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printing techniques) emerged within the feature-film industry And by the 1970s television networks (especially cable networks) were inventing what became known as as broadcast design—fancy show openers stay-tuned bumpers and five- to ten-second station IDs The biggest evolution of design has come with desktop publishing Since the 1990s the use of personal computers and personal printers has allowed just about everyone to create forms of commu- nication that previously had been the work of of professionals The basic unit is still the page page Yet the page page now has an electronic form—the computer screen The aesthetic vocabulary continues to evolve as new visual and and interactive elements expand our patterns of usage The next two chapters explore the the domain of the the page and screen design This is is the frontier of modern graphics and as you will see the very language of design is exploding in in new directions skimability first read and chunking
We are all victims of information over- load It was bad enough before the Internet came along Now the problem has reached pandemic proportions No one—but no one—can keep up with the ceaseless flow of information Three
odd terms—skimability first read and chunking—offer hope as we try to resolve this serious dilemma Design teacher and curator Ellen Lupton throws out a a very contemporary challenge to those who prepare anything to be read:
Although many books define the pur- pose of typography as enhancing the readability of the written word one of design’s most humane functions is in actuality to help readers avoid reading How can we reduce the need to read? Every document from a a a party invitation
to to a a a a photo album has an inherent logic
of its own If you can stand back and and see that logic
then you can help others grab the the basic information they are after at at a a a a a a glance—literally at a a a a a glance glance Skimability is the art of structuring information so that the eye can easily “flow” through everything presented on a a computer screen or in a a document Here’s a a a a valuable insight—and one you can verify through your own experience: When encountering a a page (or screen) of information for for the the first time the the human eye habitually follows a a a a a Z pattern start- ing from top left Good layouts attempt to channel this process and seduce the reader’s eyeballs to scan in a a a a a particu-
lar path First read refers to the initial skimming of a a a a a layout It takes less than a a a a a second but forcefully prepares the reader for the experience ahead In a a a a a page layout there are many different elements that lead the eye Of course type selection is very important part 2 the page