The Blogging Phenomenon (III)

Print vs online design

In order to decipher the difference between a particular article made for print and postings for blog or webpage, the main criteria should be pointed out i.e. the principles of design must be initially rectified.

According to McClurg-Genevese (2005), there are five main points of discussion at hand when it comes to print publication:

i. balance

ii. rhythm

iii. proportion

iv. dominance

v. unity

On the other hand, webpages should have more white space; information must be displayed according to the inverted pyramid arrangement method and pictures must always be captioned.

The items chosen both for online and print publication here both speak of the same issue, which is British band DragonForce’ live performance in Singapore in 2007.

In terms of balance, the print version of the report is obviously asymmetrical and the rhythm could be categorized as regular rhythm, while the pictures are more the dominant force as compared to the text in the article itself.

DragonForce blog post

Moving on to the blog post report regarding the same event, the blogger obviously did not follow the design principles for web pages since he not merely used dark backgrounds which provides no white space whatsoever, he also posts his information in any way that he desired instead of adhering to the inverted pyramid arrangement method. Last but not least, the blogger also chooses to caption some of his pictures and leave the rest empty which also is against principles of web design.

Reference

Joshua David McClurg-Genevese. (2005). The Principles of Design. Available: http://www.digital-web.com/articles/principles_of_design/. Last accessed 28 October 2008.

deaf_angel. (2007). Dragonforce " live " review - 20th May 2007. Available: http://deaf-angel.blogspot.com/2007/05/dragonforce-live-review-20th-may-2007.html. Last accessed 27 October 2008.