I am attempting to examine how corporate blogs promote the products and the images of their parent sites. This is my second analysis in the series, using the principles of visual design as evaluative tools. Starting with a screenshot of the blogsite:
The name of the Corporation is: Adobe Systems, Inc.
and the structure of the entity is as a: Corporation - (American).The title of the Blog is: Technical Communication
and it is located at the following address: URL: http://blogs.adobe.com/techcomm/
This blog is intended for audiences who are principally members of the professional technical communications industry, and is also aimed at students, educators, and the general public.
The goals of the Blog is to provide product support and sales, along with professional technical analysis of specific product issues. From the Blog site, the goal of the blog is stated as : “ This team blog intends to provide interesting and useful info about Technical Communication Suite, FrameMaker, RoboHelp and related issues in Technical Communication.”
Adobe Systems Incorporated is an American computer software company, with over 7,000 employees, as of 2008, that was founded in 1982 in California. Adobe’s principal focus is in the development of creative and multimedia software area.
The average length of entries in the Technical Communication blog is 148 words per post, based on the last five posts found on site. This puts the blog in the average range for the number of words used - (half of all blog posts average between 100-249 words per post) see graph, below:
Using the visual design elements and the principles of design, I find the blogsite to have
a Space focus of 2 dimensional, length and width, with a square and rectangular format. The lines used are horizontal headers with vertical columns. For unity the site maintains unity of style and form, along with color and layout. The color scheme used is a positive space soft blue with negative white space.
The site uses a balance ratio of approximately 70/30, moving from left to right with the main blog post areas on the left of the page and the categories, search and archives sections placed on the right. The shape of the columns uses a 2 column layout, with rectangular columns and a center-front display. The site achieves color and design harmony through the use of three shades of color, evenly spaced type and a generous amount of positive space in the layout.
The texture of the site appears as smooth and soft, with the screenshots adding depth. The site has good contrast with the softness of the type (soft grey) against the orange post headers. The use of Positive space throughout the site to directs focus towards the text.
The use of repetition , using the same style, font and color schemes, throughout the site creates postings that are direct and pointed towards specific topics. The site uses a font and type size of Trebuchet 13.5 for post headings, Trebuchet 11 pt for text in posts. The site has limited variety, with a heavy use of text, occasional graphics and screenshots used as needed.
The emphasis of the eye is drawn to the left side column, where the blog posts are located, and the blog site heading – stronger dark blue color on the top of the page and the orange topic headings brings attention to beginning of posts. The relative size of elements is appropriate in proportion , creates harmony, and ease of use and the site is well designed for functionality, with two disproportionate columns, the largest on left, creating easy navigation and readability of site.
The Overall Corporate Image
Using the analysis provided, the overall design of the Technical Communications (Adobe) site is practical, direct, businesslike, professional, calm.
The disclaimer that appears on the blog site limiting the responsibility of the postings to the opinions of the technical engineers lessens the reliability of the site. (see disclaimer at end of analysis.)
** This blog represents the personal opinions of the Adobe Product Management Team and do not necessarily reflect the positions or opinions of Adobe. You should conduct independent assessments before basing any decision upon the statements made in this blog.**
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