Excerpts for Students of New Media and Web Design

The following brief selections about design were used for teaching a 14-week journalism program titled "Special Topics: New Media Design." The course for undergraduates touched on understanding the strengths and weaknesses of new media, particularly the Web, and applying some basic techniques in site design: audience profiling, business planning, Photoshoping mockups and building a small site with HTML. The course was taught by former adjunct faculty member Matthew Stanton at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh in spring 2001.

Textbooks required for the course included:

Web Design in a Nutshell by Jennifer Niederst
(1998, O'Reilly & Associates; ISBN 1565925157; Amazon | B&N.com).

Designing Web Usability: The Practice of Simplicity by Jakob Nielsen
(1999, New Riders; ISBN: 156205810X; Amazon | B&N.com).

Visual QuickStart Guide Photoshop 5.5 for Windows and Macintosh by Elaine Weinmann and Peter Lourekas
(1999, Peachpit Press; ISBN 0201699575; Amazon | B&N.com).

Resources for using Photoshop and learning HTML markup also were provided mainly through tutorials on the Web sites WebMonkey.com and C|net's Builder.com.

Sample instructor coursework documents:

New Media Design Course Syllabus, spring 2001

New Media Design Midterm Study Guide, spring 2001

New Media Design Final Project Grading Guide, spring 2001

"Virtual handouts" for reference by the students:

Three Stages of Interactive Design from Interactivity By Design: Creating & Communicating with New Media
Ten Questions to Ask When Defining a Resource's User Base from DesignWise: A Guide for Evaluating the Interface Design of Information Resources
Adobe's Law of Digital Design from Interactivity By Design: Creating & Communicating with New Media
Web Site Design Evaluation Checklist from DesignWise: A Guide for Evaluating the Interface Design of Information Resources
Web Sites for Users with Disabilities Design Evaluation Checklist from DesignWise: A Guide for Evaluating the Interface Design of Information Resources
Information Architecture Notes, Rosenfeld and Morville from Information Architecture for the World Wide Web
Robin William's Designing C-A-R-P from The Non-Designer's Design Book
What's different about type on the screen? from Interactivity By Design: Creating & Communicating with New Media
Common Web Fonts from Dreamweaver 2.0
Defining Moments by Generation from Rocking the Ages

Links to resources and articles online: