Lesson 1

In website design, signs and metaphors are often considered part of the top layer of the web interaction model. This top layer is crucial because it encompasses the visual and symbolic elements that users interact with directly. Here's how it fits into the overall model:
Understanding the Web Interaction Model The web interaction model can be thought of in layered terms, where each layer builds upon the one below it to create the full user experience:

1. Presentation Layer (Top Layer):
   • Signs and Metaphors: This includes all the visual cues, icons, symbols, and metaphoric elements that users see and interact with. These elements help users understand how to navigate the site intuitively.
   • User Interface (UI): The layout, colors, typography, and overall visual design that present information to the user.
2. Behavior Layer:
   • Interaction Design: How the system responds to user actions, including animations, transitions, and feedback mechanisms.
   • Usability: Ensuring that interactions are efficient, effective, and satisfying for the user.
3. Structure Layer:
   • Information Architecture: The organization and labeling of content to support usability and findability.
   • Navigation Structure: How users move through the site's content.
4. Content Layer:
   • Text, Images, Media: The actual information that users come to the site to consume.
5. Technology Layer (Bottom Layer):
   • Backend Systems: Servers, databases, and applications that deliver content and functionality.
   • Frontend Technologies: HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and other technologies that render the site in the browser.

Role of Signs and Metaphors:

• Enhance Usability: Signs and metaphors leverage familiar concepts to help users understand new or complex functionalities quickly.
• Aid Navigation: Icons like a house for "home" or a magnifying glass for "search" provide immediate understanding of functionality.
• Improve Accessibility: Visual symbols can transcend language barriers, aiding in communication with a diverse user base.
• Create Emotional Connection: Metaphors can evoke emotions or associations that enhance the overall user experience.

Examples of Signs and Metaphors:

• Icons: Using a trash can icon to represent "delete."
• Buttons: A floppy disk icon for "save," even though floppy disks are outdated—this persists due to its established metaphor.
• Visual Cues: Breadcrumb trails metaphorically represent a path, helping users understand their location within the site hierarchy.

Conclusion: Signs and metaphors are integral to the "top layer of the web interaction model" because they directly influence how users perceive and interact with a website. By thoughtfully incorporating these elements, designers can create more intuitive and engaging user experiences that facilitate seamless interaction between the user and the digital environment.

Over the next few modules you will focus on signs and metaphors.
Signs and metaphors constitute the top layer of the Web Interaction Model.
Your study will be broken down into the three general stages of work related to the implementation of signs and metaphors for a Web site: determining needs, creation, and evaluation. When designing a website, always consider the cultural context of your audience, as signs and metaphors can have different meanings across different cultures.

Of the three general stages of work on signs and metaphors, the first one involves the Web team and client working together to determine the needs that will shape the signs and metaphors. The second stage involves the process of actually creating of the signs and metaphors. The third stage involves evaluating the effectiveness of the signs and metaphors once the site has been delivered and gone live.

• Determining needs:
  In this module, you will focus on the first of these three stages of work: identifying the needs that will guide your choices ofsigns and metaphors. The primary needs that you will consider are the needs of your client and the needs of the end users. Your client's needs are presented as business objectives in their documents, and the needs of the end users will be identified through audience analysis and market research.

Your clients may be un aware of your need for these resources, so be prepared to take a proactive stance and request that they deliver these documents and carry out, or assist you in carrying out, audience analysis.

1. Information Architecture
2. Software, Networks and the Internet
3. Signs and Metaphors

You might think that signs and metaphors are secondary in importance to technology and content. However, you should realize that signs and metaphors can make or break a Web site. If you are not convinced, think about your impression of sites with poorly written text or unattractive graphics, or graphics that take too long to download. The entire interface that humans interact with in the context of the web is a collection of signs, symbols, icons, text and everything that is seen and interacted with. If users cannot interpret the signs, the web interface will be useless. By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:

1. Describe the importance of signs and metaphors for engaging users
2. Identify the individuals and responsibilities involved in development of signs and metaphors
3. Describe how to use the RFP to determine sign and metaphor needs
4. Describe how to use the Site Planner to determine sign and metaphor needs
5. Describe techniques to gather information about your potential audience
6. Describe how to create effective questions for audience analysis.
7. Use audience analysis results to create signs and metaphors
8. Describe how user groups help validate signs and metaphors

In the next lesson, the critical choices of signs and metaphors will be discussed.