Article in Ballard News Tribune about CL Design

The Ballard New Tribune wrote an article about CL Design's ADA friendly multimedia. The article is titled "Web Designs for the Future—Making the web more accommodating and engaging".

One of the quotes is as follows:

"Lona takes an innovative multi-media approach to website design and has been ahead of his time for years. His designs not only make websites more engaging, they also make it easier for people with disabilities to use."

Click here to read the article in its entirety.

Resort Riviera—#10 of "Experience vs Data"

This month experience how a website can be navigated by pressing keys on your keyboard. Also experience a full screen presentation with audio.

Keyboard navigation and audio can greatly improve the experience of a site/brand for people with visual and physical disabilities.

Turn on your sound and visit: http://www.cldesign.biz/experience

Your comments are welcome!

Chris Lona
CL Design

Brand New Brand Logo for GAP

Since when do the masses know anything about design? The GAP caved because of public uproar but is that the way it should be? Sure the new logo was generified and unimaginative but the old one was nothing special either; it's just that people had become used to seeing it.

Unfortunately the generic design syndrome is pervasive what with web templates for anyone and clip art for the cheap and lazy.

It is my opinion that design should come from the intent of the client in concert with what s/he wants her/his customers' experiences to be. Not a bunch of text and shapes and colors slapped together to make something look "neat."

It is obvious that the new brand new brand logo for GAP was a victim of a corporate, heirarchical, bureaucratic, politically correct organization that was trying to please everyone and in the end pleased no one.

The Web Is Not TV!

The web is not TV! We all know the popularity of video on the web has exploded as exemplified by youtube and any number of sites that use video and accommodate video uploads.

But the web is not TV! In spite of people’s efforts to make it into TV. Most likely because it is something with which they are familiar. Add in that people are the center of their own universe (as we all are) and love the fact that they can place video of themselves online and then send it to their friends in addition to watching it themselves.

Still the web is not TV! An informal, unscientific observation of library users reveals that approximately 50% of people using the computers (and are assumingly online) are not wearing the headphones the library provides its visitors. Another library requires people to buy the headphones in order to hear the audio on the library’s computers. This library had no visitors using headphones while sitting at the computers. Extrapolating out to a larger view this implies, again in an informal and unscientific way, that at least 50% of the people using the internet are not experiencing the audio component of websites. What happens when a visitor without audio goes to a website that has video? They see moving images with no sound. If people in the video are talking, visitors experience nothing but talking heads which is fine if they happen to be a lip reader. The main benefit to video is that there is both a visual and audio component that together create the desired experience. Take one or the other away and the experience is compromised. Do at least 50% of TV viewers watch their television with the sound off? No.

The web is not TV! Have you ever watched a video online only to have it stumble and stutter because the streaming is not catching up with the playing? What size are most of the videos online? Would you accept watching 1/4 of your TV? Do you have to get up close to watch them? What happens when you play them at full screen view (if you can)? Does the quality become compromised? What happens if you print out the presentation? If there is a step by step presentation how do you instantly go from step 1 to step 10?

THE WEB IS NOT TV! Our approach is to combine aspects of TV with the benefits of the web. We use voice over audio that corresponds to large type. Together with photography, imagery and music, we tell a story online that results in a better experience for the visitor. If you don’t have audio you can read the large type. If you are visually impaired listen to the voice over describing the scene with music. The goal of our hospitality multimedia is to expand the experience of a physical experience to millions of online viewers. Thus the tagline “Expanding Your Experience”. Visit www.cldesign.biz

9th in the CL Design "Experience vs Data" campaign: accessible

http://www.cldesign.biz/experience

8th in the CL Design "Experience vs Data" campaign: augment

The 8th in the CL Design "Experience vs Data" campaign is online for review. Turn on your sound and visit: www.cldesign.biz/experience

Please feel free to post your comments, I'd appreciate your feedback.

double standard

If I claim to enhance credibility and experiences through custom design and multimedia does using a blog template to create my blog mean that I have a double standard?