Chapter Seven Reading

This weeks reading was on Interactive case studies. The author talks about how they differ from a poster or other print production because it offers the users more ways of explore the content. Having a project interactive gives people structure and helps them navigate though a designated pathway. This works really well if you are working on a project that has a lot of information and you want to convey it though a series of steps (you click on something and it brings up more information) this is basically a way of accommodating multiple entry points. After the author gives the reason behind the use of having an interactive case study he goes into talking about the steps on how to get there (from establishing a team, the objective, the problems, the constraints).  After you establish what your objectives are and how you are going to get there, you need to make sure the design makes sense. The author quotes David Lai saying, “ we believe it’s crucial for designers to intimately understand information architecture. Otherwise they rely on somebody else to think things through and lose huge opportunities to think innovatively about structure and navigation.” If you understand the information then you design will make sense.  Do your research and ask people for input because those are the people you are ultimately trying to teach the information to.