The current issue of International designers Network is a gem. Its focus is infographics and this issue contains some wonderful examples. The infographics section contains the work and short interviews with 14 designers and I highly recommend picking up the magazine. It is filled with inspiration, and not just for infographics.
Archive for the ‘Design’ Category
Infographics in IdN
Wednesday, September 24th, 2008
Radio Frequencies
Thursday, September 4th, 2008Every morning on my drive to work, I pass the time with a little help from my radio. Its usually just background noise that helps me make the short transition from home to work, but lately, I’ve noticed an alarming trend in radio commercials, at least in the Dallas area, to use car horns as part of their advertisements. I cry, “Poor design!” and here’s why:
1. The purpose of a car horn is to communicate with fellow drivers on the road, especially in a dangerous situation. The horns in these ads are crying wolf and undermine the importance of and desensitize us to the actual sound.
2. I am sure the creator of the ad intended the car horn to act as a way to catch the listeners attention and make their ad stand out, hopefully in a positive way. At least for me, this has the opposite effect. I get so irritated when I hear a horn misused on the radio that I immediately turn the station without listening to the rest of the ad and if I do happen to catch the name of the advertiser, I have negative feelings toward them for being so irresponsible.
3. C’mon poeple, be creative! How much more predictable can you get than using a horn sound effect for a car dealership commercial. You are not distinguishing your brand from any of the other hundreds of car-related business out there.
So please, Mr. Radio Ad Producer, spend some time to thoughtfully design the ads your clients are paying good money for. The result might just be an ad that actually works.
The Consummate Web Designer
Tuesday, August 26th, 2008Design portfolios these days are stuffed with traditional odds and ends: a few logos, some packaging, some print, and?to appear relevant?a bit of web work. This betrays a disturbingly pervasive view of web design as being yet another socket wrench in any given designer’s toolbox. As a discipline, web design has specific needs and benefits that demand experience and informed approaches, specific to the media. Ignorance to these necessities causes those factors to be skewed, downplayed, or outright ignored in order to force the web to fit anachronistic and inappropriate ideas of design.
Web design is its own unique discipline, and therefore requires a distinct type of designer. This consummate web designer has the expertise to focus not only on aesthetic appeal, but also clean, semantic markup, empowering them to fashion the well-crafted web product that clients are growing to expect. A chronic failure to see this within the creative industries is creating needless tension and is draining countless dollars from both agency revenues, and the profits of their clients.
Designers Don’t Code. Web Designers Do.
Beyond Photoshop or Dreamweaver, the most consequential resource for a web designer is the intimate working knowledge and understanding of the web’s constraints that can only come from developing front-end code. Constraints should be nothing new to designers. No matter the media, design practitioners operate under restrictions 99% of the time. Finding ways to transcend limitations distinguishes us as artists, but only doing so when it is relevant and appropriate grounds us professionals. This is where web design breaks from the more established design disciplines: The web requires a designer with an aptitude for understanding front-end development languages and how they balance and/or constrain the aesthetics.
Any web designer’s driving focus must be to create a functional, contextual and visually appealing experience. To do this well requires a skill that every design discipline requires: the imposing of control to even the most meticulous of details. For the consummate web designer, this includes crafting the entire product, especially the front-end code. They do not merely provide the design concept because to them, that is not web design, its speculation. Handing off layouts to another person for development is surrendering the control of too many variables. Does this other person have the same intimate understanding of the project goals? Does he or she have the same level of care about details such as negative space and color distribution? Do they even know why Georgia was used in order provide an appropriate font substitute in the CSS? A web designer should understand that everything that controls the display of a site’s content falls in to their sphere of responsibility, because only a designer’s expertise is suited to deliver the scrutiny and craft needed for a truly quality product.
Designers that detest the idea of touching code don’t need to learn it. They can go off and be the great designers they know they are, but they should avoid the web altogether. Also, front-end developers that do not consider themselves design decision-makers need to realize that they inherently make decisions that directly influence the design, and should be knowledgeable about the results of those decisions. Whether they like it or not, they are playing the role of designer, and that is not a responsibility that should be low on any priority list. (more…)
Hey Unitards! Design Mantra?
Friday, August 15th, 2008This week the Unitards, in the name of all that is whimsical, will be answering in the form of puzzles. The first reader to post a comment with all three answers, and contribute a design mantra of their own, will receive a prize!
Andy Puzzles:
“Creepifnot si headvice, otn hewn treeh si gonthin rome ot dad, utb nwhe
ehetr is hinotgn flet ot kate yaaw.”
? Neation ed Tanis-Pureex
Angela Queries:
Nathan Challenges:
? Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
Hey Unitards! Are Graphic Mock Ups Even Applicable?
Thursday, August 7th, 2008Andy Says: I think the most conspicuous examples of those who don’t use graphic mock ups in their website/app projects are companies who don’t have clients. They build applications for themselves to then market as products. This context is significantly different from that of designing for clients. Clients generally need to see something concrete and tangible in order to invest full confidence in your work, especially when there are important branding concerns associated with it. For my work with clients of Unit Interactive, I always craft graphic comps. I’ve often skipped this phase when working for personal projects, but that’s an entirely different context.
Angela Says: I have always produced comps for the designs I’ve created for my clients. Creating comps first allows you to really think through the information design and defines the structure the site will take on. In essence, you are creating a blueprint that dictates the end result and allows for quicker development time, as the design decisions have already been decided. Would a good contractor start building a house without architectural plans? Would you want to live in that house after it was built?
Also, I advocate the HTML being semantic and some of the design decisions made in the comp stage can help determine the correct context for the markup. And one more thing, any graphics that are used in the site have to be created anyway, so why not pull those graphics from the whole picture that you’ve already poured over in great detail, rather than making them piece by piece as you go?
Nathan Says: Photoshop [Macromedia savvies read “Fireworks”] cannot correctly emulate the browser environment. It’s true. The fonts are handled differently, colors skew, and pixel-perfect negative space sometimes requires lots of finagling. This fact makes me think I should go all 37signals on Adobe a give it the cold shoulder. But then I remember a mantra from my design education: Always start in pencils. Pencils allow for the exploration of more ideas in a shorter amount of time than full Photoshoped comps. This helps me to not lock in on any one idea too soon, and stay focused on concepts, eschewing execution until necessary.
Graphic mock ups set a foundation for a completed, functional site in much the same way that pencils lay the groundwork for the aesthetics: by allowing me to focus on only what is necessary for that step in the process. Also, in my experience, clients have a hesitancy to skip steps where they should be able to provide input and/or approval, and by giving them that stake in the visual approach, you build a trust that allows further decisions to go more smoothly.
The Future of Web Browsing
Tuesday, August 5th, 2008Mirror, mirror on the wall, show us what the future browser will look to us all. The mirror clouds and through the smoke appears something called Aurora, a project Adaptive Path has been working on in conjunction with Mozilla Labs. The video concept depicts a vision of how browsing and user interaction might evolve in the future. And if that weren’t enough, Unit had a small role in the project by designing the New York Times site used in the video.
It is an interesting experience designing for something that doesn’t exist yet, but in such a fast-paced industry, its always wise to be looking forward. Over the next couple of weeks, Adaptive Path will release more video segments, as well as background material showing just what went into imagining the future of the Web.
For more details about our process, be sure to check out Andy’s article.
Beyond Comp Review: Two designs enter. One leaves.
Thursday, July 31st, 2008In my previous experience, I had always heard “Marketing execs/business owners are Type A Personalities, so they like to see as many options as possible…” This modus operandi kept me overworking conceptual failures, over-thinking muddled compositions, and mired in revisions. I could see that this system was broken, though I wasn’t sure of how it could be done better.
Once I became an official Unitard, Andy and Angela introduced me to their two comp approach. As Andy puts it: “We try to give two intelligent design directions, because after that we’re just finding new ways to decorate the information”. This was compelling, but it wasn’t until I adopted this practice myself, that I fully understood the benefits. (more…)
Hey Unitards! What about TV?
Thursday, July 24th, 2008Andy Says: I think everything is a valid inspiration for designers (said another way, validity’s got nothing to do with it). I’ve drawn design inspiration from everything from a fishing magazine to a park bench. I certainly think that television is ripe source for inspiration. And while the artsy shows you’re talking about often create a direct relationship to creativity and design-y elements and issues, I think that when it comes to inspiration, it can come from any moment you might observe. I don’t think it matters what sort of show creates the trigger, since inspiration is something that often springs forth from some secret and invisible place. Inspiration also seems to strike most often (for me at least) when one is filled with positive emotion. So if you’re watching a show you really like or if you witness something especially interesting or pleasing, you’re often very close to the inspiration “vent.”
Angela Says: Short answer ? yes, TV inspires me. As a self-proclaimed TV addict, I could probably write a book about the shows I love to watch and that inspire me as a designer, but I’ll stick to some of my favorites. I love being able to see each contestant’s creative process in “Project Runway” and “Design Star”. With reality shows like this, it is interesting to see how they approach the design challenge and what questions they ask their clients when they are given the opportunity to do so. Another of my favorites is “Get Color” on HGTV which takes color theory and applies it to interior design. I’ve actually used some of the color palettes I’ve seen on that show in my own design. Finally, I have to mention “Pushing Daisies”, which is obviously not a reality show, but it is whimsical, imaginative and fantastical which simply puts me in a creative mood.
Nathan Says: I try my best not to watch TV. Not that I have a particular bias against TV, I just have found that it is a major time suck with very little return for my investment. Nonetheless, I find myself planted in front of it most evenings, and I have found some bright shiny spots in the mire of current programming. I enjoy the “artistic” reality shows, both for the creative processes, and the parts where contestants must defend their work, work with others, or just communicate their ideas in general. Watching both the good and the bad of creative interaction can be enlightening. In addition, well written, psuedo-non-formulaic dramas such as “Heroes” and “Mad Men” charge my brain up for future ideas and just make me excited to be a creative professional. Oh yeah, and pro-wrestling. You can learn a lot from pro-wrestling.