[Sigia-l] Next article in Opinion (10 of 14)
Matthew Savard
Matthew.Savard at avenuea-razorfish.com
Tue Aug 16 11:16:04 EDT 2005
Message: 1
Date: Sun, 14 Aug 2005 13:25:08 -0400
From: Listera <listera at rcn.com>
Subject: Re: [Sigia-l] Next article in Opinion (10 of 14)
To: SIGIA-L <sigia-l at asis.org>
Message-ID: <BF24F6B4.E631%listera at rcn.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Listera:
> That may be, but this is not really a "link." It's as generic as you're going to get: "Next Item."
There are at least tooltips on those links showing the title of the next article.
------------------------------
Message: 2
Date: Sun, 14 Aug 2005 14:20:47 -0400
From: Listera <listera at rcn.com>
Subject: [Sigia-l] It's all about sex
To: SIGIA-L <sigia-l at asis.org>
Message-ID: <BF2503BF.E633%listera at rcn.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
A first-of-its-kind study conducted by experts at the University of Glamorgan has proved that men and women really are poles apart when it comes to what catches their eye on the internet.
Where visuals are concerned, males favour the use of straight lines (as opposed to rounded forms), few colours in the typeface and background, and formal typography. As for language, they favour the use of formal or expert language with few abbreviations and are more likely to promote themselves and their abilities heavily.
"The statistics are complicated, but there is no doubt about the strength of men and women's preference for sites produced by people of their own sex,"
said statistician and co-researcher Dr Rod Gunn.
Despite the parity of target audience, the results found that 94% of the sites displayed a masculine orientation with just 2% displaying a typically female bias.
<http://www.glam.ac.uk/news/releases/003056.php>
Significant or another crackpot 'science' project? [1]
Ziya
Nullius in Verba
[1] "The University is now offering a consultancy service to businesses seeking advice on tailoring their websites to their business goals."
------------------------------
Message: 3
Date: Mon, 15 Aug 2005 08:40:07 +1200
From: Terrence Wood <tdw at funkive.com>
Subject: Re: [Sigia-l] It's all about sex
To: SIGIA-L <sigia-l at asis.org>
Cc: Listera <listera at rcn.com>
Message-ID: <99A5B66A-0D03-11DA-B626-0003931722DA at funkive.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed
Trying to interpret the results of a research project through a press release is a questionable business. I wonder what are the 23 factors that the report measures? Is the so-called male aesthetic simply a limitation of the medium, or the client?
Men and women are different. No surprise there. It's well known that genders perceive color differently and it follows that color choice in design differ. Think hunters and collectors.
Academia is a masculine institution. No surprise there. Does this mean academia does not speak to it's audience? Possibly. Possibly it has more to do with values attached to the design, and what the institutes want to say about themselves, in the same way a blue chip organisation does not publish it's annual report on white photocopy paper bound with a plastic comb.
Rounded forms vs. grids. No surprises there. It is easier to deliver a design using straight lines on the internet, and see the above comment.
kind regards
Terrence Wood.
On 15 Aug 2005, at 6:20 AM, Listera wrote:
> A first-of-its-kind study conducted by experts at the University of
> Glamorgan has proved that men and women really are poles apart when it
> comes
> to what catches their eye on the internet.
>
> Where visuals are concerned, males favour the use of straight lines (as
> opposed to rounded forms), few colours in the typeface and background,
> and
> formal typography. As for language, they favour the use of formal or
> expert
> language with few abbreviations and are more likely to promote
> themselves
> and their abilities heavily.
>
> "The statistics are complicated, but there is no doubt about the
> strength of
> men and women's preference for sites produced by people of their own
> sex,"
> said statistician and co-researcher Dr Rod Gunn.
>
> Despite the parity of target audience, the results found that 94% of
> the
> sites displayed a masculine orientation with just 2% displaying a
> typically
> female bias.
>
> <http://www.glam.ac.uk/news/releases/003056.php>
>
> Significant or another crackpot 'science' project? [1]
>
> Ziya
> Nullius in Verba
>
> [1] "The University is now offering a consultancy service to businesses
> seeking advice on tailoring their websites to their business goals."
>
>
> ------------
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>
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>
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>
>
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------------------------------
Message: 4
Date: Mon, 15 Aug 2005 08:47:30 +1200
From: Terrence Wood <tdw at funkive.com>
Subject: Re: [Sigia-l] Next article in Opinion (10 of 14)
To: sigia l <sigia-l at asis.org>
Cc: Eric Scheid <eric.scheid at ironclad.net.au>
Message-ID: <A1AC8D48-0D04-11DA-B626-0003931722DA at funkive.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed
On 14 Aug 2005, at 6:24 PM, Eric Scheid wrote:
> "Next article in Opinion (10 of 14)". It doesn't say what the next
> article is
>
On purpose.
If you want more news and have the time (see 10 of 14, it's finite), do
you care what it is?
More importantly, are you exposed to advertising when following the
links? I don't know the site, but I'm going to guess: yes.
kind regards
Terrence Wood.
------------------------------
Message: 5
Date: Mon, 15 Aug 2005 09:00:57 +1200
From: Terrence Wood <tdw at funkive.com>
Subject: Re: [Sigia-l] It's all about sex
To: SIGIA-L <sigia-l at asis.org>
Cc: Listera <listera at rcn.com>
Message-ID: <82B938E5-0D06-11DA-B626-0003931722DA at funkive.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed
Forgot to make my point....
On 15 Aug 2005, at 6:20 AM, Listera wrote:
>
> Significant or another crackpot 'science' project? [1]
>
> [1] "The University is now offering a consultancy service to businesses
> seeking advice on tailoring their websites to their business goals."
I agree ;-)
kind regards
Terrence Wood.
------------------------------
Message: 6
Date: Sun, 14 Aug 2005 17:16:58 -0400
From: Listera <listera at rcn.com>
Subject: Re: [Sigia-l] It's all about sex
To: SIGIA-L <sigia-l at asis.org>
Message-ID: <BF252D0A.E646%listera at rcn.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Terrence Wood:
> a blue chip organisation does not publish it's annual report on white
> photocopy paper bound with a plastic comb.
It's funny you should say that because the trend in that business after the
dotcom and corporate scandals era has been to devalue the glossy production
values of the Annual Report in favor of multiple formats designed for
different purposes/audiences with formats as simple as 10-K wrappers in
plain paper. Some of my friends who used to specialize in AR design have
left the field recently for this reason, as the money spent on them became
increasingly restricted. Here's one take on it:
<http://www.commarts.com/CA/colbus/pamW_280.html>
Ziya
Nullius in Verba
------------------------------
Message: 7
Date: Mon, 15 Aug 2005 11:50:34 +1200
From: Terrence Wood <tdw at funkive.com>
Subject: Re: [Sigia-l] It's all about sex
To: SIGIA-L l <sigia-l at asis.org>
Cc: Listera <listera at rcn.com>
Message-ID: <347B2212-0D1E-11DA-B626-0003931722DA at funkive.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed
On 15 Aug 2005, at 9:16 AM, Listera wrote:
> It's funny you should say that because the trend...has been to devalue
> the glossy production values of the Annual Report in favor of multiple
> formats
At http://www.commarts.com/CA/colbus/pamW_280.html
> One thing is for sure, the annual report has shifted from a tool with
> the primary purpose to report to a tool that is meant to catalyze, to
> communicate and to connect.
The point is the same, arguably the values have changed.
kind regards
Terrence Wood.
------------------------------
Message: 8
Date: Sun, 14 Aug 2005 20:30:55 -0400
From: "Boniface Lau" <boniface_lau at compuserve.com>
Subject: RE: [Sigia-l] It's all about sex
To: "'SIGIA-L'" <sigia-l at asis.org>
Message-ID: <000001c5a130$9b9f7cf0$8119fea9 at amazon>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
> From: Listera
>
> http://www.glam.ac.uk/news/releases/003056.php
GLAM> In almost every case women preferred those sites designed by
GLAM> women and men showed a preference for those created by men.
The study looked at personal websites - a form of personal expression.
Thus it is not surprising that male prefers male's personal expression
and female prefers female's personal expression.
>
> Significant or another crackpot 'science' project?
I found the following shocking:
GLAM> Explained Gloria, "The beauty and angling industries have very
GLAM> polarised markets. You might expect the differing natures of
GLAM> these markets to produce different kinds of websites, but in
GLAM> fact our study shows that they are remarkably similar. They are
GLAM> both modelled on the male aesthetic."
GLAM>
GLAM> While expectedly 77% of angling websites are designed by men,
GLAM> more surprisingly 78% of the female orientated beauty websites
GLAM> were also drawn up by men.
The "surprise" in the above paragraph has some serious implication. It
implies that a website targeted to a certain gender should be designed
by people of that gender. Seeing that coming from an educational
institution (an university) is dumbfounding. After all, a properly
educated designer should be able to design website for whatever
gender.
Boniface
------------------------------
Message: 9
Date: Mon, 15 Aug 2005 10:42:19 +1000
From: Eric Scheid <eric.scheid at ironclad.net.au>
Subject: Re: [Sigia-l] Next article in Opinion (10 of 14)
To: sigia l <sigia-l at asis.org>
Message-ID: <BF26220B.69464%eric.scheid at ironclad.net.au>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
On 15/8/05 3:25 AM, "Listera" <listera at rcn.com> wrote:
>> Kinda pointless reading stuff from the web if
>> you never follow a link
>
> That may be, but this is not really a "link." It's as generic as you're
> going to get: "Next Item."
(1) not quite as generic as that: Terrence noted that the finite-ness of the
linked list is indicated in the link ("10 of 14"). I think he has something
there.
(2) assuming for the moment that they know what they're doing, isn't it
curious that something like these links actually "test well", despite their
failure to adhere to the orthodoxy of the "best practice" of information
scent?
"scare" quotes fully intended ;-)
e.
------------------------------
Message: 10
Date: Sun, 14 Aug 2005 21:30:39 -0500
From: "Mark Richman" <markrichman at lycos.com>
Subject: [Sigia-l] Re: Next Article Links on Newspaper Sites
To: sigia-l at asis.org
Message-ID: <20050815023040.05939E5BC7 at ws7-2.us4.outblaze.com>
Content-Type: text/plain
Eric Scheid:
>Have you noticed this style of link on newspaper/magazine sites? Do you use
>them?
I read the NY Times website every day and I not only never use these links, but I find them annoying since they always attract my attention. I could only imagine them to be of use if you are browsing a very limited category such as Dining.
On the other hand, I really like the Times' presentation of their 'Next' button for multipage articles. It is unobtrusive but easy to see and well-placed.
Mark Richman
--
_______________________________________________
Search for businesses by name, location, or phone number. -Lycos Yellow Pages
http://r.lycos.com/r/yp_emailfooter/http://yellowpages.lycos.com/default.asp?SRC=lycos10
------------------------------
Message: 11
Date: Sun, 14 Aug 2005 23:08:09 -0400
From: Listera <listera at rcn.com>
Subject: Re: [Sigia-l] Next article in Opinion (10 of 14)
To: SIGIA-L <sigia-l at asis.org>
Message-ID: <BF257F59.E664%listera at rcn.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
Eric Scheid:
> (2) assuming for the moment that they know what they're doing, isn't it
> curious that something like these links actually "test well", despite their
> failure to adhere to the orthodoxy of the "best practice" of information
> scent?
That's a good one. Ask Jared; I think it's voodoo. :-)
Ziya
Nullius in Verba
------------------------------
Message: 12
Date: Sun, 14 Aug 2005 20:10:14 -0700
From: Skot Nelson <skot at penguinstorm.com>
Subject: Re: [Sigia-l] Re: Next Article Links on Newspaper Sites
To: SIGIA-L l <sigia-l at asis.org>
Message-ID: <FEC4E367-B299-4B91-B6E0-8A32B2495F04 at penguinstorm.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed
On Aug-14-2005, at 7:30 PM, Mark Richman wrote:
>> Have you noticed this style of link on newspaper/magazine sites?
>> Do you use
>> them?
>
> I read the NY Times website every day and I not only never use
> these links, but I find them annoying since they always attract my
> attention. I could only imagine them to be of use if you are
> browsing a very limited category such as Dining.
Like Mark, I've never used them. Unlike Mark, they don't aggravate me
or distract. The New York Times is not my daily news source, so I
tend to be reading it for specific articles (I am both Canadian and
West Coast, and I read the Grey Lady in that context.)
These links appear to be an attempt to reflect how people read
printed newspapers, which tends to involve browsing the complete
paper section by section. Others have suggested that these links are
different from a blog style "next in category" link; in fact, this is
exactly what these links a like. Newspapers use sections to divide
their content into categories while blogs use Categories.
I'd be most interested in understanding how daily readers of the
online Times from the New York area use these links. I personally
still find it easier and more pleasant to browse paper, because I'm
basically waiting fora well implemented interface for daily news. I
don't think this is it, but maybe New Yorkers feel differently?
--
Skot Nelson
skot at penguinstorm.com
------------------------------
Message: 13
Date: Mon, 15 Aug 2005 10:59:22 -0400
From: "Lisa Agustin" <lisa at dynamicdiagrams.com>
Subject: [Sigia-l] JOB: Information Architect with Dynamic Diagrams
(Providence, RI)
To: <sigia-l at asis.org>
Message-ID: <200508151504.j7FF4bka017341 at mail.asis.org>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
We are looking for a full-time IA (either senior or junior). I'll be glad
to answer any questions via e-mail; otherwise please forward resume and
other materials to careers at dynamicdiagrams.com. Thanks.
--Lisa
-------------------------------------------------------------------
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146 Clifford St.
Providence, RI 02903
ph. 401.223.1233 ext. 105
e. lisa at dynamicdiagrams.com
www.dynamicdiagrams.com
------------------------------
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