The Sorcerer's Workshop

Rule 5 - My Kingdom for Options

Eighty years ago car buyers could get a Ford Model T in any color they wished as long as it was black. Today that philosophy would put you in bankruptcy court or get you a prominent listing at f#*%edcompany.com. Give people options. Remember what I said about TV remote controls. Visitors don't want to be passengers in your Website; they want to be drivers. To some degree you can steer them this way or that, but they will not give up that remote control without a fight. You know what they say, the customer is always right. Even when they're wrong. If you have a line of tea kettles, give them a beauty shot of the products with descriptions and then a hyperlink to your multimedia presentations. If you have a software tutorial on Flash, give them them the option of seeing it in html or Flash. Remember to provide your visitor a user friendly navigation system for the tutorial - stop, start, fast forward, rewind buttons. Again - think TV remote control. Design it so a ten year old in his sleep can get from point A to point Z.

Law 6 - It's Alive! It's Alive!

Okay, you've just spent six weeks with no X-Files, eating cold pizza, and drinking enough Starbucks coffee to deserve a seat on their Board of Directors, but its finally done. Your impossible dream is now a living, breathing entity of melded graphics, text, video and audio. Now you're ready to paste it into your Website and start receiving glowing e-mails praising your creativity and artistic brilliance. Well, stop right there "pardner". You're not quite ready to go public. There is still one more important step you need to take, and it's one multimedia creators often overlook. In the movie business they are called 'Sneak Previews.' Sneak Previews are a movie company's last opportunity to test their film before releasing it to the masses. Often based on this audience's response a movie company will reedit a picture and occasionally reshoot entire sequences.

If you don't test, you can't rest

Multimedia designers should do the same thing. Place the application on a page not accessible to your audience and then have people you trust test it. I would build a list of fellow webmasters, associates and even some of your loyal customers and invite them to beta test the production. People love to be the first try out a new product or service. It makes them feel special. It's also a good idea if you give them a form they can fill out critiquing the strengths and weaknesses of your production. If you feel their input is valid, implement their suggestions into your design. After you've made your changes, ask them to check it out again. Believe me, it will be time well spent. After weeks working on your baby, you've become so close to it you lose your objectivity.

Final Recap

So here are my tips for creating Internet multimedia:

1) Planning, planning, planning
2) Get to the point
3) Keep it small
4) Feed the ear too
5) Give your audience control
6) Testing is good

A general once said, "No battle plan survives contact with the enemy." The same can be said of multimedia design. No plan should be set in concrete. Obstacles, pitfalls and problems are inevitable. But a good design structure will save you a ton of headaches and result in a better product.

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