Chapters 13,14,15 - DeVecchis

Chapter 13

I feel like chapter 13 discussed a lot of really interesting tips and tools for designing for websites that will be helpful in the future. It discussed the balance and fusion of form and content, and enjoyed the quotation from Paul Rand that says, “When form predominates,

meaning is blunted. When content predominates, interest lags. The genius comes in when both of these things fuse.” The chapter discusses the importance of establishing a visual hierarchy, maintaining the look and feel of the brands identity throughout the website, and captivating the viewers attention from each page to the next.

Chapter 14

This chapter talked about principles for designing for mobile advertising, which is entirely different than designing for other platforms. As the chapter states, almost everyone has a cellphone that they have on them at all times, and thus successfully advertising on mobile devices could greatly help a product or company’s success. A few suggestions given for this type of advertising included making the ad relevant to the audience, making it useful, making it entertaining, and having legs (or being able to work across different platforms in order to strengthen the company/product.

Chapter 15

Lastly, chapter 15 discussed designing for social media and unconventional marketing. Some suggestions for creating a good social media campaign coincide with other suggestions. For instance, they should be enticing, relevant, authentic, and valuable. Most importantly, in my opinion, is creating an interesting enough advertisement or campaign in which audience and viewers would want to share it with others and show it around so that it becomes “viral.” The book then went on to talk about various unconventional ways of advertising. This is the type of advertising that people are not expecting. It can thus appear in random public places or in odd positions on products. For instance, the cute sayings on the back of snapple caps. Another example would be anything on mailboxes, benches, parking spots, the sidewalk, etc. Below are two that I think are great.