- What is the interactive about?
The interactive is about nuclear explosions, specifically how different nuclear bombs tested in recent years can detonate a specified area. The user can enter any location, and is then given an interactive look at how the destruction would effect the area, eg. The total number of deaths, injuries, as well the total kilometers for the initial fireball, radiation, shock wave, and heat.
- Who is it designed for? (Target audience)
The interactive is designed for people who are looking for an interactive experience and information on nuclear weapons and nuclear mass effect. Primarily, this would be targeted to ages 18 and above. You would have to have some prior knowledge as to what a nuclear weapon was.
- What knowledge does it assume of the target audience I.e. digital literacy?
The interactive assumes that you know how to search for a location using a drop down menu. It assumes that you have prior knowledge about the information it provides. It assumes that you know how to navigate an interactive app using different devices, because the interactive itself contains a varying amount of hover information and jump to interfaces.
- Describe the type of user interactions, and the user interface.
Generating a blast shows the effects in order in the form of an animation.
Users can interact with the bomb blast by hovering over the different categories of the blast damage and in doing so, the respective effect and distance is highlighted on the right and vice versa. Selecting a particular effect, either from the diagram or from the list brings up information describing the effect.
User can also change the location, bomb type and blast type to simulate and compare the different impacts of each bomb blast.
- What can you say about the visual design- layout, colour, and typography? – How would you describe the style?
Overall the design is fairly minimalistic, focusing on the visuals and the data. That also goes for the colour palette and typography: using only tones of greys and reds plus white, with two fonts being used, a serif and san-serif font. The layout is clean and straightforward in its presentation of the different elements.
- What improvements would you suggest?
o Perhaps add more background information on the types of bombs – history of use
o The background is quite dark which could make it hard to read the map. Lighter greys can be substituted in.
Leah Giselles' Interactive Design Space 