Kidd
I think what stood out for me most in the articles is that graphic design is not, as Kidd says, “purposeful planning that uses any combination of forms, pictures, words, and meanings to achieve one’s goal,” but is in a way, problem-solving. I think that’s an interesting way of putting it, especially since I don’t like to think of it as problem-solving. When I design something, I don’t like going in knowing the bigger picture. I guess this is something I will try to do in my assignments in the future and see if planning ahead makes a difference.
(You can read more about that in Finding My Way.)
Kidd says that graphic design, however, is built to impact how you think about things, which is something I agree with. For example, I heard someone once say restaurants use a lot of red because it triggers something in your brain that makes you feel hungry. To convey the point you want to get across, you can use tools such as the ones we were encouraged to think about while doing the DesignBlitz.
I can also get behind the idea that everything we do in a way is by design, even if no one really thinks about it. I am the sort of person that plans out my days and such.
I wasn’t a big fan of the article. With all the links, videos, and audio sections I felt a little lost. I didn’t like all the rabbit holes I could have possibly gone down. I know this was mentioned as a bonus, but I found it rather distracting. The lack of rabbit holes is actually one of the reasons I still prefer to read things in print. Also because of all the links, I’m sure I missed something. I wasn’t sure if we were actually expected to click on them all. I hated the article due to this, which of course meant my writing for this is probably not at its best. I don’t think I’ll read anything by Brain Pickings again anytime soon.
The Vignelli Canon–
In the booklet, one thing I discovered was that I need to pay more attention to details, or what Vignelli calls discipline. I feel like especially with this class, I’ve started to let my attention to detail slide. I guess, at least in terms of discipline, I don’t procrastinate because it freaks me out to turn in an assignment close to the due date. However, under discipline, I disagree when he says quality is there or not. I think a lot of art is subjective and what one person views as quality another might not.
I also found it interesting that ambiguity can be seen as a positive thing. I like the idea of designs not having strict interpretations and it will be something I will need to consider conveying in my future design products.
I will also need to figure out ways my designs can make a stronger impact. One way Vignelli suggests I might be able to do this is by using a different scale within the same project.
Vignelli says that grids are a useful tool when creating graphic design. I don’t exactly make a grid when I go any sort of design, but I can see what he means. When using sites such as Canva, lines are provided to show how the objects you are placing on your project line up, and that has been very helpful to me.
In the booklet, Vignelli also talks about the type size relationship and provides some rules. Admittedly these rules are more like suggestions, given that he says that there are exceptions to them.
However, while Vignelli’s booklet contained some useful advice not all of it can be applied to this class. For example, one section of his booklet discusses the selection of paper sizes and the different parts of a printed book.
