by Lindsay Sleightholm | Feb 21, 2012 | Business Success, Design, Interactive
As I was drinking my morning coffee on a lovely Sunday, I came across an article online that really got my attention. It’s called ‘Graphic designers are ruining the web’. So much for enjoying my coffee.
In the article written by John Naughton and published on theguardian.co.uk, the author expresses his distaste for graphic design on the Internet. Basically, his view is that graphic designers are taking away from the integrity of the information by using extraneous graphics to load down web pages – in doing so, crippling the user experience. Obviously, Mr. Naughton doesn’t truly understand what graphic designers do.
As most of us know, web and graphic design is not that simplistic and it certainly has no devious intentions. It’s not about pretty pictures or design for design’s sake. Graphic design is about visual communication, clarity of message and ultimately the audience, market or end user as the case may be – for the given media. It focuses on the flow of information and contributes to the ease of which it can be absorbed by the reader.
The web is evolving much faster than any other form or media and with that comes a learning curve. Designers today are very much aware of this and are creating for the web in order to enhance successful user experience. Graphic Designers are using their skills to provide not only an aesthetic environment but also aid the streamlined flow of content.
When in their infancy, web design and development both had a lot to learn. There was a time when all we did as users was wait for pages to load – even when every pixel was used to it’s fullest efficiency.
The site referenced by Mr. Naughton, norvig.com is indeed quick to load. And visually, if compared to an Excel spreadsheet, it also makes perfect sense. However, there is no real indication of how to navigate the site – it’s just made up of links, and many don’t provide enough, if any, information as to the content they contain. I guess for the user who has all the time in the world, this doesn’t matter. Clarity of information was not something this site deemed important and shows a lack of understanding of the user.
Yes, there are still a great many sites that continue to ‘weigh us down’ so to speak. Although, how many of those are a result of the businesses themselves not improving their sites because they don’t understand how to or believe that it’s a priority? As a result, the majority of users know not to visit these sites. And no traffic, well we all know what that means.
The World Wide Web needs not only be efficient but well designed. It’s end user experience and quality therein will continue to grow as it has been and sites will continue to thrive as a result. And graphic design will continue to play a large part in that success. So what have I learned out of all this? We, as graphic designers, still have a way to go before the public truly understands the value of what we do. Oh, and I also learned to stop surfing the web while I’m drinking my Sunday morning coffee.
by Angelika Orgacki | Oct 7, 2011 | Creative
Sitting in on a production meeting at 3H and listening to how the team is trying to come up with an innovative idea for a new project caused me to recall a video I had watched in my Design Thinking class. The video was titled “The Deep Dive” and was about the employees at IDEO, a design firm, who were devising a plan to redesign the shopping cart. As with any of their projects, the employees at IDEO stress the importance of brainstorming to help create the best idea. The most interesting part of the video, and the one that seemed most fitting to this production meeting at 3H was IDEO’s acceptance and encouragement of wild ideas. The video reveals several ideas the team comes up with and emphasizes the need to build on wild ideas in order to ultimately achieve something innovative. This type of brainstorming was referred to as “focused chaos” and I have come to understand its practical application here at 3H as the team strives for innovative and creative ideas in everything they do.
The idea of brainstorming has peaked my curiousity of the actual origin of brainstorming. I visited Google for a little help to learn that Alex Faickney Osborn was the first to introduce group-thinking sessions to generate more ideas. He essentially set the technique of brainstorming into action. Osborn developed 4 rules to follow:
- Focus on quantity
- Withold criticism
- Welcome unusual ideas
- Combine and improve ideas.
Looking at these ideas, and comparing it to the brainstorming methods at IDEO and 3H, it is obvious to see that we continue to apply Osborn’s method as we search for the perfect answer to any and every problem at hand. It is with these unrealistic and diverse thoughts that we can step back and see what elements can be combined and eliminated to develop something new and creative.
by Miriam Hara | Jul 27, 2011 | Business Success, Design
Good designers are adaptable. They can adapt to their audience with their knowledge of edgy, corporate, fun, serious, funky design. Variety and choice is key when you are pitching to your clients. If they don’t have choice, they won’t feel in control of their creative vision.
Providing the client choice is a great way for them to really identify with one path, and not just accept or reject one.
Listen to your clients as well – you are the marketing expert, but they are often a good way of gauging the tone that your creative will evoke may differ from the brain waves flowing within your agency.
Colour doesn’t make it another creative concept.
It’s obvious that you need a well-rounded staff, able to adapt to whatever needs your clients may have, but designers need to have an arsenal of style. They need to be the edge of the leading edge, because the visual is the thing that either creates the trend or dies before it. Copy, although intonation has changed a little, has a very small spectrum of ultimate change in mood and verbiage, but visuals are constantly in flux. Get a team of designers that are not only visionary, but on top of the game – or visionary because they create the game – is the best investment your company will make in its brain trust. Your designers need to think conceptually, be adaptable, and they need to be perfectionists. Tall order? Yes. But when the right designer comes along, design magic happens.
by Miriam Hara | Mar 2, 2011 | Creative, Design
Typography, although not known to many outside of the design field, is a huge factor when it comes to print and interactive media. A lot of the toil and sweat goes unnoticed in those 2-10 key words that usually make up headlines. It is a subtle art, and is not as simple as some have surmised – the ability to convey a message that marries the design perfectly. It is an integral process of the design strategy. It can’t be obvious, has to be understated – yet it has to be bold enough to marshal attention. A good headline could even be the entire base of a creative.
Think of the creative dynamic as a sturdy table, and the headline is the top of the table, where all the ideas sit, and the design, copy, creative are the legs.
A good headline not only conveys an instant message, but also embodies the concept of the ad total. It can’t compete with the visual, it has to make the visual snap into a conscious place in the ad viewer’s conscious – and it has to aim to stay there.
The message has to be clear, but the typography should somehow embody it.
Typography is no accident – just look at your ads and decide – what really catches your eye? What do you remember? If typography wasn’t essential, do you think most corporations would bother regulating their font types? (ie. Apple’s most notable success found with the now iconic Adobe Myriad, and the market’s constant notice of its change.)
3 things to remember:
Positioning : placement tells a story
Size and font type: sets the tone and feel
Content: Consider what will make the design memorable
