Posts Tagged ‘designer’
Massimo Vignelli is one of our greatest living designers. One of the core tenants of his design philosophy is: if you can design one thing, you can design everything. He is referring to the discipline of design, but what he is really talking about is process.
What Vignelli speaks to is the power of process, a solid thought process, to solve a variety of problems. Design tools—line, curve, color, type, image, sketching, modeling, proportion, the grid, the layout—are employed in various ways throughout the process. A solid process helps the thinker understand the problem or challenge at hand in its uniqueness, investigate its history, and play with ways of addressing it. A solid process does is not a stock way of creating design, business, political, or any other kind of solution; a solid process helps you see the unique situation at hand, work through and identify a solution, and make that solution real.
Understanding Vignelli is essential for designers, but also valuable for anyone interested in better thinking and a living example of the power of process.
Vignelli Interview with Debbie Millman @ Design Observer
Vignelli’s design principles are summarized in the book, The Vignelli Canon, available as a free PDF.
Color Deficiencies
Eight to 10 percent of people are “colorblind”, or, more accurately, have trouble seeing certain colors. Your presentations, designs, and information graphics need to make careful use of color. What can you do? 1. Use contrasting colors. They will be easier for people with color deficiencies to differentiate. 2. Encode with more than color. Use shape, position, size, and orientation, or pattern as an additional way to identify something represented with color. Further reading and references: National Institutes of Health.
Touch
Friendly touch—hugs, holding hands, a pat on the shoulder—communicates directly with the brain. When someone holds your hand pressure receptors send signals straight to your brain that reduce stress and increase trust. Learn more at NPR.
Ten Lessons
Milton Glaser, discussed ten things he’s learned during is distinguished career as a designer, artist and thinker. #7 was “How you live changes your brain.” The others are just as essential and valuable for anyone in any field.
Seeing, solving and acting are the essential components of everything you do.
Better thinking improves and accelerates how you see, solve and act. Learn more.
