Multimedia Design

Definition: In designing multimedia systems, a designer combines knowledge of art, science, and technology.

Any design entails creating conceptual models of artifacts that fulfill some user needs. To design good multimedia systems a designer must combine knowledge of art, science and technology of creating multimedia (Elin, 2001). The Multimedia Design and Planning Pyramid (MUDPY) is a five-level model (Figure 1), in which the level-2 comprises the project design phase (Sharda, 2004). Task Modeling and Storyboarding techniques, in conjunction with a Navigation structure, can be used to compile a multimedia design specification document.

Specifications can include the lowest hardware and communication bandwidth required for delivering the required Quality of Service in online or networked multimedia systems. However, the main specifications relate to the task the system must perform and the type and quality of the content.

Task Modeling techniques provide the means to specify goal-oriented tasks (Paternò, 2002), and a window into the required user interface. The user interface has significant influence on the spatial composition of various screens, and the navigation structure.

Storyboard represents each page’s spatial composition with a sketch. It helps in developing ideas into screens. It is one of the best means of expanding Objectives and Tasks into screens. It gives the option of visualizing the entire system as a whole, or focusing on one section at a time. The storyboard should contain meta-information, and not the actual content.

Navigation refers to the way various pages and their components link. The level of interactivity offered by a multimedia system comes primarily from its navigation structure. A well-designed navigation structure links all the components into a cohesive system.

Issues confirmed in the planning phase should guide the design phase, which in turn should guide the production phase.