I decided to conduct some analysis for existing iBook as that is what i will be creating, and this would help me understand how existing iBooks layout their work and how they create user interaction. Below are a few examples of existing iBooks that i analysed.
The first iBook i decided to look into was one that was the same as my topic i.e. earthquakes so i could see how existing iBooks of this topic present and display their information and how they create user interactivity. This can help me to learn from this and try to make sure my content is of good quality and might even help me to get some pointers and room for improvement and adding extra content if i might of missed something.
This is the the front cover of the earthquake existing iBook. Something i noticed is that its made by the 'California Academy of Sciences' meaning this might be more 'sciencey' than mine as i want to contain facts and knowledge without it getting too complicated.
The use of typography of the title of 'earthquakes' is simple with a bold san serif and white colour applied, making it stand out and the way the title incorporates a type of tectonic plate style works really well and because its simple it doesn't look overpowering.
The background looks okay but potentially a little to plain and unoriginal. The colours work well but because the background image is slightly simplistic it kind of let's down the whole appearance of the front cover, even thought the use of type was well thought out.
The first main page is the introduction and displays only text with a background of the sea and land at the side. With the text there are highlighted text to make them stand out as they are significant words relating to earthquakes and probably want the words to stand out and stick into the users mind as they read the iBook so they know what the terms mean.
The text is a little intimidating and a drop cap could help improve this issue and also a video of an introduction of earthquakes i feel would be more engaging when someone first opens an iBook like this. Seeing text straight away is a little off-putting and could prevent the user from reading any further or being less interested in this iBook.
A use of a transparent box to hold the text could frame the work slightly better and would be more visible to read against the background.
This page is a title page as it presents what is contained within the first chapter and presents that chapter one is about the 'earth's structure' with sections in the chapter. This page is a good idea to help present what is in each chapter before reading, so you can understand what to expect. However the visual style is a little bit uninspired as the type is simple and ineffective. If they used the same type from the title of the iBook it could give that theme of tectonic plates and would be more visually pleasing with a reoccurring theme. The visuals aren't that great and could have found a different way to present this title page.
This is the 1st section within the chapter and this presents the content information about the core, mantle and crust of the earth, in order to get a better understanding of beneath just the ground we walk on and more about deeper in the earth and what its made of etc. The interactivity has a bunch of tags from the diagram where you can click on them and it'll zoom in and present information about that part of the diagram. There are slides for the diagram with many examples, creating some good user interaction.
The presentation of this page is slightly plain and boring, as it just presents the content without thinking of the design of the actual iBook. However the content is informative and well constructed but the layout is slightly disorganised.
The screen shots above are more examples of how the interactivity comes in to plat with the diagram and how if you click on parts of the tags from the diagram it zooms in to the part where the tag is set and gives extra information which is a good way to contain information without it being all on screen but rather more contained with a hidden part so text isn't just overflowing on screen but creates user interactivity and content to make the experience more visually engaging.
Above are the examples of diagrams within the page, with tags added as well to allow the user to click and zoom in for extra visual details about specific parts of the plates.
On this page above there is a lot of content through text and looks somewhat messy and intimidating as well as not totally structured. Using drop caps and in and outpoints more often would probably give a more visually pleasing feel to the iBook and help to make the text easier and less intimidating to read.
There is a use of a video on this page which is nice to see, giving users more visual engagement to the topic as well as creating somewhat more interactivity to the iBook. This page continues to talk about the structure of the earth's plates.
This is an example of what the second chapter title page looks like and the use of type again and the layout looks too simplistic and a little dull. The use of colour of green kind of makes the theme of orange look a little out of place. If the colour was orange it would help to stay consistent. The use of the green makes the text look slightly harder to read and the use of the globe helps to make it hard to see the text as well. If the background was slightly a bit of a lower opacity it would make the text more visible.
Here's a screenshot from the third chapter with a diagram of the anatomy of the earthquake with tags again where the user can click on them in order to receive more information. The diagram is visually pleasing and engaging. This diagram helps to give an insight of the anatomy of the earthquake and the surface and earth underneath to understand the concept more.
There is an other page within the iBook and presents three types of videos presenting the basic types of faults within the tectonic field of the earth. The use of visuals in video format is a good way to understand the different types of earthquakes. However throughout the iBook there isn't much of a theme and there is so much empty space which makes the iBook look like a powerpoint presentation of just a uninspired content oriented piece of an iBook.
To me there has to be a middle ground where the content is presented well and is factual and east to read understand and grasp and the layout and the visual style matches the topic of earthquakes and makes the iBook look a lot more professional and well organised as well as visually appealing.
Above is another page within the iBook and it talks about the different fault lines in the earth with another couple of interactive diagrams. I like this page a bit more as the person who made this has added a book for the text which helps to make the page more structured and contained, however the overall presentation of pretty much all of the pages are quite weak.
Overall my impression of this iBook is that there is a good amount of engaging content in here but the layout and presentation of the content looks slightly plain and unstructured and a bit messy at times. If there was a theme for this iBook and a bit more structure the overall iBook would probably be more successful. There was some interaction but it was almost the same thing on every page so a bit more variety would of helped to enhance the user experience a little bit more.
After seeing this it hasn't made me rethink my content that i'll be adding in my iBook as mines more general factual knowledge with slightly less scientific knowledge, as i want people to be able to grasp the content a lot more easier and pick up in an easier way.
No comments:
Post a Comment