Screen vs Print Design

Print design and screen design has many major differences when compared.  

Referring to Bear (n.d), one of his comparison between the both is with its typography. Print may use a font that is good for its paper but on the web, it may not be the case.  The below pictures are examples to illustrate the differences. As we can see the newspaper typography has more than 20 fonts in just one page; this is to show the different headlines of the news.

Typography of newspaper

source: http://hopesa2mediablog.blogspot.com/2009/11/newspaper-typography.html

Typography of web blogs

source: http://www.incomediary.com/30-great-examples-blog-post-styling

 The web blog on the hand has only 3 which is more static; this is because some fonts that are used by the author may be readable to some readers as they do not have the software installed or the browser does not allow such fonts.

Referring to Nielson (1999), his comparison of the both is Dimensionality. Print design has a 2-dimensional layout which brings out focus to the readers.  Readers can just flip the page, however this has made the interaction between the spreads of another page is hard to reach. In distinction, the web layout is a simultaneously 1-dimensional and N-dimensional layout. Instead of flipping through, web proposes the scrolling experience for the user. N-dimensional is whereby the web design coherently follows the hypertext navigation. An example below shows the navigation of the cursor in web design which cannot be found in print designs.

Navigation through blog interface websites

source: http://designgenies.com/blog/

Overall, I think it is easier to read with print design due to less graphic structures which can be found in the web design. According to Nielson (1999), he states that print design has bigger impact to readers compared to web design due to its whole double paged spread. Hence, reading with print design gives the readers more of an emotion to readers. However, reading through the web maybe very informational but due to its design, some images may cause a lag or unable to load the page which will affect the reader to find another source of information.

References

 Nielsen, J 1999, 'Print vs.web design' viewed 7 April 2012, < http://www.useit.com/alertbox/990124.html>.

Bear, J. H. n.d, 'Print Design vs. Web Design: Similarities and Differences in Print and Web Design', The New York Times Company, New York, viewed 8 April 2012, < http://desktoppub.about.com/od/transitionprintweb/tp/Print_Design_vs_Web_Design.htm>.