Home

Design Hipermédia

Prof. Evangelos Karapanos

Keywords: New media design; Web applications; Mark-up languages; Style sheets; Scripting; User-Interaction; Dynamic content

Objectives of the discipline

Like any other area of design, hypermedia design requires a thorough knowledge of the medium that is targeted in the design process. The chosen medium poses constraints and requirements on the graphical aspects of design and has consequences for the production process. Students will learn to know the production process of a website and get acquainted with the technologies and the implications for the graphical design of a website.

Designing a website involves a thorough study of both the technical requirements and the artistic expectations of the target audience. The creative process that leads to a successful site is challenging and complex, but can be consciously driven in a structured manner. Students will be exposed to a structure approach to creative web design and will practise in assignments.

At the end of the course, students:

  • have knowledge about the various aspects of web-based communication;
  • have knowledge about the various technologies currently in use in web-development;
  • have knowledge of and experience with the creative process of designing a website for a specific purpose and target audience;
  • have hands-on experience with the development of a website that has both graphical and technical quality, is technically consistent, and meets the requirements of user-friendliness and maintainability;
  • have hands-on experience with developing dynamic aspects of websites, through the usage of various techniques, including Flash and scripting technologies.

Contents of the modules

This discipline involves expanding the students’ graphical design qualities, targeting the web as the communication medium. The main issue being studied is the relationship between graphical design aspects and technical aspects of websites.

The discipline consists of three components:

  1. A theoretical component offering a general overview of web-based technologies, their potential and limitations;
  2. A practical component focused on the development of information-based websites, using the standardised techniques of HTML and CSS;
  3. A practical component focused on the development of dynamic aspects of websites, using standardised scripting techniques as well as non-standardised techniques such as Flash.

Evaluation

The discipline will be assessed in three parts, each of which take the form of an assignment:

  1. (10%) Assignment 1 is a written assignment that reviews and discusses web technologies, web design, and web usability issues.
  2. (25%) Assignment 2 involves the design and development of a static website that complies with the standards.
  3. (25%) Assignment 3 consists of the creation of a dynamic website, either with scripting or with Flash, that demonstrates a selected technical phenomenon.
  4. (40%) Finally, assignment 4 delivers the design of an interactive website that demonstrates the techniques and design capabilities acquired by the student (both static and dynamic). The topic and functionality of this site are determined by the student but subject to approval by the lecturer.

In each of the last three evaluations, the assessment will be based on the quality of the process, the result, and the presentation of the work. Students are expected to critique each other’s work.