Designing for Online Media vs. Print Media

The methods of designing online media versus print media is very different. Both online and print media have different expectations in terms of design due to the habits of consumption in audiences. I will be focusing on two principles of designs.

According to Parker (2003), online reading usually takes more focus and causing exhaustion due to the high foreground or background contrast caused by the projected light on the computer screen. Designers should always treat texts in a screen-based environment like visuals, making them look appealing and comforting for their audiences (Bernhardt, 1986). Hence, by grouping related text and carefully placing texts can generate a sense of balance (Parker, 2003).

Headings

Headings are the pain part of a context that captures readers' attention. It had to be big enough, coloured and catchy. Reeps (2006) stated that, "Headings are organisational cues that alert readers to the sequence of information in a document". On print media, headings are rather big with vibrant colours to capture the readers' attention. On the other hand, online media headings are usually blend in with the context and it does not stand out from the context to capture attention. Navigating online media is much easier as compared to print media. This is because in online media, an empty tab will be placed on the top right hand corner of the screen that helps us to find information easily. In print media, they are group into respective subjects that could only be found through the header and footer.

Layout

In print media, the layout of the contents are nicely fit into an A3 size paper. Images in print media are vaguely seen as compared to online media. Images are clearer with better pixels in online media. The layout for online media depends on the theme itself. News and advertisements are nicely fit onto the webpage. In terms of colours, the colours used in print media are rather seen dull compared to an online media. The colours are more vibrant and it easily captures  the readers' attention in an online media.

Example of Print Media (The Star)

Example of Online Media (The Star)

Its hard to determine which media is most popular but many people still prefers the old school way of print media simply because it is more reliable compared to an online media. This is because online media it could be fake or corrupted. The other difference of online media and print media would be that online media provides the scrolling experience than flipping pages in print media (Nielson, 1999).


Reference

1. Bernhardt, SA 1986, 'Seeing the text', College composition and communication, vol. 37, no. 1, pp. 66-78
2. Nielsen, J 1999, Differences between print design and web design, online, retrieved 5 May 2012, from <http://www.useit.com/alertbox/990124.html> 
3. Parker, RC 2003, 'Designing document for web distribution'. Looking good in print, Paraglygh Press, Scttsdale
4. Reep, DC 2006, 'Chp 4: Principles of Document Design', in Technical Writing, 6th ed., Pearson Edu, Inc., New York, pp. 173-190