Online media vs Print media

For every medium, there is a limitation and I believe that to come up with a good design is to understand these limitations. Walsh (2006) acknowledges that reading print-based text involves different levels of decoding, responding, and comprehending at affective and cognitive levels, critiquing and analyzing. In other words, it is a lot of work to the subconscious mind. Online media on the other hand proves to be a much simpler task for the mind. Nielsen (1997) plainly states that audiences do not read websites. They scan it, choosing informations they want to read. The web allows audiences to navigate easily through contents and informations with the help of hyperlink buttons located within the website. Which can't be said for print media, where audiences have to actually read word by word to obtain wanted information.

Below, I present an example of an online media and a print media with the same topic - breast cancer self-examination

Online Media


Print Media


As you can see, the website is more straight to the point compared to the fact sheet. While both contains picture, the fact sheet is crowded by words, creating a sense of dread for readers to go through. But Schriver (1997) made a point by stating that pictures are not enough to satisfy if the document itself is low in information and content. Even though websites are more convenient and interactive, it does not satisfy the thirst for knowledge. Which brings me back to a medium's limitation. By understanding all these flaws, I believe that a document designer can use it to their advantage, thus creating a very effective design.




References
Walsh, M 2006, The ‘textual shift’: Examining the reading process with print, visual and multimodal texts, Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, vol. 29, no. 1, pp. 24-37

Nielsen, J 1997, How users read on the web, online, retrieved 2 May 2008, from http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9710a.html

Schriver, K 1997, Dynamics in document design: creating texts for readers, Wiley Computer Pub, New York

breastcancer.org, Pictures of breast self exam, online, retrieved 2 May 2008, from http://www.breastcancer.org/pictures/self_exam/index.jsp

Gemzies, Understanding breast cancer, online, retrieved 2 May 2008, from http://cancer.gemzies.com/show/entry_4613/Understanding_Breast_Cancer.html