|
2. INFLUENCES
FROM OTHER DISCIPLINES
The word
"Multimedia" defines the generic use of different types of media
in the delivery of a product. Hence, 'multimedia' occurs in any working
environment where digital technology is applied to deliver a design solution.
Scattered instances of interaction between disciplines and a digital product
has an impact on the design language used.
"This
interaction is what makes possible for a team of people to communicate
in particular projects to the extent they produce a piece of work."
(Jeff Jones, 1999)
As the medium
matures, Multimedia designers have adopted elements from those disciplines
they have come in contact with. Designers move from one project to another
carrying with them communication devices collected on each project. Some
will be used repeatedly, while others are instance-specific. Generic communication
devices will become part of the common design language, while specific
devices will become specialised jargon.
In the case
studies shown as examples of this interaction, influences have been received
from business/marketing, architecture, computer science, graphic art,
film and TV, and theatre, amongst others.
Business/marketing
has brought strategic savvy to multimedia design (and the web in particular);
talk of "Target audiences", focus groups and strategic diagrams.
Architecture has had an impact on mind mapping, way-finding strategies;
navigation systems and the visual representation of information structures.
Computer Science contributed with information flow charts, data-mapping,
site maps and relational diagrams making all the other concepts more visible,
and relating them to each other. Through the desktop publishing 'boom',
a great deal of multimedia design owes to its graphic design origins (thumbnails,
graphical depiction of concepts, roughs and mock-ups), later refined by
influences from film and TV (storyboards, rough cuts, scripts).
Product design
has close ties with interface design. It is only a small step from designing
a SUI (Solid User Interface) to the design of a GUI (Graphical User Interface).
Both disciplines deal with the usability and functionality of an item
with many functions, as used intuitively and comfortably by humans.
|
