Design for Networked Environments: an Aesthetic Approach to Online Communication

Design for Networked Environments critically analyzes the state of the art of online communication as it is defined and constrained by technological properties. The book examines early online technologies in context to a parallel developing design practice, and, importantly, seeks to guide this emerging design practice to a holistic perspective that acknowledges technological determinants but does not succumb to mainstream techno-aesthetics. A detailed case study of the design processes for the first Web site of the Art Center College of Design, Pasadena CA, provides a discussion of the conflict between the established ?high art' of design and a shifting technological framework that fundamentally challenges the aesthetic parameters of communication design. The case study involves a thorough analysis of innovations in online design and encourages media designers, as well as technology developers, to question and to re-negotiate the perceived boundaries of online technologies, present and future.