Visible To The Social Network

Designers have had direct influences on the information expression for a long time. With the rapid development of massive network media, especially the upgrading of the electronic ones, however, the users gradually have more independent approaches and rights on information filtering and selection. Moreover, the booming of the Facebook, Twitter and Weibo further creates a brand new type of network, namely social network. It not only plays a leading method for the remote communication of human beings, but also acts as an indispensable way for them to collect information online. As a designer, the author puts more emphasis on how the information of social networks could be effectively received by the users, and how to use a more pointed visual language to provide better online social services.This article conducts research on visual architecture design of social networks from the following three sections. To begin with, an analysis of the functional and visual architecture design is performed for primary social networking sites at present. Besides, some improved designs are proposed based on the analysis above. In this section, the writer mainly centers on the Weibo, a micro-blog of SINA in China, as an example. Finally, a discussion will be conducted for the various social phenomenon and social behaviors generated by the social networks. The entire research ranges from information design, interaction design, visual design, and user experience design to psychology as well as sociology. It is a comprehensive and meaningful exploration for the design of social networking websites. The author also hopes this research could bring the users a deeper understanding on both the visual architecture design of social networking websites and the social networks as a whole.