Better Writing Through Design

1) Who's visiting the site?
Current members/staff leaders of SIP, current (maybe potential/future) MSU students, OCAT involvees, members of the MSU community, etc.

2) What does she what to know?
She wants to know more about SIP or how to get involved or in contact with them

3) What does he want to do?
He wants to find this information as fast as possibly, as easily as possible.

4) With these in mind, what potential questions/tasks will you have for your users on Thursday? List at least five possibilities.
* What, just by looking at the home page and navigation, do you think is the purpose of this site?
* Does any element of the page distract too much or have a dull effect?
* After exploring a bit, is the navigation straightforward and does it lead to what you would expect?
* What aspect do you think needs the most work and why?
* Is the typography effective? Do you find anything to be too cluttered or is it just right?

5) Finally, Mike Padilla discusses compromise in regards to creating the best user interface (UI) design and even maps out the benefits and costs with particular design elements. What are at least four design benefits and costs you can list in this manner for your final site design? Do you feel all of the costs are truly negative? Why or why not?

Design ----- Benefit ----- Cost

Large font ----- Easier to read ----- May cause less information per screen, or more scrolling
Text links ----- Commonly recognized, understood ----- Need to be read, may not stand out as much among other text
Limited graphics ----- reduces distraction on content pages ----- may seem a bit boring and turn users off
Shallow information architecture ----- Less clicking need to find information ----- More clutter


I do not believe that these costs are completely negative because for every benefit there is a cost, but if it is something that if changed could cause havoc, then the cost is worth it.