Design Disruptors

This video was about the design industry and how designers solve problems rather than making aesthetically pleasing art. It talked about UI and UX, art, and companies that are at the forefront of the design movement. I was really intrigued when they talked about Facebook’s creative team and their work environment. Facebook has an open floor plan, allowing for employees to collaborate and work alongside each other. I thought this was interesting because I always pictured everyone to have their own office, but instead it is a big are where any and every one can see watch other and their work. I liked this idea because I love to ask for help and/or opinion of my colleagues, and working together always seems like a better solution to any problem. I was also really intrigued by this notion that we are problem solvers as designers, rather than artist. We make products/flyers/logos/etc. more functional, and easier to read and understand. Our work has a purpose. All in all, I really like the film and it taught me a lot about the professional industry of design. 

Great Mind in Design: David Carson

Thinking Conceptually

Object to Mark

Interlocking Pattern

Grid Typeface

Layers

Hierarchy + Typography

Hierarchy Lesson

In this video, Ina Saltz talks about the use of Hierarchy and how it is important to the designer and reader. She explains how important positioning, size, weight, color, contrast, and orientations are. Hierarchy allows the reader to follow a design and grasp the information in an orderly manner. Title and other important information should be the first thing a reader notices. Designers make this happen by using hierarchy techniques to make these important factors pop. Techniques such as making the title a different color, changing the size or weight of the typeface, or even positioning the text in a place which seems “normal” to the reader (read top-down, left-right). One thing that really caught my eye was when Saltz explains typographic furniture. Using rules, lines, and other small graphics can help the reader differentiate important information on a page without having the design be too clustered. This gives the readers breaks and can unify a design. All in all, this video was very informative. Hierarchy is one of the most important items to a design, and it is what makes the reader follow a specific trail a designer has set for them.  

Creative Inspirations: Kit Hinrichs

In this video, Kit Hinrichs talks about his history with design, along with explaining how important it is to make things clear and understandable as designers. He attended Art Center in Los Angeles, California. During his time in Los Angeles, he met a lot of different people and learned a lot about design and design styles. He later joined the Marine corps, followed by Hinrichs moving to New York. After New York, he moved to San Francisco, where he established Hinrichs Design Associates. He later became a partner with one of the most influential design firms in the US, Pentagram. He finally left Pentagram and established his own studio, Studio Hinrichs in San Francisco. Hinrichs’ career is really caught my eye because it shows his work ethics, even at 68 years old. I also found it interesting how he is a collector, collecting numerous items from figures to flags. All in all, this video really showed me how the love for design can go a long way. One should do design because it is something they love doing; they want to make things better and easier to understand, not just for aesthetic purposes.  

Cropping Images

In this video, John McWade talks about cropping techniques and how they are used to manipulate images in a design. He focuses on the 7 kinds of cropping, which consist of the hard crop, soft crop, split crop, stickout crop, the knockout crop, false crop, and shape crop. Each crop technique is unique and are used according to the feel the designer is trying to illustrate through his design. I’ve used most of these crop techniques at some point in my designs, but I’ve never realized how much I’ve favored some techniques over the others. John showed me how using certain techniques can strengthen a design through simple crops or even radical interesting ones. All in all, this was a great, informative video that explained these techniques very well.

Image Crop

Borders

Positive/Negative

Seeing Color

Michael Bierut Talk Recap

I found this video to be one of the best design videos I've seen thus far. Not only was the video very informative, but I really enjoyed how he went into details about specific projects he worked on. One of my favorite things he talked about was the MAD logo he created. He made this logo he was really excited about, but his clients were not. He stated that he pushed this idea of a blocky single line logo (A+D) for a long time, all because he liked it. He finally gave up and decided to go back to the drawing board, even though he invested a lot of time and energy on the previous logo. He finally came up with a simple solution, a logo created of simple shapes, circles and squares, that spelled out MAD. He not only stopped at the logo, but created a full alphabet using these simple shapes. He created a brand, something the company can use anywhere and people would recognized as being MAD. This really caught my eye because it shows how sometimes you have to move on from the design you like the most and start all over. It also shows that a solution could be really simple, yet effective. Another item I liked from this video was the idea of how important type can be in design. During his New York Transportation project, Micheal remade the Helvetica typeface to Helvetica DOT. The only changes made were the dots on top of the lower case i's. This shows how such a small point has such an important meaning. Details matter. I enjoyed how he used the typeface and its shoulders, descenders, and other parts, to make his icons. This gives a congruent feeling when the icons and type are next to each other. All in all I really liked this video and how Micheal presented his work. I gave me inspiration and a different outlook when looking at my own personal projects.

Language of Color Recap

I really enjoyed watching this video in class. Not only was the video very informative, but the speaker broke down why color is important and how it works. I knew a bit about the color wheel and how it was made, along with how you can find complementary colors, but was not informed on how important colors were. I learned that colors are chosen for psychological reasonings, not because the client like that color. I thought it was interesting how in theory, some colors are known to work great together (like red and green during christmas), but when put into actions, they really do not go well together. I liked the idea on how lightening a color (tint) or darkening (shade) makes a big difference in a design. All in all I really enjoyed this video and learned a lot.

Color Interaction

AIGA UNITE

I attended the AIGA Unite event at the Urban Discovery Academy. I really enjoyed the event for numerous reasons. One reason that made this event so great was the fact that almost everyone there was a designer (either student or professional). This was really interesting because everyone had a common interest, design. This allowed the conversations to flow nicely and created a nice comfortable environment where we could network and learn. Another reason I really liked the event was the small workshops. This allowed everyone to join a workshop that they were interested in, while getting the intimate teachings from a professional in a small group setting. I really enjoyed this, because as a junior graphic designer working inhouse, I was able to choose the inhouse workshop and talk personally to Angelo about my situation. This also allowed me to ask specific questions to the lead of the workshop, which was very useful. A final thing that I really enjoyed about the event was the people running the workshops. They were all very helpful and willing to answer any questions, either pertaining to school or professional career. This was really nice because I was able to talk to them and get the information I was looking for. All in all this was a great event that made me thankful I found a community like AIGA.

Color Wheel

Typographic Texture

Texture

Scale Depth Motion