Design for New Media

New media is like a giant jigsaw puzzle. We know all about the separate pieces; sound, animation, text, video... but the challenge is putting the pieces together to give us the big picture of new media design. In this book Lon Barfield takes the reader on a journey through the fundamentals of interaction design for the web and CD-ROM, dealing with these key ingredients and the ways in which they are brought together into an interactive whole.

Features Four sections cover the elements of media design, showing the part they play in new media design as a whole. Starting from an examination of new and developing technology, the book moves on to look at the building blocks of new media. Interaction design follows bringing these building blocks together, and the book concludes with a discussion of the process of design itself. Throughout the book, design is seen as an active process. To support this, exercises are included in each chapter, both to test knowledge and also to stimulate group design projects. Extensive use is made of real-world illustrations of interaction design to clarify and illustrate the concepts in an accessible and amusing manner. A web site accompanies the book, providing support for both students and lecturers

Design for New Media

will be essential reading for students examining design and interaction design principles in their studies. It is suitable for courses and course-modules in multimedia design, interaction design, web design and any design discipline that involves design for use.

Lon Barfield is a new media designer and consultant. He is the author of The User Interface; Concepts and Design published in 1993 by Addison Wesley and the real world design column in the SIGCHI Bulletin (now online at www.DesigningTheRealWorld.com).