Sunday, July 24, 2016

Skill: Create 1.1.3 – Appearance Quest

Explore learning modules from various online organizations and describe the benefits of layout, media, and appearance. Please identify ten instructional sites, and isolate five sites, which exemplify sound design ideals, and five that do not adhere to these standards and document in your blog.


Appearance in any document weather it is printed or online has a great deal to do if the reader will actually read the content. Text size, style, color, and position are all important when design anything that you want some one to read. Though I love design, I am a purest at heart and really am drawn to clean simple designs. I think when designing instructional sites for teenagers there is a fine line between being too ‘cutesy’ and to ‘grown up.’

Here are some sites that I think offer sound design ideals for science:

IB Bio Ninja This is a teacher created site that helps students prepare and study for the OB Biology test. It is easy to navigate, has great font choice and colors, and has just the right amount of balance between cute graphics and non-cute graphics.

Digestion System Animation This is an animation geared toward 6-9 graders and I think it is very appropriate in terms of colors, graphics etc. I use it for 12th grade science as an introduction and it borders on to ‘babyish’ for my kids, but they do get a kick out of it.

The Biology Corner Simplicity at its best. This site has clean lines, great pictures, and simple consistent colors. It is easy to navigate and is a great resource for both teachers and students alike.

BioED Online This site offers a variety of resources, simple design, good use of color, and very easy to navigate. It is a WIN!

Bozeman Science This site speaks to me, though I know it is way to simple for most people. The organization of the resources along with the minimalistic approach is good as the content is all videos!


Not so sound design for science:
Understanding Evolution While the information presented here is really good – the lack of color, confusing layout, and overwhelming amount of text makes this site hard to navigate.

Explore Biology This site is no longer maintained and offers great information and resources. I think for its time it offered sound design but there not a variety of resources as only text and documents are offered here.

Amazing Biology Resources This site is hard to get through. I do not visit often as the colors and graphics are overwhelming and makes the text get lost on the page. There are too many colors and the clash.

Biology Resources and Links A good sources for websites BUT the fon
Biology resources The font is crowded, small, and it is lacking space which makes the text hard to read. Also the color scheme is almost too monochromatic which takes away from the visual appeal.


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