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Media Content includes all audio and visual aspects of an application's user interface, including all formats of any given instance, from source material to final production format. |
Domains: Deployment |
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Purpose
The purpose of Media Content is to enrich the experience of the user interface and the application's output, enhancing its
aesthetic experience, usability, ease of understanding, and brand awareness. Audio and visual cues help the user to learn
and anticipate the effects of application controls. Learning, comprehension, and retention are increased by reinforcement
through multiple media types: text, graphics, audio, and video. Finally, brand and aesthetics can only be represented
effectively through rich media applications. |
Description
Main Description |
Work products of this description are created throughout the development process, through acquisition, digitization,
creative development, reformatting, compositing, and editing. In many applications, such as those designed for
information delivery, the output of the application is represented as Media Content. This description includes, but is
not limited to:
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Still images, electronic or printed
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Sound effects
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Music
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Speech and dialog
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Animations, 2-D and 3-D
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Video
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Film
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Key Considerations
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Archive Media Content at each stage of development because tasks in later stages usually require Media Content from
earlier stages as input.
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Perform digitization and compression as late in the development process as possible to retain the highest quality
work products.
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There is, at times, a fuzzy line between Media Content and data. As a rule of thumb, Media Content
represents data. For example, data may be used in a financial account statement to create a chart, and the
graphics that make up that chart would be called Media Content.
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The following are visual Media Content design principles that promote clarity and visual simplicity in the user
interface:
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Subtractive design - Reduce clutter by eliminating any visual element that doesn't contribute
directly to visual communication.
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Visual hierarchy - By understanding the importance of users' tasks, establish a hierarchy of
these tasks visually. An important object can be given extra visual prominence. Relative position and
contrast in color and size can be used.
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Affordance - When users can easily determine the action that should be taken with an object,
that object displays good affordance. Objects with good affordance usually mimic real world objects.
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Visual scheme - Design a visual scheme that maps to the user model and lets the user customize
the interface. Do not eliminate extra space in your image just to save space. Use white space to
provide visual "breathing room."
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Seek feedback from end users that the Media Content is intuitive and aesthetically appealing and is implemented in
a consistent style across presentation screens and/or devices.
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Tailoring
Impact of not having | In the absence of Media Content, the development team will build a traditional text-based user interface. In today's
competitive market, a relevant, compelling online experience is often critical to the success of an application. Not
leveraging the advantage that different media affords, forces the development team to limit the application's effectiveness
and risk creating a non-competitive solution and dissatisfying customers. |
Reasons for not needing | The application does not require a graphical user interface, video, or audio components. It does not need to represent the
organization's brand image. |
Representation Options |
Media Content comes in many formats. Typical formats for source material and finished products are listed in the table
below:
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Source Material
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Finished Product
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Still Images
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Photographic prints, slides, transparencies, PhotoShop PSDs
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.GIF, .JPG, .BMP, .WMF
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Sound Effects, Music, Speech
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CD, DVD, 1" Master, ½" Master, DAT
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.WAV, .AU, .MPG, .RM
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Animations, 2-D
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Director .DIR, Animation cells, Softimage
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Shockwave, Flash, SGI
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Animations, 3-D
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3-D Studio, Alias/Wavefront, Softimage, After Effects, Flint, Flash
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.AVI, Animated .GIF, .MOV, Digital Composite modules
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Licensed Materials - Property of IBM
© Copyright IBM Corp. 1987, 2012. All Rights Reserved.
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