Digital Reading Matter

To delve into a story and be carried away by it without interruption. To hold on to thoughts and share them. This is the experience we would ideally also expect when reading digitally. Yet the potential of digital media in this regard has still not been fully exploited. «Digital Reading Matter» nurtures the joys of digital reading by focusing on users’ specific needs.

Interview.

Digital reading is exhausting. While reading, we are confronted with questions, react to the content and criticise it, thus taking a stance – a position which we may like to share. Readers want to learn more, delve deeper. Just dive in and be driven. «Digital Reading Matter» is an application designed to bring more joy and efficiency to digital reading, based on the user’s wishes and needs. The sensors of the device are used in a functional way. An eye-tracking feature warns of possible concentration problems. Communication is fast and smooth through voice input. The previously limiting medium becomes an opportunity.

This work is highly topical and therefore eminently relevant. The application’s features are impressive innovations, and the precise design sets a new benchmark.

Link:
visualcommunication.zhdk.ch/diplom-2021/digital-reading-matter

The text reproduction feature contains options to translate, summarise and recognise text and to read out the content.

Every reader has their own personal library. For each book, there is a message centre, a short introduction about the history of the book and an overview of the author’s. life and literary output.

Structurally, the interface is divided into three main containers: the reading mode which contains the main text, a personal storage area in which the accessed content extensions can be viewed and saved, and the discussion mode.

left) The eye-tracking features constantly monitors the ability to concentrate while reading. When it deteriorates, a break is suggested to the reader. (right) The personal storage area contains a secondary navigation that enables readers to view the content they have saved by its origin. This may be comments by the author, external documents from the database and content generated by the readers themselves.

References in the main text point out existing content extensions, which can be displayed in the personal storage area. When a reference is selected, the book automatically moves back to the respective location. Reading progress is recorded in the reading bar.

Users can ask the system all kinds of questions by direct speech input. The answer is highlighted in the main text.

In discussion mode, readers can share their thoughts and engage in an active exchange of opinions with their community.

«With my project, I set new standards in the area of digital reading experiences.» – Anna Tuena

Trailer «Digital Reading Matter».

«In future, I would like to work as a visual designer in the arts and culture sector. Editorial design and poster design are two of my favourite practices, but I don’t want to deny the importance of the digital.» – Anna Tuena

Anna Tuena (*1996) is a visual designer based in Zurich. Her roots, however, are not in the city but in a small, Italian-speaking mountain village in the canton of Graubünden (Poschiavo), where she was born and raised. Following her A-levels at the Academia Engiadina, she moved to Zurich in 2016 for the design foundation course at Zurich University of the Arts. Her desire to visually express herself grew during that time and she discovered her passion for graphic design. In 2021, she completed her B.A. studies in Design with a specialisation in Visual Communication.

@anna.tuena