Rachele McGinty-Mock
GRDS 720 • Digital Studio I
Summer 2006
Exercise 6: Typography and Visual Hierarchy
In 600 words, review and analyze a website or a section of a website that owes its
success to good use of typography and visual hierarchy. Write about the way the site
is grouped or organized. What are the elements used by the designer to achieve this
sense of organization? Your analysis should include the URL of the site, successful
features and unsuccessful features.
In contrast, review and deconstruct a single web page that owes its failure to visual
chaos and bad type treatment specifically. Reconstruct the page in Photoshop or
other imaging software. Maintain all the elements on the page but rearrange them for
improved navigation, based on your instincts and reading.
LIVESTRONG
The LIVESTRONG website (www.livestrong.org), see below, is a very good
example of proper use of visual hierarchy. The most important part of the homepage
is text and image about someone who LIVEs STRONG. The use of an image of a
happy and healthy person to get it’s point across. Each time the page loads in a new
person is featured, Lance Armstrong does come up eventually if you keep reloading
but this site is not about him.
The top menu bar really delivers the information is such a proper way. The fact that
CANCER SUPPORT is the first thing offered, in case someone who was just
diagnosed with cancer should visit the website ti would take them to a support link,
not a shop link first or even a donate link. From there you are offered, GET
INVOLVED, GRANTS & PROGRAMS, ABOUT US, then DONATE, and finally,
least important SHOP. I really want to believe this was very consciously planned out.
The majority of the homepage is then dedicated to Survivor care and stories. A pull-
down menu is available to read stories of survival regarding different kinds of cancer
and for men and women.
