CH 8, 9
The definition of design is ever changing and has done so at a rapid pace since the digital age. In regards to designing for digital platforms, rather then “design as a marriage of form and function…function is paramount and form is secondary.” Although technology has created a huge new market for designers, we are greatly restricted by what we can design digitally. For examples, textures, colors, typefaces, size, and shapes are all limited. However, usability is the single most important aspect of designing for the web. Thus, function takes precedence over beautiful design. I feel that designing for the web is incredibly challenging because it requires thinking technologically primarily, which is hard for many creative-minded people to do. However, if you can do this, there are a lot of awesome things that can be done with digital and interface design.
This section analyzes what creativity really entails. Adrian says, “as any truly creative person will tell you, the creative process is really about hard work and dedication, with only a tiny part given over to naked inspiration.” This greatly resonates with me personally. I can count the hours of hard work it requires to make a creative piece. However, I also feel that some of the most creative moments are instantaneous reactions to “naked inspiration.” Perhaps the most intriguing projects are those done for personal reasons and powered entirely by inspiration. Although, this book is talking about design as a career and a source of income, in which case the projects discussed are done for professional clients. Thus, requiring countless hours of hard work and collaboration with clients.
An important thing to note is the need to stay creatively juiced as designers. It is so easy to get sucked into the computer screen, but this will limit design and has the potential to kill creativity. We must not forget our distant relative of the fine arts. I know personally, I became a designer because I loved creating fine art work. So on a personally level, getting my hands dirty and creating something sans the computer is essential to stay interested in graphic design work.
The books leaves us with, “Our ability to overcome fear is perhaps the greatest skill we can acquire.”
CH 5, 6, 7
Although I am definitely not going to be starting my own studio in the near future, it is interesting as a very soon to be graduate, to hear how studio heads run a business. He says that studio heads are looking for designers with “talent, suitability, and potential.” Suitability is something we often don’t think about when applying for jobs, but it plays a huge role for both the employer and the applicant. It is something that I have been conscious recently while in search of studios I would like to work at. I feel it is vital to work for people whom you mesh well with so that communication is good enough to produce great work. One of the worst things for me as a student is having teachers whom I don’t communicate with/understand well.
Perhaps the most important advice to carry away from this book is as a designer to immerse oneself in the design world. You do this by entering competitions, going to lectures, meetings, trade shows, events, making yourself present whenever possible. It is crucial to have a web site. Additionally, send out reminders or promotional pieces when you have an upcoming event, new product, ect to keep people aware of you and your work. Adrian says that a designers reputation is everything in this field and I agree. Often times you get work because of the reputation you’ve established. Networking is everything in this business so getting yourself exposure if a necessity for success.
If we want ethical clients, we need to be ethical designers. They way we deal and engage with our clients can determine is a client is bad or good. “The best and only way to work effectively with clients is to build a partnership based on equality.” I have heard many of horror stories from designers about bad clients, and I have learned that there is a proper way to work with any client that will be in the designers favor. Learning how to do this takes patience, practice, and assertiveness. Learning the best way to communicate with different clients is perhaps a jobs in and of itself, but if mastered has the potential to elevate your career immensely. Furthermore, when dealing with clients, it is essential for designers to be professional, have good presentation skills, and a personable personality.
INTRO FWD CH 1
This section stressed that we need three attributes to be successful designers: cultural awareness, communication skills, and integrity. “Without these we won’t grow as designers.” I entirely agree with the three attributes Adrian has highlighted. We need cultural awareness in order to captivate the culture for which we are designing for and to avoid ignorant design. Communication skills are a vital part of all business. Designers need to have the tools to communicate to clients and to an audience. Lastly, integrity is essential to a designer because it is the driving support and power behind our creative vision.
The use of personal expression in professional design work is a hot debate. Does it enhance work or do we need to suppress personal expression in order to maximize effectiveness of the content? I feel that we need an honest understand and awareness of the content to which we are designing for first and foremost. Then, we must utilize our personal creativity to make a powerful piece. I think suppressing personal expression goes against one of the three attributes all designers must have: integrity. We must be true to ourselves and our styles in order to fulfill our potential as professions. Furthermore, our personal expression is what sets us apart from other designers. Having a clear aesthetic will help attract more jobs.
CH 2, 3, 4
Adrian hit the nail on the head when discussing the issue of time management for designers. As a student, trying to juggle work and too many classes is a challenge that I have yet to master. I always feel short on time. Adversely, when I have free time I utilize it by doing fun things rather then homework and find myself, once again, to be short on time when time for homework has twiddled down. Thus, learning how to balance work and play, and more so, how to be quick at work is of utmost importance. We must learn to how to make use of our time well, for it is our perception of time that determines the length of it (That was so deep of me, wasn’t it?).
Another issue addressed is that all projects have low and high notes. One muss never abandon a project on a low note, so as not to lose interest and motivation when attempting to attack the problem at a later time. This is a valuable lesson for myself, because I will often walk away from a problem (design or not) if I get to frustrated in search of a solution. Rather, tackling the issue at the time it is occurring is the best plan so as to not dual on it longer then need be.
One thing that stuck with me after reading these chapters what when Adrian talked about designers being much more then problem solvers. He says, they are capable of “imagining the unimaginable,” and goes on to say, “When design becomes totally research-driven it becomes logical, but it also becomes reactive rather than visionary. It becomes sterile rather than imaginative.” It’s easy to information overload and drown in the static of Google searches. I feel it is important for designers to learn how to balance and separate logic and creativity in order to make beautiful and meaningful designs.
This section offered some great tips for searching, applying, and interviewing for jobs. What I need to work on is my portfolio first, then a personal identity system, then contacting potential employers and setting up interviews or informational meetings.
As far as freelancing goes, I have been farely certain that I don’t want to work freelance right after graduation. Adrian says freelance is for two kinds of designers, resourceful specialists and creative loners. Neither of which am I. Personally, I feel I would benefit greatly from working aside design vets for at least the first few years of my career.
Audience as Co-designer: Participatory Design of hiv/aids Awareness and Prevention Posters in Kenya
I feel that it is entirely crucial to understand the culture for which you are designing for in order to effective relay the message you are intended to get across. “Inherent in the discipline of graphic design is a historically untapped potential to empower the audience to actively bring about change through their own effort and with their own ideas or concepts.” Design can be a static image or it can evoke change. How you get to the later of the two is by engaging, captivating, and affecting another person(s).
In the case of the HIV/AIDS campaign in Kenya, the designers, “propose the development of a participatory graphic design process where the audience is the primary designer… the professional graphic designer serves as a consultant while the audience controls the design process.” The designers went beyond the audience as co-designers method, and rather let a group of native Kenyan’s lead the design. In some respects, I feel this is the only way to conduct a campaign for a culture in which one is not fully knowledgeable about. As a designer, I don’t ever want to design ignorant, so having native Kenyan’s lead the project seems like the appropriate approach for a project that is intended for Kenyan people.
It was incredibly powerful and moving reading the stories of Jane and Janet doe, and then seeing their sketches and finalized campaign designers. I would have to imagine that these posters would have a greater impact on the Kenya people then a design that perhaps I would have created would have had, simple because we have a different “culture-based visual literacy.” I am very interested in knowing the results of this study, if this method
Cultural Probes
The Cultural Probes project conducting on the Elderly people was awesome in and of itself. I want to conduct and collect information of this magnitude and house all the responses in some format. The images of some of these pieces they received back seemed so precious and real. Truly keepsakes. It’s almost a shame that the responses pieces weren’t used in some way.
That being said, I do think cultural probes are a nice way to gather information about a specific group of people. Often people will hand out questionnaires that are static, negating, and people simply don’t feel any connection toward the questions being asked. For that reason, the answers don’t reveal depth. Using cultural probes, like they had in the reading, solicits interesting reactions, responses and allows for the collection of meaningful data. Furthermore, it allows the designer to have a greater connection with the project in which they are designing. Gaver said, “Understanding the local cultures was necessary so that our designs wouldn’t seem irrelevant or arrogant.”
Perhaps the challenge designers have when facing any project is whether they have the adequate knowledge to be designing for the subject matter. Cultural probes are one way to seek the knowledge one is lacking. However, it is important to gather information from many different resources. Graver said, “Although the probes were central to our understanding of the sites, they didn’t directly lead to our designs. They were invaluable in making us aware of the detailed texture of the sites, allowing us to shape proposals to fit them. But we were also influenced by our preexisting conceptual interests, our visits to the sites, anecdotes and data about the areas from the local coordinators, and readings from the popular and specialist press. Just as many influences went into designing the probes, so have they been one of many influences on our design process.”
I will show iterations on the following deliverables:
I. Instruction book cover
II. Chapter 1 page of the instruction book
III. An example image of my process for the instruction book
IV. One quote page of the instruction book
V. List #2 poster
VI. List #1 worksheet
Carpe Diem means to scale back your projects and goals, and focus on the current moment. It says that tomorrow may never come so don’t waste your life planning for it. Rather, enjoy the present, because that’s all we can be certain of. “Carpe Diem” poses the question to us: when your last moment comes, will you see your life play back for you, or will you a see a play button still waiting to be pushed?
Carpe Diem is a mindset, an attitude, a mentality, and an approach to your day, to your life. It is not a religion, a cult, an institution, or an organization. It’s an idea and a thought process, that any and all persons should implement into their lifestyle, their daily. You do this by acknowledging the things in your life that weigh you down and stress you out, while also recognizing the things (big or small) that lift your spirits and bring you joy. Then, making the conscious decision to rid yourself of the weight of your stresses and fill yourself up with your joys. Carpe Diem is about re-wiring your mindset. What is the point of all work and no play anyway? Don’t waste your life, go live it, now. Well, what are you waiting for?
After completing the Carpe Diem guide, I want the audience to have the tools to live their life to its potential. To feel better on the daily. And, when the time comes, they don’t fear it, because they used up every one of their moments and no time was wasted. I want the audience to have a bright outlook on today and the rest of their days.
Carpe diem resonates with me, because I know how it feels to live in this frame of mind, and I know how it feels not to. I used to live this free-and-easy, spontaneous, no-time-like-the-present life. Somehow in the last four years, my outlook on life has done a 180; I’m chronically stressed out and everything I do is for the future. So, for me, Carpe Diem is about getting back to how I used to be. I’m trying to evaluate what additions to my life in the last few years have been weighing me down, and then shed those things. On a very personal level, this is a reversal process. I want to strip away all the extra crap (yes crap!) and get back to me.
