What’s so special about design?
The Non-Designer’s Design Book is an excellent resource for beginners. I especially like the way the author efficiently explains her topics and has plenty of pictures to go along with it.
If you haven’t done so, or it’s been a while, please re-read p. 10 in Williams. In fact, maybe we ought to read it aloud…
Some topics for us:
- The beauty of naming…
- What’s this CRAP? Compare to last week (or…this week)
Contrast (Similarity)
Repetition (Similarity and Order)
Alignment (hmm…)
Proximity (Order, Enclosure, Proximity)
Proximity, clutter, organization - Just because you can…doesn’t mean you should
- Williams practices what she preaches–notice the number of visual elements per page (p. 32)
- Ch. 8: Business Cards and Letterhead
- What is the dominant element of your design(s)?
- What’s wrong with “horsey” and “dorky” designs?
- What gets presented unconsciously?
- What about URLs?
Analyzing Assumptions/Prejudices
Time permitting (you’ll hear that line all semester), we’re going to get into group discussions on analyzing assumptions. Remember, one of the main goals of this semester is for you to be able to articulate WHY you make certain design choices. Although it happens sometimes, rarely do you do something “just because.”
I want us to consider more familiar assumptions first, but the goal is to get you to think about your preconceived biases in order to do this level of critical thinking about your assignments specifically and information design in general. Let’s hop on over to the Prejudice and Rhetoric page if we need any reminders.