It’s no secret that people tend to process information that is in story form better than information that isn’t. This is for several reasons. One, we tend to be able to retain and remember the information better. Reading something in story form typically will make it seem more significant and interesting to the reader, therefore, causing them to better remember. Something else the story form does, is help viewers relate to the character, share perspectives, and empathize with them. This makes it more personal to us.
Another appealing aspect to information told in story form is it isn’t just an assortment of random facts. It is a series of events that demonstrate cause and effect. Whenever someone reads something or watches something, they are more than likely trying to seek out the story being told within it. Story telling can be used for all sorts of multimedia tactics. It is employed in marketing and advertising all the time. In fact, I would say that if your ad or marketing strategy doesn’t somehow involve telling a story about a problem and how your product or service can solve that problem for the consumer, then it probably isn’t going to be very effective!
I want to start off by saying “100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People” is probably one of the most interesting books I have ever read. It’s a blessing when you are very interested in and intrigued by a textbook. It is so much easier to absorb the information and get as much out of it as possible! The section where the author is discussing the use of fonts covers several different reason why fonts matter and what they do for reader retention.
First off, the simplicity of the font allows the reader to easier recognize patterns in letters, words, and sentences. A lot of what we are doing when we are reading is actually just pattern recognition! For example, cursive can take longer to read because it may be harder for someone to recognize patterns compared to arial. It is also believed that if the font is harder to read, than the reader tends to perceive things such as written instructions for tasks to actually be harder to accomplish than if the font were more easily readable.
The author also states that we should keep font size in mind. They explain differing perceived font sizes due to the x-height of the font. This is the height of the lowercase letter x. This can vary between fonts and make them appear to be different sizes when they are actually the same point size. Lastly, the author touches on contrast. It is always important to make sure that your text contrasts well with the background. The book gives us a couple pointers such as the fact that black text on a white background promotes the best readability. I have learned tons of new things since I started reading this book. Super neat! One thing the book doesn’t cover though is the fact that different fonts can send different messages. The following YouTube video talks a little bit about that.
Coming at you live from South Park! I sat down to make a cartoon version of myself today. An avatar. What better tool to do that with than the one provided on the official website for the show, “South Park”? This is by far one of my favorite shows. It definitely has a lot of adult humor, but it’s right up my alley. I was thrilled when I learned that I could do this. Not only to be able to recreate myself in a cartoonish fashion, but to be able to do it in the image of one of the iconic shows from my childhood. I haven’t watched South Park in a long time. Therefore, doing this really brought back some good memories from my childhood. Some nostalgia, if you will. I can remember countless weekend nights when I was a kid, having friends over, eating a bunch of junk food, playing video games, and playing the South Park tapes we rented from the Blockbuster store. Oh man. Those were the days.
I have to say that when I first started taking these classes, I wasn’t too keen on the whole VR and avatar thing. I think I’m getting more into it now though. At first, I was reluctant to try Second Life, but I will be following through on it this time around.
