of infomation architecture that makes sense. They say that it is conveying complex information as clearly as possible.
www.infodn.com

robin williams on good design

Robin Williams writes design books for both graphics and web. She has listed out some tips for good design at www.ratz.com/featuresgood.html. I agree with most of her tips except a few. She says that links should be underlined, which I guess refers to text links. But I don't think that they necessarily have to be underlined, as long as they are emphasized as link (ie: bold, different color, hover change). She also says that a graphic link should have a matching text link. I don't think that is absolutely neccessary either. As long as the link works, what difference does it make whether it is graphical or text? She also suggest that an inteface should fit within 640x480 browser resolution. I don't agree with that. I think she should suggest 800x600 and also note that most user are up to 1024x768. These tips might be outdated because she has been around awhile, so that would explain her recommended browser resolution.

senior project lives on

I made it through Senior Project I last quarter by promising Ameeta that I would keep working on it. This project consumed so much of time last quarter that during the break I didn’t even want to look at. But I did. I am slowly but surely assembling storyboards for a motion graphics piece with poetry. It’s a short poem, its theme is very abstract: SOMETHING’S MISSING. I thought the poem would be a good one to start production on, but the abstraction of the words isn’t allowing for many specifics in the piece. I am also challenged by audio. I had commissioned original music for the piece, but have yet to see any of it. I can’t depend on others for my project, so I must take action. I think a few ambient noises and a loop might do the trick, but it has to fit the piece. Since the success of the piece lies in the hands of the audio, I need to find something that fits the theme and cohesively enhances the piece.


I have gained a huge amount of appreciation of the project process. The most important parts of the project are planning and research. Without performing these two steps, a project is likely to fall flat. I feel that is project has had extensive research and planning.

Although, I will say that it’s hard not change my mind when it comes to sticking with the plan.

I, Robot - saw it

I saw I, Robot this afternoon. The 3-D animation was incredible; I found it hard to tell what was real and what was not. The mood was dark and the setting was futuristic, taking place in Chicago 2035. Apparently 30 years from now, we are gonna be driving electric cars and everyone will have their own robot. The robot industry is a hot one in the future. The robots are programmed with 3 laws that prevent them from ever harming a human being. The generation of robots that are introduced in the film are programmed to express emotion, making the solid line between man and machine blurred. Wil Smith's character is skeptical of all robots and is particularly disturbed when the creator of the robots commits suicide by jumping from his office window on to the lobby floor of the company's head quarters. This leads him into battle with a new generation of robots who can ignore their programming and rebel against commands and evoke harm on humans. I thought the robots were nicely rendered and their movements were mechanical, yet fluid. I thought it was interesting that the robots were made to look human. The faces of the new robot generation were expressive with multi-faceted eyes.

The "ghost in the machine" in the machine theory is touched on but not fully explained. Something about snipets of code that, overtime, form into some sort of psyche. I thought this was interesting as a programmer because it seems almost fantastical to think that computer code could enable something human.