People hate words. If I could write this blog with pictures instead of text, I would.
Unfortunately, this is not yet a feasible approach for online design, as Google loves words. Words allow Google to do what it does best – index information. So at the moment we are being pulled in two separate directions when creating appealing interactive website designs that also rank well in search engines….perhaps one day this will change (are you reading this Mr Google?).
When it comes to considering the best practices for the design of interactive web applications, the ongoing challenge, is to create something that feels tangible and alive when you interact with it, despite the fact that the end user will be staring at a flat, 2 dimensional monitor. Just to make matters more challenging, the design must also appeal to Google.
This Web Trends Map, below, manages to achieve the balance.
This Map of 2009 Web Trends shows a great ability to create a ‘tangible’, interactive experience despite displaying a completely intangible set of data related to website usage.
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Here’s a brief explanation of the concept, from the creators of this eloquent interactive design:
The Web Trend Map is a yearly publication by iA Inc. It maps the 333 most influential Web domains and the 111 most influential internet people onto the Tokyo Metro map. Domains are carefully selected by the iA research team through dialogue with map enthusiasts. Each domain is evaluated based on traffic, revenue, age and the company that owns it. The iA design team assigns these selected domains to individual stations on the Tokyo Metro map in ways that complement the characters of each.
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For those of you out there who are trying to represent intangible items, such as company finacial data, or internal web usage trends, to an audience who generally cannot conceptualise anything more than a map of their local street, perhaps you could explore this concept further….of mapping intangible data against an existing familiar and tangible interactive application.
You can interact with the Map here:
http://www.zoomorama.com/2477f0e8b447bb6570493cdac464c41f
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