Dyslexia

Designer: Felix Lobelius

This is a piece of work by a young designer working in Australia. He designed an awareness campaign for dyslexia, which he goes on to describe as 'a condition with lacking public attention'. Definitely a just statement, as most people are unaware of the many different levels of dyslexia, as its not simply people who can't read or write correctly. In fact the dyslexia can be substantially compensated for with proper therapy, training and equipment. And i think it is a very positive thing that establishments like universities, schools and even some work places offer the help and equipment needed to progress and function more easily.

Anyway back to the design... The poster design is an invitation to solve the riddle, 'Everything in its right place', its requirement for the viewer to get involved is quite obvious. The message conveyed is also extremely clear, the fact that you can't immediately read the copy is the intended message. You are placed quite convincingly into the shoes of someone who has dyslexia, which is extremely emotive and forces the audience to have some level of sympathy. The large out of place 'O' is the invading culprit, and because of its size and being near the central line of the design it is very hard to ignore. Along side the back to front letters, changes in orientations, angles and variations in size, they all add up to that overall feeling of empathy and understanding. The ironic campaign title is a fitting message, that finally drives home the message and gets the audience thinking about dyslexia.

If you fancy having a look at some of his other work then here is the link www.felixlobelius.com/

HHmmm....a Browser??

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http://www.sitepoint.com/blogs/2009/06/24/what-is-a-web-browser/

What is a browser?

Google conducted interviews with a random selection of people in Time Square, New York asking if they knew what a web browser was. They found that fewer than 8% actually knew. Most people often assumed that a browser was a search engine, like google or yahoo. It was quite interesting to see how people can use something almost every day and not actually know what it is.

The writer of the article describes how people have no idea what a browser is or appreciate it because they just use what ever already exists on their machine. He goes on to explain how people don't know or care about what browser they use, but i think this is due to lack of advertising. The general public are not the sort to go on to forums, search the internet or read articles about the latest technology; especially when it comes to web browsers. If browser creators really want theirs to become the new big thing and take a decent portion of the market, they really need to advertise it more. Somewhere that the public will be subject to, tv, internet, transport, booklets, etc...

Spezify

www.spezify.com

Spezify is an innovative style of search engine. It displays your search as randomly placed windows on a flat plane, which you navigate using the click and drag method (classic). This makes it a much more engaging search, both visually and through the curiosity it creates due it being new. It also allows you to narrow your search down, with key or linking words in the top navigation. A very important feature as it would be very difficult to identify the relevant info amongst the millions of pages on the internet.

The design of Spezify is very simple, the page design and the opening page give a sense of a large space, as if it were a warehouse of information. There is a feeling of endlessness, and then when you search for something you're provided with a range of pictures, text and videos to choose from.. I particularly like this style, apposed to the general layout of the average search engine, displaying reams and reams of text, and with those dreaded numbers that say how man thousands of links there are for you to search through.

On the negative side, and it's only a slight one, is that the level of hierarchy for the search findings isn't always apparent.

Overall this is a fresh change to the total domination of google. Where it is nice to have this option in some cases i can't see it gaining a large portion of google's customers.