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I love it but, as main header, I prefer the old because it is simpler and cleaner, and works better at low size. Can we keep this as secondary header for pages that call for a more artistic and visually complex graphics?
and just a minor nitpick. "examining the social implications of technological progress" alone should be enough, since technology is applied science and the only way for social implications to occur is if it is applied.
Wow! Lovely artwork! Really like it...thank you Tristan Hambling! : ) ....but I'm not so sure about the main text (the 'examining...'etc works very well graphically I think though I agree with the nitpick above!. (a) it gets in the way of the pictures and (b) it's not that clear. Also...uh...depends on the audience and whether we're trying to look cool and young and popular and attract the public, or whether we're wearing our business suits and trying to attract the attention of those we need to persuade that all this stuff isn't so way out after all ; )
So I'm actually with Guilio on this, though that seems a shame because this is such a lovely gift...if we had a password protected part of the site for us this would be a lovely thing to put there! I'd certainly like to look at it each time I logged in.
It's a good nitpick; thanks for the suggestion. But I'm wondering, if we make that edit, should we also consider changing the word 'social' to 'societal'?
Heather, in your comment, are you thinking that maybe we should remove the subheading ("examining...") altogether?
As for restricting use of the new header to password protected parts of the site, or at least not using it on the home page, I'm not so sure. I've always thought the old header was boring, uninspiring, and looked amateurish.
Also, I'm not convinced that the new artwork makes us appear "way out" -- I'm 55 years old and people in my generation have been seeing stuff like that for decades. Don't forget, we *invented* Star Trek!
After you've received enough comments and nitpicks, why not unleash the power of the virtual democracy that we are fond of, and put it to a vote? Now you have you next poll, once enough people have said they want to live forever
Please keep both "science" and "technology". Science has many social implications whether it has technological applications or not. For a start, it constantly changes our perceptions of ourselves and our place in the universe.
I think the header looks nice in itself, but I have to agree with some of the comments above - to me it gives the impression of a video game graphic and I doubt it will contribute to IEET being taken more seriously. So I prefer the old header, or at least something less flashy than this.
As for the subheading, societal implications would be better, or you might want to go with the now hip ELSI (ethical, legal and social implications/issues). And I also agree that "science" should be kept along with technology - theoretical/basic science can have large societal impacts, just think of the Darwinian view of life! And I also don't like the bundling into "technoscience" that some academics like to use, so I prefer mentioning the impact of science and technology whenever I write about such matters.
I like it as it is. I don't mind "societal", but I prefer language that is as accessible to the public as possible. I also don't see the need for something more staid. We'll never be staid enough for those who care about that. So better, I think, to be ourselves - which is something geeky and clever, but cool in our way. I think Tristan's design does the job nicely.
From a graphic designer's point of view -- it's not good. The text mushes in with images too much, and the graphics themselves are too muddy. The IEET logo (and all of the text for that matter) is part of the graphic and thus is unreadable by blind and other people with disabilities (their browser can't read the text).
The text should be in CSS below (and or next to) the graphics. Good graphic (and Web) design obsesses and strives for perfection... No offense meant, but this looks amateurish.
Peace
I think the staff of the IEET is creative enough to strike the balance between gravitas and hipness. Unfortunately, the header looks amateurish exactly because of the reasons brought up by Delapaix. Also, from an academic's perspective, the expression "technological progress" is too loaded while "technological change" would be better because it is more neutral.
I'm torn between "it's a lovely header" and "it's a bit too busy."
I'm focused more on the words, "examining the societal implications of science and technological progress"
One gets the sense that IEET does much more than 'examine.' It 'promotes,' too.
Actually, Frank, that's the wrong sense -- and if this new header sends the message that the IEET's mission is mostly about promoting the rapid development and implementation of these powerful emerging technologies *without* careful and thorough study of their implications, then it does not accurately portray our mission.
Wait, are you 'bryce' or 'Frank'?
In either case, my comment was intended to say that we do not want the IEET to be seen as indiscriminately "promoting" the tech. That's not our purpose and it would be inaccurate if we made that impression. Groups like Humanity+ play a different role than us -- they are more about popularizing and promoting H+ technologies, while the IEET is much more focused on examining them and providing academically sound findings to decision makers.
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