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Are Instant Messages Speech? Read chapter Read first chapter

2010 | OriginalPaper | Chapter

Visual Communication in Web Design – Analyzing Visual Communication in Web Design

Author : Lisbeth Thorlacius

Published in: International Handbook of Internet Research

Publisher: Springer Netherlands

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Abstract

Web sites are rapidly becoming the preferred media choice for information search, company presentation, shopping, entertainment, education, and social contacts. And along with the various forms of communication that the Web offers the aesthetic aspects have begun to play an increasingly important role. However, studies in the design and the relevance of focusing on the aesthetic aspects in planning and using Web sites have only to a smaller degree been subject of theoretical reflection. For example, Miller (2000), Thorlacius (2001, 2002, 2005), Engholm (2002, 2003), and Beaird (2007) have been contributing to set a beginning agenda that address the aesthetic aspects. On the other hand, there is a considerable amount of literature addressing the theoretical and methodological aspects focusing on the technical and functional aspects. In this context it is the aim of this article to introduce a model for analysis of visual communication on websites.

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previous chapter Language Deterioration Revisited: The Extent and Function of English Content in a Swedish Chat Room
next chapter Feral Hypertext: When Hypertext Literature Escapes Control
Footnotes
1
In this illustration I have combined the communication factors and the language functions, although it is not a direct copy of the model as it is presented in Jakobson’s article “Linguistics and Poetics” from 1960, where Jakobson kept the factors and the language functions in separate illustrations.
 
2
For a more thorough insight into the model and the theoretical reflections behind the interpretation of Roman Jakobson’s model, see my Ph.D. dissertation: Model til analyse af lexi-visual, æstetisk kommunikation - med et særligt henblik på websites. (A model for the analysis of lexi-visual, aesthetic communication – focusing on Web sites). Part I and II, Roskilde University 2001. This text is unfortunately not translated into English.
 
3
In terms of discussing genre and style in web design, I am indebted to the design researcher Ida Engholm and her Ph.D. dissertation from 2003. Her dissertation WWW’s designhistorie - website udviklingen i et genre- og stilteoretisk perspektiv (WWW’s design history – the development of websites in a genre- and style theoretical perspective) [my translation] is unfortunately not translated into English. Moreover, David Siegel’s Creating Killer Web Sites (1996), and Curt Cloninger’s Fresh Styles for Web Designers (2002) are inspirational reading in regard to style and genre in web design.
 
4
It is important to notice that the term interaction in this context refers to the physical interaction between the user and the machine and not to mental or interpersonal interaction, such as the addressee’s personal construction of meaning when exposed to the media product.
 
5
Jens F. Jensen’s model is based on Jan L. Bordewijk and Ben van Kaam’s matrix of the four communication patterns: allocution, conversation, consultation, and registration (Bordewijk & Kaam, 1986, p. 19). However, Jensen has updated the model by incorporating the interactivity aspect, which makes the model particularly suited to the analysis of visual communication on websites.
 
6
Jakobson borrowed the term phatic function from Malinowski who established the term phatic communion in connection with his ethnographic fieldwork among some Melanesian tribes. Here he demonstrated that use of language in its most primitive form can be regarded as acts rather than a sharing of thoughts (Malinowski, 1969, pp. 312–315).
 
Literature
Barthes, R. (1986). The responsibility of forms: Critical essays on music, art and representation (pp. 21–40). London: Blackwell. 1986.
Beaird, J. (2007). The principles of beautiful web design. Melbourne: Site Point.
Bordewijk, J. L., & Kaam, B. van (1986). Towards a new classification of Tele-information services. Intermedia, 14(1), 16–21.
Cloninger, C. (2002). Fresh styles for web designers. Indianapolis, IN: New Riders.
Engholm, I. (2002). Digital style history. The development of graphic design on the Internet. Digital Creativity, 13(4), 193–211.CrossRef
Engholm, I. (2003). WWW’s designhistorie – website udviklingen i et genre- og stilteoretisk perspektiv. Ph.D. dissertation. Copenhagen: The IT University.
Engholm, I. (2004). Webgenrer og Stilarter – om at analysere og kategorisere websites. In I. Engholm & L. Klastrup (Eds.), Digitale Verdener. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
Jakobson, R. (1960). Linguistics and poetics. In: A. S. Thomas (red.), Style in language (pp. 350–377). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
Jensen, J. F. (1997). “Interaktivitet” – på sporet af et nyt begreb i medie og kommunikationsvidenskaberne. MedieKultur, 26, 40–55.
Lynch, P. J., & Horton, S. (1999). Web style guide: Basic design principles for creating web sites. New Haven, CT and London: Yale University Press.
Lyotard, J. F. (1994) Lessons on the analytic of the sublime. Kant’s “critique of judgment”. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Malinowski, B. (1969). The problem of meaning in primitive languages. Supplement In C. K. Ogden & I. A. Richards (Eds.), The meaning of meaning – A study of the influence of language upon thought and of the science of symbolism (1923). London: Routledge & Keagan Paul Ltd.
Miller, D. (2000). The fame of trinis: Websites as traps. Journal of Material Culture, 5(1), 5–24.CrossRef
Ogden, C. K., & Richards, I. A. (1969). The meaning of meaning – A study of the influence of language upon thought and of the science of symbolism. London: Routledge & Keagan Paul Ltd. (orig. 1923).
Peirce, C. S. (1955). Logic as semiotic: The theory of signs. In J. Buchler (red.), Philosophical writings of Peirce (pp. 98–115). New York: Dover Publishing.
Siegel, D. (1996). Creating killer web sites (2nd ed.). Indianapolis, IN: Hayden Books.
Thorlacius, L. (2001). Model til analyse af lexi- visual, æstetisk kommunikation – med et særligt henblik på websites. Del I og II. Roskilde University.
Thorlacius, L. (2002). A model of visual, aesthetic communication focusing on web sites. In J. Nielsen (red.), Digital Creativity, 13(2), 85–98. Holland: Swets & Zeitlinger.
Thorlacius, L. (2005). The role of aesthetics in web design. In: U. Carlsson, (red.), Nordicom Review, 2, 85–101.
Metadata
Title
Visual Communication in Web Design – Analyzing Visual Communication in Web Design
Author
Lisbeth Thorlacius
Copyright Year
2010
Publisher
Springer Netherlands
Book
International Handbook of Internet Research

Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-9788-1

Electronic ISBN: 978-1-4020-9789-8

Copyright Year: 2010

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9789-8_28

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