Always the first thing I think of when pondering figure/ground. The arrow in the Fedex logo.

That said, as much as I enjoy figure/ground, I have a hell of a time creating that kind of illusion for myself. In an old project at UMD, we had to create some figure/ground work. It was quite possibly my most difficult assignment that semester.

This is kind of embarrassing to even share. Not my finest work!

In design, especially web design, I like to use a lot of negative space. I feel like it helps to highlight the important stuff. Clutter just feels like a mess. If everything is highlighted and says “LOOK AT ME!” then nothing stands out. So the importance of negative space is huge. I’m also a bit of a minimalist when it comes to art and design. My favorite things are usually very minimal and clear. The book mentioned “Artful Reduction”, which is always something I strive for. How can I say the most with using the least? 

koskela kopimism poster

Development materials:

8 initial ideas: koskela poster ideas

2nd of semi-final ideas: koskela posteridea2

Notes/ideas: poster ideas

It’s especially important as a designer to be aware of these sorts of meanings behind colors if you’re working on a website that’s meant for a certain area of the world, or if it’s meant to be universal worldwide. Lots of white on a bridal website for an eastern country may be a bad idea and not generate much in sales.

American brides typically wear all white. Indian brides typically wear red and gold.

Even keeping in my mind “patriotic” colors of certain countries’ flags is a good idea. You don’t want to insult a client in one country by accidentally using the of colors from a enemy country’s flag. Ditto for colors that are of importance to certain religions.

I’m skipping over the basics of color theory since primary/secondary/tertiary colors, complements, analogous, etc are all pretty elementary. I’m more interested in learning about what colors can symbolize. Tapping into the psychology of what colors can make people think and feel in an instant.

Understanding how that works kind of opens a door to how someone in art (photography, for example) might go about creating very cool illusions without using something like Photoshop.

Balance and rhythm work together to create works of design that pulse with life, achieving both stability and surprise.

Such a simple statement, and a simple concept, yet can be so hard to execute. The importance of good balance and rhythm is one of those things you don’t notice (or at least I don’t) unless it’s really bad. A design can look nice as far as all the beautifully crafted elements, but if the balance is off or the rhythm is lacking, it’s uncomfortable to look at and I likely think “I’m confused; something’s not right here.”

One of my struggles (and for others, I’m sure) is when I notice something I’m making is off balance, I try to add something to the part that is lacking… when sometimes it would be better to take away something from the “heavy” part. When I keep trying to add more and more to balance it out, the rhythm is lost and it’s just a big mess. The viewer’s eye goes everywhere and focuses on nothing of importance. The message is lost.

At that point, I tend to either trash the whole thing and start anew, or go back and do what I should have done in the first place: start removing anything that isn’t vital.

Perhaps balanced in weight. Lacking in rhythm. Bad "design."

Just a silly anecdote: I have a family friend who loves to collect “tchotchkes”. And she would always buy and add more to her collections to even out both of her couch’s end tables, for example. “This side has a big lamp, so I need to put something big on the other side.” That sort of thing. And then she’ll just keep adding more and more everywhere. But it’s just chaos and people tend not to notice any of her nice things because there is so much to look at. It’s all a-jumble. It wasn’t until she moved to a smaller home and started having to get rid of things and be more selective about what would be on display that she had to stop and really think about what one or two items she can add or remove from an area to help balance it out. I just thought that was an excellent example of really having to focus on only what is necessary and working with that to create a balance in the room.

That focus can get lost sometimes the deeper I get into a project. I have to remember to step back and look at the whole thing. Make sure my eye is going where it needs to go within the design. Make sure I’m not just inundated with chaos.

• History of Graphic Design (ARTH)
• Graphic Design I (ART)
• Design Technology II (ART)
• Advanced Writing: Arts & Letters (WRI)

I’m only a couple weeks in, but I’m already very excited for these classes. GD I and DT II will see me creating more posters and websites using new techniques and exploring new ideas, concepts, and styles. My advanced writing class will help me become better at writing professional, whether it be for writing proposals or resumes or even professional reviews.

I am personally the most excited for the History of Graphic Design class. I find it endlessly fascinating to learn where things come from and how they evolved to be what we know them as today. I like to take things apart and learn how they work from their most basic form; this art history class will certainly do that intellectually for me. We are starting with ancient hieroglyphics as being one of the earliest forms of graphic design. Talk about a long and storied background!

Clint Byrne contacted me to take a design he had made and build it into a website, using WordPress as a blog/CMS.

Coded with HTML5. Layout features a “scrolling div layer” using only CSS. Client wanted an animation on mouseover of navigation items without the use of Flash (for iPhone compatibility), so I made use of simple animated gifs on hover.

This sentence stuck out to me on page 8 of “Graphic Design The New Basics” (Lupton and Phillips):

According to postmodernism, which emerged in the 1960s, it is futile to look for inherent meaning in an image or object because people will bring their own cultural biases and personal experiences to the process of interpretation.

I suppose this stood out to me because when “interpreting” any work of art, it often seems what I get out of it and what an art historian or instructor might say it’s about are often very different. I used to think I was “wrong”, but there is always room for interpretation. Knowledge behind the interpretation can certainly be a boost. And there is rarely one right answer.

From page 9:

Software tools provide models of visual media, but they don’t tell us what to make or what to say. It is the designer’s task to produce works that are relevant to living situations (audience, context, program, brief, site) and to deliver meaningful messages and rich, embodied experiences.

This paragraph stuck out to me because one of the things I’ve struggled with working professionally as a designer is getting clients and employers to understand that a designer is not just a “tooler”. We have knowledge and experience and talents to draw upon to create great work—we are not only trained to use the tools at hand and have no value beyond that. We don’t just make pretty pictures using software. There is a lot behind the creating.

Charles Eames diagram from page 11:

An intriguing way to depict the difficult process of making a project that meets the needs and wants of the client and the designer and the audience (society). I’m not so sure I agree with his last note of putting more than one client into the model being positive and constructive. It’s been my experience that design by committee is always a disaster. Though with proper direction, I imagine it could go much better.

Point, Line, Plane

In design, the most basic building blocks are the point, line, and plane. As a minimalist at heart, being able to break design down into its most basic parts is fascinating. It could also be my web programming background, the need to be able to take everything apart down to its most basic elements. To be able to “trim the fat” and go down to the very slightest elements to give the illusion of something greater is beyond fascinating to me. When I design, I try to make a habit of removing as much as possible without losing the overall message or effect. There is so much great art and design using flat point, lines, and planes. Of course there is plenty of great art that goes beyond that, but I find it most interesting when something is successful and meaningful and still so very simple in form.

To understand anything, I think a person needs to be able to break it down to its most basic form.