“What is Good Design?” Notes

In this activity I chose three sources based on the topic of  “good” design and took notes in an attempt to better understand what makes design “good” or “bad”. This activity prepared me for the “good/bad” design exercise by giving me a basic idea of what good design means to others and myself.

Netflix Documentary – Abstract: The Art of Design – S1E1

• Designer who works alone
• control freak, would love to come up with a perfect formula for creating art, BUT “it doesn’t work that way”
  • “A painful realization”
• “I have to trust for crazy moments to happen”
• Abstraction: “the idea of getting rid of everything that’s not essential to making a point”
  • So he is saying that designers design things to make a point and get a point across to an audience
• The goal was always to get proportion right and creating very hyperrealist, amazing paintings
• Cultural impact
  • Making an impact in some way with your designs
• “Extremely exciting, but never becomes easy”
  • Because you are always designing things for different or new purposes with different intents and different audiences
• His style is “based on culture, on shared experiences. This is more interesting than coming up with a visionary new way of speaking that people then have to decipher”
  • You don’t have to learn like a new language…you are just visualizing ideas…universal…people can draw their own conclusions from design…not one answer
• “It’s not about waiting for hours for this moment where inspiration strikes. It’s just about showing up getting started, and then something amazing happens or it doesn’t happen. All that matters is you enable the chance for something to happen.”
• Looks at how yellow is the perfect color for New York, it is the color of taxis, the lines at subway stations — “perfect contrast”
  • Design & “good design” can be found everywhere, design is all around us
  • Good design can simply come from the choice of one color
  • But there’s good design also in the complete function of the subway system
  • Many parts and ideas come together to form a good design
• Some stuff has to happen outside the studio — “the gateway drug is not creating art, but experiencing art”
  • “Having the whole world explained or even better, turned upside down, just by looking at a few strokes of oil paint on canvas.”
    • We can learn so much about the world through design

TED Talk- Don Norman- 3 ways good design makes you happy  (link)

• beautiful & functional and he can tell stories about it which makes it reflective
  • The 3 components
• “Pleasant things work better”
• Intense fear paralyzes you and affects the way the brain works
• When you’re happy you are more susceptible to interruption and you do out-of-the-box thinking
  • You’re more creative
• Visceral level
  • Tight fonts, red = exciting
• Keep a water bottle for decoration after using it; it’s not about the water, it’s about the bottle
  • All about the visceral experience
• Behavioral level
  • Subconscious, unaware of it
• Emotion is about interpreting the world
• Reflective level
  • No control over what you do, it looks over what’s going on, that’s good & that’s bad

What is good design? (link)

• not just pretty designs 
• Strikes emotion with the viewer and makes an impact on someone’s life
• Makes it possible for people to improve their quality of life
• Put form and sense into what we see around us 
• Effective visual language that conveys one’s voice 
• Coming up with the best solutions to problems 
• “Good design helps us enjoy our complexities when we can and brings simplicity when we can’t”
• Clarity, purpose, appeal
• Specific in context and broad in its reach

 

“Good/Bad” Design Exercise

While completing the good and bad design exercise, I was able to think about what type of design I notice and appreciate in my life. I also thought it was a good exercise to start thinking about what my personal style is and will be. As designers, we often draw inspiration from others and from things we see and use everyday (like some of the logos I chose for this exercise). This exercise was a good place to begin understanding what designs have influenced my current personal style, as well as what direction I intend for my style to develop.

Good Design I Like

I think the Nike logo is good design because it is both pleasant to look at and functional. The simple yet unique shape forms a logo that is easily recognizable and has made the brand very well known – it is broad in its reach. The thought and meaning behind the logo shape also makes this a good design. The logo is a symbol of a wing of the Greek Goddess, Nike (the goddess of victory). Therefore, not only does this logo make an impact on the brand and its consumers by being easily recognizable and aesthetic, but it is also functional in the fact that makes a point about victory and working hard.

Bad Design I Dislike

 

 

I think airplane seats are a bad design. Although the design of the seats is technically functional, there’s no comfort to them. I think the comfort of the passengers should’ve been taken into farther consideration because as a designer, you need to think about who will be impacted by your design and how to make your design work best for the specific audience.

 

 

 

Good Design I Dislike

 

 

One design I do not like is the facebook app. I think it is inconvenient to use and can sometimes be confusing. There are a lot of components in the app to use and when compared to other social media platforms such as instagram, I think the design of facebook is . Even though I think it’s bad, I am almost reticent to admit it because I know a lot of people do like using the app. Also, the app has been around forever and is a trillion dollar company, so it feels like it should be as design I like.

 

 

 

Bad Design I Like

Some people believe the eBay logo is a bad design because it is just the name of the company with the all the letters touching and each letter in a different color. It makes it seem like there was no creativity or thought put into designing the logo and some people would not even consider it a “logo” because it is just the name of the company. However, this logo is a design I like because, although it is simple, I still think it is memorable, fulfills its purpose, and uses eye-catching colors that work well next to each other. Almost anyone could describe what the eBay logo looks like and I think that is exactly what a logo should accomplish.

 

Here is a link to a pdf of my good and bad design document.

 

About Me

By completing the about me assignment, I have designed a page on my website that introduces who I am as a person and as a designer. I used the page as a space to explore what I believe design is and to introduce my future plans as a designer. I also wanted to consider the design of my About Me page itself because I intend for everything I create to reflect my personal design style.

Assignment Process

When designing my About Me page of my website, I wanted to create a simple layout that is easy for the viewer to understand and has a clean composition, making it easy to look at. Although I aimed to design a simple layout, I still wanted to reflect my personal style through my images and calligraphy. I originally designed my layout on Google Slides because I’m familiar with the program and knew I could design it exactly how I envisioned it in my head. I then took my ideas from the sample layout I created on Google Slides and tried to replicate it as best as I could in the u.osu program.

Iterations

Below is my first draft of a layout for my about me page. I created this layout on google slides because there were zero restrictions on where I could move my images and text boxes, so this was a good program to draft my initial envision for my page.

 

Below is an image of my second draft of a layout for my about me page created in the u.osu program. I attempted to design the information so that it looked like the layout I created in google slides, but certain restrictions within the program would not allow me to do so. From here, I had to figure out what needed to be added or deleted to create a better flow throughout the page and better spacing between the images and text.

Lastly, below is an image of my final about me page. I ended up deleting one of my images so that the layout flowed better, the text was organized in a way that is easy for the viewer to read, and the most important information and images was not changed.

Reflection

Designing the About Me Page was my first time working with a program with such limited constraints. I normally design on platforms that allow me to have full creative control over my project. However, with the limited nature of the u.osu platform, I had to think of ways to rearrange my information in a way that would both work within the limitations and maintain the integrity of my original design and information. It took a lot of trial and error before completing my final design of the page, but the process was a great way to develop my design skills and was a great space to reflect on what I want to explore in the design program and beyond. Throughout my time in the design program, I also plan to add and change things to my about me page as my style and skills continue to develop.

Link to About Me