What makes good design, you ask?: good design is innovative, makes a product useful, makes a product understandable, aesthetic, unobtrusive, honest, long-lasting, thorough, environmentally friendly, and as little design as possible. I completely agree with Dieter rams and agree that successful design does follow these guidelines. To me, the most important of these guidelines is "Good design is as little design as possible". I think it's important to realize that the most successful and memorable designs are simple, and not weighed down and burdened with non-essentials. It is important that the design be simple and easy for a general audience to use and understand easily. Another important point is that "Good design is long-lasting." Successful designs are memorable and able to be used over a period of time without seeming dated. This is especially important when considering today's throwaway society.
Don Norman on 3 ways good design makes you happy
According to Don Norman, good design makes the consumer happy by hitting three emotional cues caused by the object hitting three emotional cues, by being beautiful, functional, and reflective. He also references a study which proves that a boost of happiness can make people more creative thinkers, and can cause people to focus better than nerves and anxiety. Good design causes this kind of happiness by giving the consumer a sense of control while also evoking sensuality and beauty. Overall, emotion is a huge part of design, and good design in particular.
If I was able to ask Don Norman a question, I would probably ask him: If good design evokes emotion and causes the consumer happiness, is all design that evokes emotion and causes the consumer to be happy considered good design?
Twenty Rules for Making Good Design
The twenty rules for making good design are as follows:
- Have a concept.
- Communicate - don't decorate.
- Speak with one visual voice.
- Use two typeface families maximum. Sometimes three.
- Use the one-two punch.
- Pick colors on purpose.
- If you can do it with less, then do it.
- Negative space is magical - create it, don't just fill it up.
- Treat the type as image, as though it's just as important.
- Type is only type when it's friendly.
- Be universal; remember that it's not about you.
- Squish and separate.
- Distribute light and dark like firecrackers and the rising sun.
- Be decisive. Do it on purpose - or don't do it at all.
- Measure with your eyes: design is visual.
- Create images - don't scavenge.
- Ignore fashion.
- Static equals dull.
- Look to history, but don't repeat it.
- Symmetry is the ultimate evil.
The three rules I think are the most important are: if you can do it with less, then do it, be universal; remember that it's not about you, and look to history, but don't repeat it. I think many successful designs are minimalist and so I agree that it can be better to design with less. As a designer, I also think it's important to remember that you're designing for a client and an audience, not yourself. What you think may be the best design may not be the best design for the client. Finally, I think it's important to be familiar with and inspired by famous and successful designers of the past, but it's important to be original. You don't want to be remembered as a designer whose work looks like a new version of someone else's. Be original.
The three rules I think I could practice more are: negative space is magical, symmetry is the ultimate evil, and pick colors on purpose. Very rarely are my final designs heavy in negative space. I definitely want to experiment more with the way that negative space leads the viewer's eye around the page. I also struggle with asymmetry. Sometimes I find it to be too awkward looking if something is not symmetrical, and I would like to experiment more with placing things off balance. Finally, I need to focus more on picking colors on purpose. Though I do pick colors because they work well together, I think sometimes I pick an aesthetic palette, but forget how these colors should relate to the project. Other times I think I use the wrong combination of colors, or am too color heavy.
If I could ignore three of these rules, I would choose: have a concept, communicate - don't decorate, and ignore fashion. Sometimes, I think it can be beneficial to just start designing without any particular goals or concepts in mind and then work on forming a concept. I also wish I could ignore the communicate - don't decorate rule. Though it's important to communicate clearly to the consumer and the client, I don't think it's necessary to put decoration on the back burner. Something can be decorative and easy to understand. Finally, what's wrong with acknowledging fashion?! While I agree, sometimes following the trends can lead to boring, expected, trite, and tacky designs, I also think that if you're looking to grab a certain audience, following what's in fashion can lead to success.
No comments:
Post a Comment