Design
in Situ and Laws of Gestalt:
Applying
Both Approaches for Effective Multimedia Project Design
Huei-Lien Chen, Huiming Lu, Bo
Yang, Zia
Ahmadi
Abstract
This paper attempts to share the
first-hand experience of using the concept of Design in Situ to
produce a multimedia project. It
presents how Design in Situ was
applied into the design and development process of a multimedia CD-ROM[1]
that was created as a special gift from a group of student for a professorÕs
retirement. This paper discusses
the visual communication and the artistic expression carried out through
various visual approaches by adapting the Design in Situ concept for content selection. It also explains how Laws of
Gestalt principles were applied as
guidelines for interface design to reduce information overload as suggested by
Lohr (2003). The design and
development process is described along with several examples to illustrate how
Design in Situ and Laws of Gestalt were applied to this multimedia project.
Introduction
This paper is about the experience of four doctoral students in the production of a multimedia project created as a special gift for their retiring professor. The design concept and process of this multimedia project is based on Design in Situ and guided by the Laws of Gestalt.
According to the Webster Dictionary, In situ is a Latin phrase, which means the natural or original position or place (Merriam-Webster Online, 2006). The concept of In Situ has been used in many different contexts, such as in archaeology, biology, chemistry, earth and atmospheric sciences, environmental engineering, literature, laws, and linguistics. Learning in Situ has been an effective pedagogical strategy for meaningful learning in the field of education, which advocates that understanding is socially constructed and shared within a community of learners (Brown, n.d). The Design in Situ holds the same belief that, to create a product for a certain purpose, the ultimate goal is that the members of the audience, who share similar experience and background within the community, would understand the delivered message and its meaning through the communication and visual expression. The project team finds this concept valuable in guiding the selection of the theme and the content of any particular project.
The idea of visual thinking was proposed many years ago by Arnheim (1969). Unfortunately, the lack of academic research and training has restrained a generation of educators from articulating and applying effective principles of visual design. Tufte (1990) stated that good design is grounded in simple message, but holds rich content in detail. However, simplicity has been a challenge for designers to construct an underlying message and to provide users with access to supportive information all together. One of the approaches that has been used is the Òa picture is worth a thousand wordsÓ strategy, which utilizes visual constructions (photo, picture, or illustration) to represent meanings. Another approach was the use of metaphor to suggest a likeness or analogy to simplify the design. However, without the shared understanding, the desired outcome would still be hard to achieve. Gestalt theory proclaims Òthe whole is bigger than the sumÓ. As an ultimate goal, it is still an abstract concept for many of us. Lohr (2003) develops five laws of the Gestalt concept by using visual components in the interface design to enhance the whole:
The
law of closure: In order to keep design simple and to reduce cognitive
overload, designers do not need to provide all related information.
The law of contiguity: This is similar
to hierarchy principle that requires designers to direct learnersÕ attentions
to follow the expected sequence.
The law of similarity: The repetition of the same color simplifies the
information and allows the user to see the pattern.
The
law of proximity: By grouping similar information
together, the law of proximity in visual design can reduce the time required to
select and process information.
The
law of previous experience: Presenting a familiar
symbol can reduce the amount of information that a userÕs mind needs to
process.
Based on Design in Situ, Òhistorical, community, and cultural expressionÓ was selected as the theme for this project through the shared meaning and understanding. Although the audience including the professor and her former and current students came from different countries with different backgrounds and different perceptions, they all shared a common understanding of this particular ÒsituÓ- a graduate program in a Midwest university with a lot of international students while being located in a small college town. Contents were selected based on the theme and developed in various formats (text, photo, music, script, and/or video) to represent some of the unique aspects to this graduate program.
Approaches
During the design and development process the project team embedded the unique history, community and the culture of the University in particular the graduate program as a theme into design to express the graduate studentsÕ appreciation, while following LohrÕs above mentioned ideas and suggestions. Various visual approaches were carried out for visual communication and the artistic expressions in this multimedia CD-ROM. The snapshots below illustrate some of the shared meanings In Situ and associated Laws of Gestalt used in the CD-ROM.
Table 1: Examples of applying Design in Situ and Laws
of Gestalt
|
Examples |
Shared Meaning
In Situ |
Laws of Gestalt |
|
|
On this opening page, there is a set of looping pictures taken from the professorÕs back yard and the graduate studentsÕ dormitory on campus, where students in this program used to get together for social and educational purpose. |
|
|
|
On the first page of the main program, the graphic and the three short movies at the bottom illustrate some of the scenes of the state of Kansas, where the university is located. The arrow on the right hand side directs users to proceed to next page. |
|
|
|
On this page, the scene moves into a small college town. The three short movies show some of the popular places in town. The screen design follows the same format as the first page. |
|
|
|
On this page, the lens focuses on the University campus. The three short movie clips show the environment where the professor has worked for 19 years. The screen design follows the same format as the previous pages. |
|
|
|
On this page, a classroom metaphor is used to represent the traditional educational setting: 12 former graduate students raising their hands and waiting for the teacher to Òcall on their names.Ó Clicking on each student will launch her/his testimonial. These testimonials are either in text, audio, picture, or video format. |
|
|
|
This page shows the pathway from the University in Kansas to the professorÕs new location, which matches the Oregon Trail. Therefore, a map and an animated car are used to represent the metaphor of Going West. |
|
|
|
On this page, the screen design uses the same format as the previous page. The car is replaced with a wagon that stays at the same place. 12 ABD graduate students sitting on the wagon indicate that they will be still seeking advice from their professor. |
|
|
|
On this page, the picture of the cake taken from the farewell party. It uses the same theme as the previous pages. |
|
Note: The snapshots illustrated above are just some of the examples because many of the content pages have personal information that is not suitable for the demonstration purpose here.
Process of Practice
The whole process of development of this multimedia CD-ROM has been a collaborative experience. All team members got involved in the decision-making process and acted like a group of instructional designers. Meanwhile, each team member focused on different tasks and the associated responsibilities. Specifically, four main project roles included a project coordinator, a content provider, a computer programmer, and a video producer. Team members also supported and collaborated with each other by giving feedback and offering suggestions.
Communications
Two approaches that helped to make communications
smooth among team members include:
a.
Face-to-face project
meetings: Several meetings were held for brainstorming, discussing, making
decisions, and evaluating the progress.
The purpose, the target audience, the goal, the media format, and the
approach for completing this project were all identified through discussions in
the meetings.
b.
Online communications:
The design team members often communicated among themselves and with others
through e-mails for informing other members about the progress, asking for
suggestions, and giving feedback.
Project
management
A timeline was set up and was followed up with
frequent communication. All team
members were assigned relevant tasks in accordance with their professional skills
and strengths.
Evaluation
In addition to the team members the CD-ROM was also
evaluated by outside people to make sure that the design had no potential for
misunderstanding which could be easily caused by cultural and lingual issues.
Distribution
After the design and the development were completed
and reviewed by both team members and non-team members, multiple copies of
CD-Rom were made and mailed to each participant who contributed to this
project.
Tools
used
CD-ROM
Authoring: Macromedia Director MX 2004 Educational Edition
Graphic
Editing: Macromedia Fireworks MX, Adobe Photoshop
Music
Editing: Apple GarageBand, Apple iTune
Video
Editing: Apple iMovie
Digital
Device: Digital camera, Digital camera recorder
Mail-in
files: Microsoft Word file, Microsoft PowerPoint file, audio file, mpeg movie
file
Implication
The graduate students participated voluntarily in this multimedia project. It could be a good example for multimedia learning. Questions like Òwhat is a good topic for multimedia project? How do teachers integrate multimedia project into their teaching? And what are the rules to be followed to create a multimedia project?Ó are attempted to be answered in this short paper. Teachers by encouraging the students to keep in mind the history, community and culture factors. Design in situ and Laws of Gestalt are good approaches for a successful multimedia project that enhance the learning.
References
Arnheim, R. (1969). Visual thinking. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Brown, J. S. (n. d). Learning, working, & playing in the digital age. Retrieved October 22,
2006 from http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/sci_edu/seelybrown/.
Lohr, L. (2003). Creating graphics for learning and performance: Lessons in visual literacy.
New Jersey: Upper Saddle River.
Merriam-Webster Online. (2006). In-situ. Retrieved October 26, 2006 from http://www.m-
w.com/.
Tufte, E. R. (1990). Envisioning
information. Cheshire, Conn. P.O. Box
430, Cheshire 06410:
Graphics Press.