Beyond the Button

The Elements of Typographic Style Applied to the WebDigital displays are standing in for print graphics in more and more physical museum exhibits. Typography plays an important role in any print graphic design but is rarely attended to with as much detail in media displays or web design. Most of this is the result of fluid layouts and a limited number of tools to control the appearance of a web design.

The Elements of Typographic Style Applied to the Web provides many specific examples using HTML and CSS markup to properly display information with text. I am especially pleased to see them covering a great deal of minutiae that the average code monkey wouldn't be likely to consider in designing a website.

Keys on a keyboard?: Courtesy Bonnie ShulmanWhen I was in London recently a friend of mine showed me a rather interesting product that was developed in France with medical laboratories in mind but could find a comfortable home in the museum field as well. Sensitive Object's Virtual B Keyboard(VBK) turns any surface, flat or three dimensional, into a keyboard like input device.

VBK is a revolutionary ultra thin acoustic keyboard that can be used to create a fully functional 108 key computer keyboard on any surface. Two sensors mounted underneath the surface enable the entire keyboard face to be made tactile sensitive.

It works surprisingly well after some calibration and could allow designers in exhibits to get quite a bit more creative with their use of keyboards for visitor feedback.

After thinking it through my example of a banana might not be the best medium for this acoustic keyboard but you can surely see how it might work on a uniquely shaped desk, the wall next to a piece of art, or even on a large scale globe.