Designing for Print vs. Designing for Online

Just like everything else when it comes to designing there are both advantages and disadvantages for each method even such as designing for printing and designing for online, these points will be discussed throughout the next few paragraphs. The purpose of this is to establish the advantages and disadvantages of both print and online in the simplest manner to create more of an overview of just what they help to bring to design and what they have to offer to their audiences.

Positives of designing for Print: When it comes to print the order is linear and the reader is focused on a whole set of information; however readers get to enjoy this type of communication in a private manner as it goes from the privacy of the sender to the privacy of the reader. Reading the print takes a lot of time as everything mostly has a meaning in which follows on with some sort of connection, however the reader does have the choice to move in a quicker pace such as skimming through. By using print you may choose things just simply because you love the author or for schooling purposes as you may be able to highlight certain areas. Also a beautiful thing about print is that you are able to snuggle up on the sofa next to a hot fire in the winter with a book or lay on the beach with it on a hot day as transporting it is very convenient.

Positives of designing for Online: With online the information travels through a network making the pace much faster as you can flick through whatever you want as fast as you want. Online enables you to access any website and go through any of the pages you wish to without missing too much at all as each new page is clearly labelled with descriptions. Online is a much cheaper option as you don’t have to go through all the processes of printing it out and when you are online you are given the option to be interactive with others who are also online. When the reader is online they have the option to create their own destinations in which direction they wish to take this gives them more freedom to be creative and to explore other areas. Today online is the new entertainment (Birkerts, S 1994).in which is a very much used place therefore it is also a good thing for businesses and other places to get their names out there by being online.

Negatives of designing for Print:Some limitations of text may be that the author is only given a limited amount of space therefore the reader is limited to mainly one argument in which is being presented, this is because when an author may try to put two many arguments in one piece the reader may assume to become quickly board. Print is full of certain expectations such as the linear structure being standard the text starting at the beginning of the book and then finishing at the end of it with a beginning middle and end, giving it more of a finality.
Negatives of designing for Online:Being on the internet is very public making it a lot less personal for people viewing information online. Whilst reading much of the electronic information online it may tend to be passive however the information is not quit permanent because the information can be deleted or changed as quickly as it got there in a very simple manner. Whilst reading online there may be more chances of developing eye strain from looking at the screen to long creating the reader to become more prone to tiredness. For people who may be researching or studying they may find it difficult to remember certain information because unless it is printed they cannot underline important notes in which they wish to remember. People who use the web may seem to be more impatient as much of the time they are using the site simply because they have to such as online banking or some type of research to find out what they want.

This concludes just what the positives and negatives on design with online and print are, although both have many negatives, they are also filled with much positivity in which establishes that without one or the other or both of them, there would be much to be missed out on. Although online may be today’s new and entertaining system (Birkerts, S 1994) it may be shown also that the beauty of print is yet to be diminished.

The information from this came from:Birkerts, S 1994, The Gutenberg Elegies: The Fate of Reading in an Electronic Age, viewed 18 October 2008,http://archives.obs-us.com/obs/english/books/nn/bdbirk.htm
2008, The difference between paper and online presentations, Sun Microsystems, viewed 15 October 2008, < http://www.sun.com/980713/webwriting/wftw1.html>
Mackey, Argumentation and the WWW, viewed 16 October 2008,<http://users.rcn.com/mackey/thesis/thesis.html><http://www.tformaro.com/thesis/reader1.html>