Citation

Eugene, Ch'ng (2002) Simulation Of A Design Environment For Users To Incorporate Proportioning Systems Into Screen Design. Masters thesis, Multimedia University.

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Abstract

Dynamic Symmetry has been around for a long time. But rarely do we hear any discussion about its use as a design tool. "(It) is now all butt forgotten, but in its day, it produced a cult-like mass of followers in the art schools." Dynamic symmetry was discovered by Jay Hambidge in the early 1920s and used as a means for art, design and architecture as an objective method of aesthetics design. The base of this proportioning system originated from the natural growth patterns of organisms. One of the very distinct properties of this system is the theme principles of this system yield very orderly and natural relationships betwen elements and the elements and the whole. Survey in the literatures of screen design in the past and present did not see the use of this system. Research in aesthetics has grown in recent years and researchers in this area have come to realize that aesthetics is important to usability in many ways. However, the topic is still in its infancy and requires much study. This article aims to introduce dynamic symmetry as a proportioning system as well as an objective approach to laying out aesthetically pleasing screens. Two computer-based tool has been developed for the study of this system as applied to screen design in general. The first application, a dynamic symmetry analysis tool was developed based on Hambidge's analytical methods of dynamic symmetry. A study was conducted to see if dynamic symmetry has been applied to screen design in the past. One hundred fifty screens from a variety of multimedia and web screens were selected for the test and input to the tool using the built in screen editor. Dynamic rectangles show up everywhere in these screens. More than 40% of the screens use these proportions and a number of them conform to dynamic symmetry principles. Another study examines viewer judgements about the aesthetics of real screens copied from existing multimedia and web screens compared to their reformatted versions using dynamic symmetry. The evaluation yielded an average of 74.5% selected reformatted screens over original versions. This studies provided a positive view toward this system. The principles and methods of dynamic symmetry design were then implemented as a grid-based design tool and the screens designed using the systems were evaluated. The viewer judgements yielded an average of 67.85% preferring the system suggested layouts to user proposed layout. The results of this formal study have been very positive. Through this we see the desirability of adopting dynamic symmetry as an aesthetics guide on which screen design may hang upon.

Item Type:	Thesis (Masters)
Subjects:	L Education > LB Theory and practice of education > LB2300 Higher Education
Divisions:	Faculty of Computing and Informatics (FCI)
Depositing User:	Mr Shaharom Nizam Mohamed
Date Deposited:	03 Dec 2009 07:40
Last Modified:	04 Dec 2009 11:27
URII:	http://shdl.mmu.edu.my/id/eprint/40

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