differences in multimedia design

technological advances in computer science have been influencing many aspects of human life with an increasing pace. multimedia has basically emerged from the advances in computer science and has become a very suitable framework for communications. it is evident that to address visual aspects of multimedia, graphics science is required. design for the multimedia is the most significant new area of design practice of the last 20 years, knowing to work in a new medium is both exciting and challenging, forces us to restate what design is. it is easy to be daunted by the challenge of this new medium. in fact, design for the multimedia shares with other disciplines a view of design as a way of thinking. while multimedia design has much in common with the approach to other areas of design there are also some important differences. many of the challenges of multimedia design are about creating an effective interface between people and technology. to understand multimedia design it is critical to understand design first and technology second. the word “design” is usually associated with a particular domain – graphic design, product design, industry design, web design – but it is important to appreciate that design is bigger than any individual domain in which it is applied. design is a way of thinking. it is a way of situating and exploring an objective problem. it encapsulates approaches to creating possible solutions to that problem, and processes for communicating solutions and turning them into reality. to proceed, design also needs to have a firm grasp on technology, and also on the ways it is developing. an intimate understanding of technology gives designers more possible avenues for solving a problem. technology is also one of the constraints on the design solution and this understanding will facilitate a more creative and effective implementation of the solution. designers who succeed in this regard are often those who have extensively experimented with a technology, or are able to perceive its core dynamics. the present thesis studies the quality of visual communications in designing multimedia web pages, considering the limitations and technical problems that can affect the layout of multimedia web pages, it develops design principles that will be as relevant to future technological developments as they are today. while multimedia design is the most celebrated area of design it draws on many other areas, and by putting it in context the present thesis is in really hard quest to make this easier to understand. furthermore, the lack of compiled graphical rules for this new framework, inapplicability of existing graphical rules, and lack of metrics for evaluating success or failure of a multimedia design in communicating with its audience have motivated this thesis to provide metrics to evaluate visualization of multimedia web pages and compile new rules which are according to the concepts and examples of contemporary graphics, to this end, first, after introduction of multimedia environment and the factors that affect a successful composition, limitation and technical problems of multimedia design are presented.