Midterm Essays

Select FIVE of the eight topics listed below. Research each and submit a two-page (typed-double
spaced-minimum) response to the topic. Some topics will require more than two pages to adequately
answer. Obviously, do not copy and paste from digital sources. Do not submit quotes. All submissions
will represent your original work.

1. Distinguish between the terms composition and layout. Explain the similarities and differences
regarding composition in print media (e.g., magazine) and digital media (e.g., Website).

2. The educator, John Dewey, defined an aesthetic experience as one which has "... a satisfying
emotional quality because it possesses internal integration and fulfillment reached through ordered and
organized movement." Dewey, J. (1934). Art as experience. New York: Perigee Books.

A visual experience has internal integration (meaning) when the person having the experience (looking
at an object) can sense that the designer responsible for that experience intentionally and effectively
arranged all available elements to produce a certain effect. The effect may be positive or negative, but
the experience can still be appreciated aesthetically.

Balance, unity, and harmony are three primary properties that designers manipulate in order to create
aesthetic experience. When these properties are manipulated in such a way that the effects satisfy
people's natural (and conflicting) cravings for

• order,
• predictability,
• surprise and
• novelty,

then designers are creating aesthetically pleasing objects or experiences.

In the context of a digital screen design that you select (Webpage, smart phone, computer software),
how do designers manipulate balance, harmony, and unity to satisfy the aesthetic expectations of
those who will see and interact.

3. An important principle for building any type of instruction is to present your message, and only your
message. Confounding your message with superfluous graphics, animations, sounds, colors, or
activities that might distract the learner simply increases the likelihood that the message will not be
received as intended. Communications theorists refer to such superfluous and distracting elements as
"noise". In designing screen displays, you should be minimalist in your approach. Think "lean." Avoid
complex or "busy" backgrounds.

Using screen capture, submit an example of a digital background that confounds the message and an
example of one that is minimalist yet effective. Explain the reasons for your choices. [FYI, the screen
captures do not contribute to the page count requirement].
4. To achieve a good digital layout design experts recognize several principles that underlie any
effective layout. These principles are:

• Design at optimum ppi (pixels per inch)

• Design left to right, top to bottom
• Draw the eye to the focal point
• Move into the frame
• Use the Golden Rectangle
• Follow the Rule of Thirds

a. Explain each of the above principles in terms of why it is important to good digital layout design.

b. Find a "principle" that you believe to be an important addition to the above list and explain why.

5. Because of the ubiquity of color in our world, color is almost always used in multimedia. All too
often, the decision is made to use color without much consideration or thought -- more because it is
possible to use color than because color will contribute positively to learning. However, using or not
using color in multimedia instruction ought to be a conscious choice.

There are reasons from the user's perspective that are both for and against using color. Provide
(research) three reasons to use color and three reasons not to use color in a computer-assisted
instructional setting. Provide examples.

6. There are at least three grounds upon which to make color choices in screen design:

• legibility,
• the appropriateness or inappropriateness of certain color combinations for particular audiences
and contexts, and
• practicalities, such as the color accuracy required; the capabilities of the display equipment
available; file size (especially important on WWW pages); the fact that some colors are "safe"
to use on the WWW, while others are not; and problems caused by using more than one palette.

Expand on these three areas and provide examples.

7. Choosing a font that will communicate effectively is more than a matter of selecting one that looks
pleasing. As background for choosing a font for either on-screen and printed text, you should know the
answers to these questions:

• What is a font?
• What is body text?
• What unit of measurement applies to font sizes?
• What are the different styles of a font?
• What are serifs?
• How do bitmap fonts and outline fonts compare?
 • What are proportional and non-proportional fonts?
• What is anti-aliasing and when should you use it?
• What are resident and non-resident fonts?
• What is leading?

Respond with examples of each of the above WITH RESPECT TO DIGITAL MEDIA.

8. There are a number of things related to text that are not necessarily text per se, nor are they really
graphics -- they fall somewhere between the two categories. They can be termed graphic devices:

• rules
• bullets
• dingbats
• drop caps
• distorted text, and
• boxes and shading.

Provide examples of how each of these devices is used and the appropriateness of each in digital media
such as a Webpage and computer program.