There is such a thing as good design

1. There is such a thing as good design • How to design better • Using design rules • Layout and white-space • Essential lifelong knowledge You will need paper and pen for this lecture – the challenge can be completed in microsoft Word or a design packeage of your choosing.

2. How to design better • Know that you can • Read and learn • practice

3. 1: Know that you can • Be aware of the design around you • Posters, documents, web pages, packaging • Be critical – if you like a design work out why • Be critical - If you hate a design work out why Activity – in pairs each think of an exampleof design you like – explain why to your partner. Difficult isn’t it?

4. 2: Read and Learn

5. 2: Read and Learn

6. 3: Practice You can’t learn to drive just by reading a book. Although, if you never look at the highway code you will fail your test (read and learn). No, you will need to practice in the car until the actions become automatic.

7. The negative dialectics of good design The commonest reason we design badly is that we don’t actually think about design, we just do what we learned or were shown to do. Following rules is a bind – can we remember them? Why are they there? Runnig away from bad design is easier than running towards good design. In that spirit…..

8. The negative dialectics of good design Definition: ‘page’ in the following slides is taken to mean: A poster, a document page, a report page, a web page, an application interface, a title shot in a video, a shopping list, a menu.

9. The negative dialectics of good design • I will not – centre text unless there is an over-riding reason I should. • I will not -use more than one (maybe 2) font families in my design. • I will not - clutter every bit of white space on my page with stuff. • I will not – randomly align text with nothing in particular. • I will not – use any clip art • I will not – insert all my images as oblongs. • I will not right justify my text because I think it is neat.

10. 10 Rules for making good design Timothy Samara - Design Elements: A Graphic Style Manual (1) Communicate — don't decorate (2) Speak with a visual voice. (3) Use two typeface families maximum. OK, maybe three. (4) Pick colours on purpose. (5) If you can do it with less, then do it. (6) Negative space is magical — create it, don't just fill it up. (7) Treat the type as image, as though it's just as important. (8) Be universal; remember that it's not about you. (9) Be decisive. Do it on purpose — or don't do it at all. (10) Symmetry is the ultimate evil. “ Do, or do not. There is no 'try’”

11. I imagine that there’s a certain comfort that comes from the rules. For some I guess it’s much easier to be ruled than to rule. Maybe they’re just not angry or aggressive as artists and designers. They all seem quite content with the “rules of design.” They like to keep quite, eat vanilla ice cream and shop at Wal-Mart.Let’s take our old friend Comic Sans for instance. Like almost all designers I loathe this typeface. But I’ll be dammed if someone is going to tell me that I cannot use it in a sophisticated design problem. I know I could do it! It sure as hell wouldn’t be easy, but I refuse to accept a limitation or restriction like that. In fact, just thinking about it gets me so fired up that I want to take it on like a challenge—or a contest. Tobias Brauer http://graphicdesignprofessor.blogspot.com/