Using a print graphic as the basis to develop an interactive graphic main menu

This image might be used very effectively as the basis of a print graphic to re-inforce ideas of navigation and routing within interactive applications discussed in a book like ours - but it would not be appropriate as an actual main menu graphic for an application. However, with some changes to move it from the print style, it could be made to serve an interactive environment better.

There are good elements within the graphic style and components for its printed purpose. The use of the compass points, telescope and pencil are used to give the impression of depth and distance from the part of the picture representing the main computer screen. The way they overlap the main image is a modern graphic convention at odds with the images themselves, which evoke a period in history long in the past.

They complement as well as re-inforce the other icons. This extra layer of images, apart from the icons of the ships, compass and treasure chest, would not usually form part of a main interactive screen because their presence detracts from the clear identification of which images the user needs to use. Their artistic purpose in a static graphic becomes less efficient in an interactive environment because they make it difficult to position a pointer to make a selection.

Imagine this map is the main menu of an application about sunken treasure ships, their location and their treasures. Without the extra layer of images, the screen is clear but rather clinical. It leaves the user in no doubt as to the interactive icons on the screen but it lacks the force of the first graphic. The depth has disappeared. The feeling of being outside the map but being given a chance to step into it and become part of it have gone. The flatness takes the edge of excitment away. The concepts of exploration and adventure lose impact too. Main menus need to have a certain clarity so the move towards a less cluttered, more focused image is right. But does it have to lose so much of its impact?

A main menu needs to do more than just indicate the content of an application; it needs to have enough character to entice the user to use the program. This will be achieved if the design uses subtle ways to suggest the emotional impact of the content as well as the factual, and this can be done through images.

Here, the graphic style suggests exploration and adventure once more. This is achieved by the compass points, telescope and pencil intruding into the screen. But they are not as prominent as in the graphic for text. They do not obstruct interaction with the main icons. They do not take up too much valuable screen space.

The compass points, telescope and pencil are interesting because of their graphic positioning as part hidden and part visible. This is at odds with the strong boundary of the maps edges and so causes a tension that is exciting. Their incompleteness symbolises the key concept of the application - concealment, something hidden. Many would not recognise why the image has the impact it does because it is subtle.

Compare it with the menu without the border. Can you feel the difference?

This menu could have been constructed with several other styles. It could have used realistic images but would they have prompted the user to want to explore? It could have used background sounds, but they can become irritating after a while. It could have had animated images, but do these lose their appeal over time?

Sometimes realistic images are too clinical and leave nothing to the user's imagination. Here, the promise of stepping into an old map has allure. Subtle sophistication, like the half-hidden images, can often have a lasting impact simply because most users find it too difficult to analyse why one image has more impact on them than another.

Main menus need to take into account not only the representation of the content but also the way to capture the attention of the user and keep it over a period of time. The style of graphics can make the difference. Because the main menu is so important, it deserves time and effort. Hopefully this comparison of a graphic that is appropriate for printed matter and the way it would need to alter to serve in an interactive environment will clarify the transition needed between the media and graphic style.