NYU AND THE WORLD-WIDE WEB

Tech Trek: The Designer in Cyberspace

by Sandy Kaufman

[Ed: Links to web pages and/or e-mail addresses which have become inactive since the publication of this article have been enclosed in curly brackets { }. Replacement links have been provided where possible.]

The Web frenzy is here, and our lives will never be the same.

We are wired, now, in our homes, schools, libraries, and offices; and we surf the Net from site to site around the world at the push of a button, from virtual museums to the likely virtual casinos, in search of information, communications, entertainment -- or just for the ride ("See the USA in Your Chevrolet!").

As more businesses and organizations charge forward in the rush to take advantage of the opportunity to distribute their messages free on the World-Wide Web, the information superhighway has become more like the streets of Pamplona.

The development of new technologies to bring graphics and audio to the information systems of the Internet has excited our imagination, and it has unleashed the bulls on Wall Street. Netscape, a company whose earning potential has yet to be proven, soared from its initial offering of $27 per share to over $150. Macromedia jumped $6 on the day it announced the development of a designer-friendly animated Web browser to rival the much-hyped Hot Java (which at this writing has yet to hit the highway). It's all big roll of the dice as to who or what will dominate this new online culture. (Remember the Betamax.)

And the new technologies have unleashed the bulls of Madison Avenue, charging forward to sell everything from cars to bars, searching for new markets and trendy image (it's oh-so-cool to be on the Web).

We now have new heroes: the pioneers Gates and Andreessen (so smart, so young, so rich!), the prophets Negroponte (Being Digital) and Stoll (Silicon Snake Oil -- both reviewed by Tim O'Connor in the Fall 1995 issue of Connect), and the wizards of entertainment Lucas and Jobs (Toy Story).

The frenzy has produced countless books and magazines devoted to this new culture -- how-to guides, Internet directories, studies on the changing shape of society -- so much new paper for what is supposed to be a paperless world.

It has changed our language into an acronym-rich tongue (URL, FTP, HTML, HTTP, BPS) and it has reinvented new meanings to familiar words (hits, line, virtual). And it has inspired new fashions -- "Wired-Wear" and "Net-Gear: Never Surf Naked."

The Dazzle of the Inexplicable

Much of this excitement of the Internet comes from our childlike joy of being dazzled by the new and inexplicable. The wheel must have been awesome when it arrived on the scene. And so were the inventions that changed the world of communications: the telegraph, the telephone, the moving picture, radio, television. We landed on the moon in the first animation of Georges Méliès's Trip to the Moon, swooned as Betty Boop climbed out of Max Fleischer's inkwell to dance across the silver screen; marveled at the surreal concept of Natalie Cole singing duets with her late father, and cringed as the computer-recreated dinosaurs stampeded through Jurassic Park. Forrest Gump has met President Kennedy. Some new world!

Technology certainly changed the world of the graphic designer. With the arrival of desktop publishing, we traded our T-squares and ruling pens for a monitor and a mouse, in the process becoming typesetters, illustrators, photo-retouchers, data archivists, and computer technicians. The physical activities of drawing, cutting, pasting, coloring, and folding paper were replaced by a sedentary position in front of the computer, where we could experiment with the on-screen visualization of ideas. The look and styles of design changed: images and typography could be layered, colored, distorted, and manipulated at the shake of a mouse.

Although desktop publishing provided new tools and unlimited choices, the role of the graphic designer remained essentially the same: to envision information. Form still followed function. Despite the new ways of designing, publications still had to be translated into ink on paper and printed in limited quantities for distribution to targeted audiences.

Now, with Webtop publishing, the audience has become broader, more diverse, less defined, and more active in its search for information. It is easy for the viewer to accept or reject the Web site at the click of the mouse, increasing the importance of the presentation in attracting and sustaining an audience. Web sites are like a new field of dreams -- if you build it, they will come. But how long they stay, and whether they ever return again, depends on the quality of the site, its ability to offer new and fresh information with successive visits, and its flexibility to embrace new and rapidly developing technologies.

For a designer, current Web publishing is still in the dark ages -- HTML presents very few options for typography and layout; graphics files must be small enough for rapid downloading, and the look is static compared to the multimedia productions on CD-ROM. But the Web offers the opportunity to reach immeasurable new audiences, and today's design limitations will be history by tomorrow. If only we could pause long enough to master today's technology!

The Development of NYU Web

At NYU, the ease of writing HTML led to the proliferation of random Web sites. They were like windows into the University that were appearing before an architectural framework had been constructed. The premise of NYU Web was to build a structure, where sites of information could be placed in a logical order. Eventually all the information on NYU CWIS would be translated into this new Web format, or visible through the NYU Web window.

Committees were formed to discuss this organization, and under the direction of David Finney, Vice-President for Enrollment Services and Planning, the physical task was handed over to the collaborative efforts of ACF and the Office of Advertising and Publications to develop a home-page and format, and to provide an instructional and design guide for others at NYU creating their own sites.

As creative director in Advertising and Publications, I was given the assignment to produce these pages. I started with a list: learn HTML, review current university Web sites, devise a structural plan, create an NYU online visual style and identity, and build the NYU home page, the front door to the multiple sites within this online publication. I raided the NYU Computer Store for guidebooks (Learn HTML in a Week), attended classes at the ACF, and took notes from instructional sites on the Web. I was in full-surf for a week, zooming around the world to see how others had done it.

Should the home page be a directory listing? A clickable map of the campus? An introduction of hyperlinked text? How will all the information be processed? How will it evolve?

It would take countless hours of information-processing to complete all the necessary elements of NYU Web, but at least an outlined structure would be in place. Unlike publications that cannot be reprinted without expense, Web pages can be revised and improved with ease, and it was important to get the pages online, link existing pages -- and to learn, from viewer response, how to improve them.

Next came the style: type, graphics, color, page layout, and a theme that could unite the pages as a single online publication. The computer screen has always been like a window, a detail of a larger picture. And the theme of NYU Windows, while neither unique nor revolutionary, could provide this flexible theme to the NYU Web home pages. With the frames delineated in shades of gray, the windows that presented color photographs, logos, and graphics would appear to be chiseled out of the gray screen that Netscape, the most popular graphical browser, presents as its default. The NYU Web logo was created, along with a banner and header to unify succeeding pages. All of these graphics could be copied or adapted by other Web-page creators at NYU who wanted a tie-in with the visual identity of NYU Web.

The Highway Ahead

Today the task that lies ahead for NYU Web is formidable both in the amount of new information needed, and in tackling the issues facing all Internet information providers.

Viewer feedback is a significant factor in prioritizing the necessary information, and an NYU Web task force committee has been formed to address Internet and University issues. Topics such as copyright liability, security of personal data, "official" vs. "unofficial" pages, online applications forms, and online course syllabi are just a few of the many under discussion.

Clearly, we need a search engine or index so that visitors can quickly find the information they seek-especially with the significant increase in the number of contributors to the Web.
Links should be added to take full advantage of the cross-referencing of NYU information and to avoid any duplication.
Information from publications such as bulletins, student guides, and research centers needs to be processed and linked.
An interactive map of the campus should also be added, to aid both first-time visitors and long-term students and faculty; it should show admissions centers, schools, offices, book centers, facilities for research and student life, parking, and subway and bus stops.
Web sites being developed around NYU include: Health Services, Personnel Services, The Office of the Registrar, Alumni Relations, Public Relations, NYU Summer, NYU Abroad as well as schools, colleges and departments.
Current images are being scaled down and simplified through Debabelizer software as we strive to improve the transmission time of on-line graphics.

At the present time, there are several ways that viewers inquire for information: through the e-mail form to Webmaster at the bottom of each page, through site-specific requests for information, and through telephone inquiries at phone numbers published on the pages. In the first case, the queries to Webmaster are forwarded to various NYU offices to answer and process the requests. Michael Walker of the Information Center has developed detailed information-request forms for admissions publications, and Carllita Bell of the Office of Advertising and Publications has developed a server that can process requests for information and track the inquiries, while building a demographic profile of online inquiries for marketing analysis. Through the linking of software applications, inquiry information is completely paperless.

Many questions confront us as we continue to develop our Web site: Where are the visitors to NYU Web coming from? Are they responding to URLs printed in publications and advertising, or to Internet search engine directories such as Lycos or Yahoo? Is there a value in purchasing listings in commercial directories? What are the best ways to get NYU Web linked to other sites around the world? How can NYU Web stay up-to-date with the rapidly developing Internet technology?

The new online network transcends all geographical boundaries, and we are all running fast to embrace these new opportunities. The possibilities are limitless and the potential is awe-inspiring. [ C ]

Sandy Kaufman, the Creative Director of the Office of Advertising and Publications at the time of this article's publication, also served as Web Editor of NYU Web.
{kaufmans@is.nyu.edu}

Posted 20 February 1996. Revised 24 May 2004.