Introductory Questions

1. Provide your name, major, year in school (sophomore, junior, etc).
• Name -- Annie Tian
• Primary major -- Communication Design
• Second major -- Biology: Neuroscience
• Minor -- Psychology
• Year -- Junior
2. Tell us a bit about your background and what prompted you to take this class.
• Prior to college, my background was mostly in drawing and painting, but I have enjoyed seeing overlapping concepts (color, composition, etc.) play integral roles in the realm of design.
• I look forward to the practical application I can get from an introduction to coding, whether in terms of design, or as a foundation to get used to this way of thinking to learn other languages such as R for research purposes.
3. Do you have any experience with HTML/CSS/JS? If so, tell us a bit about it.
• No, I do not have prior experience with HTML/CSS/JS.
4. Name one thing you hope to learn in this class.
• I hope to learn what makes a website user friendly, and how to balance creative design choices with practicality.
5. Name one way you expect designing for screen to be different from designing for paper.
• I expect designing for screen to be different from designing for paper because for screens, designers must adapt for how something will appear on different devices and screen sizes, whereas designs on paper have set dimensions.
6. Provide a link to a website you think exemplifies effective design. Explain your choice.
• kuurth.com
• I think this website employs effective design choices via the simplicity and clarity.
• The color palette is mostly gray and black, making the pops of neon green very eye-catching.
• All of the products are presented without a background, making them appear as cohesive parts of the website.
• Different products and different sections of the website are separated by lines of a consistent weight.
7. Provide a link to a website you think exemplifies effective communication. Explain your choice.
• wordhippo.com
• This website clearly lays out its functions in the tabs across the top of the page.
• When you look up a word, there are many types of information that are clearly distinguished from each other.
• The part of speech, definition, synonyms/antonyms, and sample sentences all have different typographic treatments.
8. Provide a link to a website you think works well. Explain your choice.
• hirox-europe.com/gigapixel/girl-with-a-pearl-earring/
• This website provides an interesting interactive experience with a painting.
• I appreciate how the tool panels are organized along the sides, making them accessible without being obstructive.
• Most icons for the tools seem intuitive, but if the user is not sure what a button does, the function is displayed by hovering over it.