Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Week 2: Lupton "Text" Starter Post

Reading the second chapter of Lupton's book "Thinking With Type," hopefully you were struck by the section about "Birth of the User" (Pg. 73-76 or at Lupton's book site linked from this blog on the right).

"The dominant subject of our age has become neither reader nor writer but user, a figure conceived as a bundle of needs and impairments—cognitive, physical, emotional. Like a patient or child, the user is a figure to be protected and cared for but also scrutinized and controlled, submitted to research and testing." (73)

Objective:
Pick out one website where the user interaction is critical to communicating the message or services of that the website or organization is trying to convey.

Assignment Specs:
Think about how the site is designed to maximize the ease with which one can use its services/content. How does the current design of the site enhance the user experience and why? Or how does the current design provide "creative interference" and ruin the user experience?

"The impatience of the digital reader arises from culture, not from the essential character of display technologies."

Comment, in your opinion, our media culture today. How do you think this changes the way we use content and how it will be displayed? (What do you think of THIS?)

DON’T FORGET to link to or take a screenshot of your site using the tips from the blog handout and schedule.


Content and inspiration for this prompt is borrowed from Prof. Greg Hedges’ blogging exercise in GRA 617 (Summer 2009). In prepping for this week I found it really helpful for framing the types of things I hope you’re out there thinking about.  There are a lot of elements to this, but I think it will be pretty easy for you to complete.

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