The authors three-tier analysis approach is to ask the reader to: name the visual elements in a text, name the design relationship among those elements, and to consider how these elements connect with different audiences, context, etc. When naming the visual elements one considers format, texture, color, type of text used, and overall visual appeal. How this translates to use between platforms depends, Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr for example have a blue color scheme for their website. Blue is usually a calm and welcoming color, indicative of Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter’s welcoming attitude to new users. The format of Twitter and to some extent Tumblr is simple and easy to manage making it the preferred platform for younger consumers, while Facebook’s more complicated and less mobile friendly format tends to draw in older consumers. Sometimes the relationship between those elements is what draws users of the platform back on a consistent basis. Instagram is more of a visual platform for social media, that’s why its colors are more vibrant and expressive while the format favors images over text. The mobile format is the biggest culprit of this, if you ever used Instagram on your phone you’ll notice how small the text under the images are verses how much more space the image takes up each post. These collection of elements don’t seem to be important at first do to us as humans getting use to the same format over time. However, while some might not realize the importance of these visual elements to a site, some examples say otherwise. Either in 2019 or 2018 Reddit changed the color and look of the up-vote button and certain sub-Reddit decided to cause a little uproar about it because it detracted to what they were used to. Similarly in 2011 Instagram changed their logo from a camera to the more well known collection of shapes that you see on your phone. In addition to a large overall of the format of both the website and mobile app people were not having any of this change. Again in 2006 a site much like Reddit called Dig (which was Reddit before Reddit got popular) release a new update that overall the entire site, the user saw what this update would entail and strongly protested against it, but Dig released it anyway. This then cause the entirety of the Dig community to move to Reddit over the subsequent month. These are just a view examples as to how much of an impact the visual medium of a website can effect who uses it.
The author wants to convey the importance of the format and visual appeal of websites and social media. The three points the author uses for what readers should consider when analyzing a website is a key point. While I believe this crucial in designing a website or social platform, it can different for more well established social platforms or websites, depending on their purpose to the individual. The quote used to describe the use of color across cultures peeked my interest, “in China, the traditional color of a bride’s clothing was scarlet and the color of mourning was white.” I like this example because if shows how the use of color can potentially alienate or welcome certain parts of the world to the website you are trying to create. I mentioned before how well established platforms can go through an overall nowadays and see no change in the the user base. This is more apparent in stuff like social media platforms and search engines/information hubs. Social media platforms not only are owned by one or two larger monopolies, there are also few of them that are used on such a large scale like Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Reddit, Snapchat, YouTube, etc. Most people do not go out of their way to look for new social media on the internet. Same can be said about search engines, Google is by far the most popular and most used, even if we are to consider users of Yahoo and Bing into account that is still only three well-known and used search engines. On top of that some websites that offer information for research purposes, not articles, the visual aspect is usually over looked by those try to get information fast and easy. While I agree with the authors claims, I see it more fitting for starting out companies creating websites or individuals verses pre-existing brands.
Alex Young 