My name is Christine Jiang and I'm a junior majoring in Computer Science with minors in Electrical Engineering, HCI, and Econimics.
I come from mostly a technical background with minimal design experience. My interests lie closely around hardware and software development but I have taken an introductory design class here at WashU. I enjoyed experiementing with different creative elements in technical settings and also grew an interest in human-centered design. By taking this class, I want to explore and build a strong foundation around interactive design, allowing me to create products that are technically advanced, design intentional, and user focused.
I've built several projects using HTML/CSS/JavaScript. Most of these projects are from class assignments while others are either small personal projects or simple web interfaces for larger technical projects.
Many projects I have experience with have a strong emphasis on the technical aspects. In this class, I hope to learn how to design for clarity and usability while still allowing room for creativity and experimentation.
Like the name of the class, I expect designing for screen to require more interactions, motion, and responsiveness while designing for paper is more static and fixed. Designing for screen also considers how users navigate, scroll, and overall interact with the content.
MUJI's website exemplifies effective design through it's strong visual hierarchy, consistent spacing and typography, simple background, and neutral tone colors/images. The design choice supports MUJI's simple products and calm aesthetic. The site also includes contradicting features such as sharp edges, rectangular images, and quick hover transitions to balance the calmness and simplicity.
Rubiks's site exemplifies effective communication, especially on the homepage. The interactive features all resemble a cube. The image on the landing page turns different parts of the cube as you over the element and scroll on the page. Additionally, there are also several vertical and horizontal scroll factors as you scroll up and down the page. The other images on the site also face different faces of the cube revealing new images as you scroll. This feature puts emphasis on what the site is trying to communicate--the cube. In addition to this, the typography, layout, and visuals all exemplify a game-like design.
The New York Times's website because it balances visal appeal and usability. The interface is intuitive but also designed to imitate a traditional NYT paper. In addition to the unique design choice, it also organizes large amounts of information in a clear, readable structure. The typography, layout, and visual cues work together and help readers understand what matters most.