This week I was fascinated by the way content interplayed with form. Both the Public Secrets project and the Highrise project made incredible use of digital media to display content in a way that reflected the subject matter they were presenting. These innovative presentations elevate both projects.
Moving through the content in the Highrise project feels like you are moving through different floors of a highrise, each floor helping to layer the narrative, adding a new voice, a different perspective, a fresh angle. Rather than just laying out the content in a standard grid pattern, the creators of the website immerse the viewer in the project, transporting them to a highrise even if it is just a thirteen-inch screen on a laptop.
Both these projects go to show how much design influences the effectiveness of the content. The women’s stories from prison are powerful on their own, but when coupled with inventive design, the project becomes so much more engaging. The design helps indicate context as well, using black and white to show the where the stories fall in the prison narrative: outside or inside. The words that sit atop the line between inside and outside almost act like the razor wire on the fences of the prison that the women speak about. The content blocks and popup windows within the inside and outside areas give insight into each woman’s story, like you are peaking into her prison cell. The entire project is a stark portrait that is reflected in design and delivery of the content.
Emily,
I agree with you that High Rise and Public Secrets demonstrated how graphics could enhance your experience and make the pieces more interactive. The creators borrow a lot of ideas from video game producers. Essentially the goal for both platforms is to transport the participant into another world and provide a different experience. I wonder if some people would rather not interact with the pieces in this way. I am thinking about the people that are not as technologically proficient and maybe don’t play or like video games at all.
Both of those projects were really engaging and interesting to explore, but I feel the Public Secrets site was not near as elegant, and was frustrating at times. An interesting problem I had was that I was going through Public Secrets between meetings, and found that in one room where I had stronger bandwidth the site was responsive, but once I had to move to a space with a poorer connection I was unable to navigate smoothly through the site.
Accessibility and ease of use is something that people working on transmedia projects should think about. If your audience has a hard time navigating, or if you’re site is bandwidth intense than you are limiting the accessibility of your information. While sometimes this can’t be helped, it is something to think about. Poor user experience will lead to less retention and diminished interest.