Awareness
In Plain Sight
24/06/08 09:05 Filed in: Visual Literacy
My computer was borrowed for a moment yesterday, when someone wanted a quick peek at the upcoming weather. Their process was to open a browser window and type in a URL (weather.com), then enter a ZIP code and read up.
Why go through all that trouble? Because their awareness wasn’t tied into my system. Sitting on my desktop at all times is the Yahoo! Weather widget:
Quick, at-a-glance information, persistent and therefore, perhaps, invisible. How often do we overlook that which is right there? How, as designers, can we plan for this oversight? Where does redundancy come into play? And is such persistence elegance, or invisibilty?
Why go through all that trouble? Because their awareness wasn’t tied into my system. Sitting on my desktop at all times is the Yahoo! Weather widget:
Quick, at-a-glance information, persistent and therefore, perhaps, invisible. How often do we overlook that which is right there? How, as designers, can we plan for this oversight? Where does redundancy come into play? And is such persistence elegance, or invisibilty?
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