Muotoilun vuosi 2005Design Year 2005SponsorsMTV3MTV3_Internet_ENGUser interfaces, pixels and layout design
The MTV3 Internet has an important role in the TV channel’s service offering and in creating the channel’s identity and brand. “Interactive communication, time and movement are the special design elements of electronic media. Otherwise, in web design same issues need to be considered as in printing material, such as layout and visual design and typography. Most important is providing each reader with relevant and easily accessible content”, MTV3’s Art Director Esko Kumpunen describes the design characteristics of electronic media.
“In contrast to a magazine, which has a linear structure and is easy to grasp, the Internet media’s structures can be seen as linear movements from general to specifics. In a virtual surrounding the web designer is responsible for planning a clear structure for the web pages. Valuation of the content and transparency of the structures are key issues in order to avoid confusion amongst the readers”, Kumpunen continues.
What does an Art Director do?
At MTV3 Esko Kumpunen is responsible for the web pages’ design and layout and he makes sure that everything is line with the TV channel’s brand image. According to Kumpunen, the Internet’s graphic design has not changed much, rather the methods used in the planning. “Web design has been separated from the content and it deals with designing frameworks, into which the text is placed form an outside source”, Kumpunen clarifies.
In his work Kumpunen sees as challenging the user interface design, which is needed in the planning of animations, web reports and other interactive elements. In the user interface design conformity with other Internet pages and printed media need to be taken into account, as well.
Kumpunen believes that web design will develop in many different ways. “Soon people can access the Internet through their mobile phones with broad-band connections. Thus, designers really need to understand the difference between content and design, because the same page has to fit into the computer screen with over thousand pixels and the mobile phone’s one hundred pixel screen”, Kumpunen explains. “In the future, accessibility will be an important design criterion, as well”, he continues. Kumpunen points here to the development of the semantic Internet where for example the designers take into account the needs of the visually and physically handicapped persons.
MTV3 Internet
“MTV3’s Internet pages’ overall image is light and cheerful. All pages resemble each other and follow a certain pattern. The page structure is knowingly kept simple and transparent”, Kumpunen elaborates. Special features of the MTV3 web pages include the vast amount of content, which is updated and changed on an ongoing basis.
The MTV3 Internet pages are in line with the channel’s programme offering, visual image and brand. “The lead idea is to offer the consumer the same MTV3 experience regardless of time, place and the means used”, Kumpunen states. The web pages have to function as a channel of advertisement, as well. “As MTV3 is a medium not a portal, the advertisement is clearly separated from the content”, Kumpunen concludes.
Check MTV3’s Internet pages at www.mtv3.fi
