My thoughts on digital reading…
While researching for a project to re-design a digital news platform I made the following notes on reading and the screen.
Why don’t we have massive line lengths? We don’t as its too hard to read, and our eyes tire before we reach the end.
Instead we manage large bodies of copy into columns. But these don’t stream on continuously, they are cut into separate, multiple chunks of copy. So, we cut large bodies of copy multiple times to make them easier to read and digest the information; dividing the information on at least two axis’.
This is why continuous scrolling in apps and websites don’t quite work. While the copy is split on one axis (the horizontal, or ‘X axis’) it remains continuous on the vertical axis, or ‘Y axis.’
We require at least two axis’ in order to convert the copy into more manageable chunks of information.
Also we traditionally consume information from a page one medium at a time. For example; when reading editorial content we either read the copy first and then look at imagery (both stills and in motion) or visa versa.
Some ‘new media[s]’ provide us with so much content instantaneously it becomes confusing, a by product of which is disinterest.
To engage the reader we must learn to manage our content effectively, and appropriate to the platform, without losing sight of tried and tested techniques that we have learnt from existing methods.*
— Jack Sadler
*These are my thoughts and my thoughts alone — they don’t reflect anyone else’s. They are open for discussion.
