Making Connections: A Model for On-Line Interaction

The overuse of visual imagery and the redundancy of information in traditional and new communication media have desensitized our society, resulting in an emotional bankruptcy. The World Wide Web communication medium, with its highly visual interface and virtual environments, perpetuates and aggravates this situation. The “new designers” of the twenty-first century must partner with technology experts, content specialists and common users to reinvigorate imagination and rekindle emotions. To this end, we can identify and extract the six essential ingredients of engagement from the traditional performing arts, communication and design theory and recast them to support new media that are both visually stimulating and emotionally provocative.