Contrast, Contrast, Contrast!

We had a lovely color lecture in class recently, and let me tell you, I didn't realize how much thought goes into color usage in ads and how many ways there are to do it wrong. Jeez, it was a crazy class. Here are some of the more important rules and principles to follow!

This is an example of contrasting chroma.
See how the background is so faded but
her shirt is so bright? It makes the
composition pop!

Same deal with this picture. Contrasting
chroma for the win!

This would be an example of contrasting
hues. See the color differences there?
The same chroma (intensity), but very
different actual colors. It's nice. 

A rainbow is probably the best example of
contrasting hues I can think of. ALL of the
hues are there, and they all seemingly
harmonize, even if only for a minute. 

This would be an example of contrasting values.
Basically, colors in the same "family" that
are different shades of each other. Here is my
favorite color, blue! 

Orange contrasting values!

Inspiration? Definitely Not Short On That

Hallmark Symposium #1

John Bienlenberg

For a first lecture, this man set the bar extremely high for anyone else who walks through those double doors at Budig 110. After hearing about at the projects and collaborations this guy does and why he does them, I wanted to run to Hashinger and start a project to save the world. So here are the steps to attempting to do that effectively:

Be Bold

Get Out

Think Wrong

Make Stuff

Bet Small

Move Fast

Fear Less

All of these steps sound a little strange, but once you see how they work, you understand. Bienlenberg wasn’t short on examples either, he demonstrated the steps in projects like an ad campaign for Soda Stream, Youth Spark, and Nadabike.com.  

Some things to look up after this:

makelab.us

herobike.org

nadabike.com

Stephan Stagmeister, Graphic Designer

Alex Bikuski and the Fearless Cottage

Common, a collaborative brand

Books:

“The Manifesto For New Capitalism”

“Little Bets”

And now you have to make the promise…

I Agree To Do Something Meaningful With My Life

First Photo Shoot!

 

So the whole point of this first photo shoot was trial and error. What works? What doesn't? Reflecting on what I should do for good photo matter in the days before, I decided I wanted to show my object in use. In advertisements, that is the part I remember, the thing that makes me want to buy something. It is all about the image you create for the product, the atmosphere it is being used in, etc.

I like the "glass-like" feel of this picture
you can see its edges clearly, even though
they aren't outlined. 

I was thinking about angles quite a
bit when I started this, and decided an
elevated cup would give off a feeling
of status.

One of the most important things is seeing
the object actually being useful. So I borrowed my
Dad and his sweet mustache for this pic.

If you didn't know already,
this is me. I'll admit, I could've
used some more makeup in
this shot, but you can't change
the past :)

Blue Watch, Blue Cup, and the liquid defines the
outer edges of the glass!

Again, more usage. I very much
a fan of Powerade.

This is perhaps the best picture I took. It ended up
being the center piece for my preliminary poster. 

There is definitely a lot going on
in this photo, but the idea was
that someone was driving away
and left their glass atop their car.

Don Norman, the Genius

Don Norman is a genius. What a character. His mere visage made me far more open to the message he had to relay. So now I know, good design is no accident. Design itself is subjective, however, the psychology in this video is the reason why our teachers can say, “do what feels right,” and it makes perfect sense. Good design makes you happy. It actually releases endorphins in your brain when something looks aesthetically appealing to you and is functional as well. Three things to remember;

            Beauty, Balance, and Functionality.

These are the three most important things to a designer. Without one, the others don’t make sense. Why did you spend so long on that design if it doesn’t work well? How could you make that knife cut like butter but then get sloppy on the aesthetic appeal? Doesn’t it deserve your best foot forward if you already spent so much time on it? Balance in composition, no matter what the medium, is essential for it to be well received.

When you’re happy you think outside the box, when you’re anxious you focus more. Remember that when you set up your work space, living place, etc.   

What Is Good Design? This Is How We'll Find Out

As the introductory project to our Think and Make class, the purpose of this project is to teach us the basic principles of design without necessarily giving us a hard list of rules and saying, “If you break these, you’re wrong.” Thus we’ve learned about many designers who have come up with lists of consistent elements in renowned designs. Deiter Rams has given us a list of ten design principles to live by, Don Norman has explained the psychological link between good design and happiness, and we’ve been given a crash course in values, hues, and chroma.

            To display the knowledge our class has absorbed, we’ve all created our respective blogs for reflections and begun a most precarious task… picking out a well-designed object and creating a poster for it. We started out with five and began narrowing down the list through activities like peer evaluation and comparison to the rules we’d received. The final product is one object and many reasons why it’s the winner. The reasons we put to use on the product posters we’ve created to show off it’s essential design elements.

Design Reading Reflections

By Design

I think this book’s introduction does an amazing job of displaying how design is all around us. So many people are ignorant of the world’s designs and in being so ignore any possibility of ever changing the world through it’s own rules. Someone can accomplish a couple great things on their own, but aided with design can elevate their work onto a higher plane. As Caplan said, “Designers won’t save the world, but the design process may make it worth saving.”

Toothpicks and Logos

This entire reading is talking about the diversity of design and how it can be used anywhere. It also addresses how today’s media has assigned the coveted title “design” to superfluous things that are fleeting and somewhat unimportant in the grand scheme of things. I appreciate the idea that design is “behind the scenes” in literally everything that has ever existed. That isn’t an exaggeration, it’s the truth.

Aside from this, design is unique to the human person. Only humans have developed the capacity to design the world in the ways we do. Can dolphins design things? I don’t think so. Polar bears? As awesome as that would be, no, they can’t.

Design, by its very nature, is not set in stone. The essentials change with what people required, and people in different stages and places in life required very different things.

Understanding Design

            This was honestly my least favorite of the three “design definition” books we read. It had a very definitive “this is right and this is wrong” feel to it, and I don’t really appreciate that when you’re talking about something as subjective as design.

How Goes The Project?

Pretty well, I'd say. We have blue Kool Aid, what could go wrong?

Dieter Rams and His Principles Are Welcome Here

So basically, Dieter Rams, when he came up with these rules, started off with the question "Is my design good design?" He saw that design within the world was utter and complete chaos, and he needed some loose principles to base design off of so it could be judged as good or bad, because without rules, everything is subjective. 

Good design is innovative. Did you see that thingamajig in the store that could do 100 different things, all while looking extremely stylish? Did it do them all in a different way than the competitors? A way you couldn't have even imagined? Then it follows the first principle of design. Well done, thingamajig. 

Good design makes a product useful. Use is the most important thing. An object can be beautiful and still be useless. But that isn't what good design is aiming for. We don't want beautiful paper weights here, we want gorgeous coffee makers that actually do the job credibly. 

Good design is aesthetic. When your coffee maker is coffee making at 5 am in the morning, would you prefer a beautiful one? Or an ugly one? It may seem trivial, but appearances that are visually pleasing can affect your mood, your thoughts, and the way you think, the same way that visually unappealing things can. In short, that lovely coffee maker may be partially responsible for why you rocked your corporate presentation at work this morning. 

Good design makes a product understandable. How the object works and what it's used for should be apparent. Inherently, you should know at a glance that this button is the on switch or that one controls volume. The purpose of a well designed product should not be a guessing game. 

Good design is unobtrusive. It should be as close to a blank slate as possible, so people can personalize the product and make it one-of-a-kind to them.

Good design is honest. What? Basically, if something looks very chic, like it would work amazingly for its given purpose, it should work amazingly. If it does not work well, its appearance should reflect that. Something that works terribly shouldn't look like it will be the last of that type of thing you'll ever get, because if someone spends so little time making sure the object carries out it's job properly, what would keep them from spending as little time on the design, and vice versa?

Good design is long-lasting. It does not follow trends, or whims of the runway, and always gives off a timeless, classic air. 

Good design is thorough down to the last detail. Everything is planned, and every detail gets the proper amount of thought, 

Good design is environmentally friendly. Basically green is good. Figuratively, of course. 

Good design is as little design as possible. The basics are covered well, the unneeded or unnecessary things are discarded. Simple is best.