Unit 4 - Coordinating Color and Font Styles for the User Base: Color and Font Issues for Space Artists (2000)
	Main Topic:	Unit IV Communicative Interface Design
	Created by:	Leanne C Boyd on 25-Apr-00 at 7:54 pm
	For:	Unit 4 Assignments

COLOR AND FONT ISSUES FOR SPACE ARTISTS (2000)

FINAL PROJECT — COMPLETION OF A GOAL
Please review my description of the User Base.

In the design of the web-based course, Space Artists: Prophets of the Stars (2000), the metaphor of a digital "GAME" was chosen, for its appeal to the targeted group, high-school to early college young people. As with many games — since the onset of digital and electronic games — the base background color of Space Artists is black. This provides a "showcase effect", much like the black pages of an artist's portfolio. This method, and second metaphor, was chosen for the high-graphics content of the web site, and the goal of presenting the art in a familiar setting — the artist's portfolio.

These are the primary considerations in terms of color and text, for the Space Artists site:

• In manner of a "template effect", all pages are built from an identical HTML source code, which provides exact positioning of elements such as buttons and other navigational devices.
• The template allows for maintaining exact color use, in not only text, but also background, common images, borders, etc.
• The choices for fonts are as follows:
  • Ariel/Helvetica
  • Times Roman
  • These are common to most, if not all, PCs, and are visually similar across platforms. This aids in stabilizing the "look and feel" of the course, no matter which platform a user is working on.
  • All design "work" done by fonts on this web site, is through the use of font size and font color.
• Text, both by size and color, and the general use of color, will aid in navigation. For sections of the course, text and all other use of color will be "color-coded" and bring meaning and recognition to the particular page. Certain color combinations will indicate Main Menu pages, and other combinations will indicate Sub-Menu pages. The user will soon be able to determine his/her location in the site, by color recognition.
• This effectively links color change to event changes and/or magnitude.
• Most pages will have a common color theme. However, since the site is graphic intensive, there will also be a care taken, to coordinate the look of individual sections, according to the graphics presented. Text, however, will remain within a range of 2-3 sizes and no more than 4 separate colors.
• This means that actual use of solid color, in text, background, or graphics, will be frugal. The high-intensity graphics will then be the focal point for interest and navigation.
• Because the subject matter of this online course IS ... ART, the environment will also be treated as a work of art. All elements including navigation, have the overlying feature of being an "art object" or artistic in some manner. The purpose of this is to show that science topics can be viewed artistically: Science is Art, and Art is Science.

Let's talk!! Write to:
WebSpinner@refuge-earth.org
( that's me — Leanne! )

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