Week 01 - 2D

Class Format

Likewise with most classes this week, the first half of this lesson was consumed with the logistics of what we would be learning, how it will be delivered and what evidence is required at the end. This blog is one of the core evidence components along with an online portfolio and an exhibition at the end of the semester (which to my surprise is sponsored by Coopers!). The course desrciption is suitably vague, "Explore and apply the creative design process to 2D forms", with todays class consisting of a group discussion and research followed by a critical analysis of the gathered data.

Group Exercise

Splitting into pairs we were tasked with finding good and bad examples of 2D design (web pages). Cherill was my co-conspiritor as she was sitting imediately to my right. We chose Pets Online as our bad example and The League of Movable Font as our good example.

Bad Design

Logic (flow):
Too many options to choose from.

Legibility (readable/ Clear):
Navigation buttons too small.
Too busy, cluttered – font size too small.

Information (Organisation):
Again too cluttered.

Artistry (Execution/ Appeal):
Colours are bland
Buttons with font and drop shadow seem dated.

Good Design

Logic:

Simple navigation.

Clear information.

Legibility:

Clear easy to read font.

Information:

Clearly presented on one page

Artistry:

Floating layout, so screen size doesn’t matter.

Presented an eye catching font example first, this draws you into the site.

Research

Video

I like Steven Johnson's final comment in the above video, "Chance favours the connected mind". The video is essentially a distilled visual introduction to the ideas espoused in his book of the same name. Johnson is a popular culture and media theorist based in the U.S. - synopsis and links to his books can be found on his website. I think it is important when thinking about thinking to cast a wide net, a clever animated info-graphic also never hurts.

Images

Further to the group exercise, I am impressed with the design of the Apple website in recent years. Simple, clean and easy to navigate. At the same it maintains a strong relationship with Apple's physical products and hides a vast amount of functionality beneath an elegant hood. My only misgiving would be that it can feel a little like a rabbit hole when explored in greater depth.

This is also pretty classy, found while looking for this (lecturer Steven Moore's website).

Reflection

Good and bad design is of course relative. One man's silk purse is another's sow's ear (oops - mixed metaphor). The more I get into this it seems that a designer's job involves a lot of balancing between the needs and wants of the client with what we can put out there with good conscience as our work. I would characterise my own work as favouring the clean and simple. I generally have a clear and logical approach to problem solving. This is also what I consider to be a core task of the designer - that of solving problems. Problems which exist between the idea and its physical actualisation.