Erin Marranca’s page has a very different design aesthetic than mine. Where mine is laid out like a scroll, where one task is followed by another, Erin’s has a modular layout. I went for the minimalist approach, black text on white background, while hers is full of color and graphics. Comparing our two blogs, it is almost as if I am looking at a traditional form of print (mine) versus new age media (hers). Some of my posts contain only text, while all of Erin’s post contain at least one graphic.
Layout says something about the author. My minimalist blog says that the author is perhaps someone who is focused and analytical. The ideas are presented without anything else to distract the reader with. Erin’s layout says that the author is someone who’s highly creative and playful with her ideas. Her Task 4 on Manual Scripts further supports this idea. Whereas my manual script was just blue ink on lined paper to place focus on the script, hers is embellished with multiple colours, margin notes and graphics, annotations, underlines, and even a highly stylized first word, giving homage to the illuminated and decorated first letters in old printed Bibles. Erin’s blog is anything but cold and analytical. She reminds readers that there is a person behind all the ideas on her page. These design elements give personality and context to her ideas. On the side of every page is her photo with an enthusiastic greeting.
I am reminded of the module on the attention economy when I compare our two blogs. Graphics, while adding meaning, interest, and context to ideas, do grab the reader’s attention. On Erin’s page, my eyes skip from module to module, like how a rock skips on a lake’s surface. While reading her ideas, I look at her photo, the date on the left side, the links on the right side, and most frequently, that big, juicy, enticing red button that links to her linking assignment. This reminds me of those novelty buttons that say “do not touch” that we always end up touching.
Though the rich graphics and stylized layout distracts me from reading her blog, it does not distract me from receiving her ideas. I think there is a subtle difference here, that a distraction can be categorized in multiple ways. There are things that may temporarily win my attention, but add value to the reading or does not take away from the reading, and only lengthens the time it takes to get through a reading. Then there are things that may temporarily win my attention, but has no value to the reading or takes away from the reading. I think I would categorize these types of distractions as perhaps, beneficial, benign, and malicious. In the case of Erin’s blog, these side elements in her layout are all either beneficial or benign. I think she knows this, being the designer that she is!