What Is (Not) Design
What Is (Not) Design
What Is (Not) Design
to design is to plan
for the fulfillment of human satisfaction.
Sydney A. Gregory, 1966.
Decision making, in the face of uncertainty, with high penalties for error.
Morris Asimow, 1962.
Simulating what we want to make before we make it as many times as may be necessary to feel confident in the final result.
P. J. Booker, 1964.
The use of scientific principles, technical information and imagination in the definition of a mechanical structure, machine or system to perform specified functions with the maximum economy and efficiency.
Geoffrey Bertram Robert Fielden, 1963.
The optimum solution to the sum of the true needs of a particular set of circumstances.
Edward Matchett, 1968.
Graphic Design
An electrician isnt an opinion former, but a graphic designer is. My argument is that all graphic designers hold high levels of responsibility in society. We take invisible ideas and make them tangible. Thats our job.
Neville Brody.
Graphic design is a visual language uniting harmony and balance, color and light, scale and tension, form and content. But it is also an idiomatic language, a language of cues and puns and symbols and allusions, of cultural references and perceptual inferences that challenge both the intellect and the eye.
Jessica Helfand.
Graphic design is a creative process that combines art and technology to communicate ideas. The designer works with a variety of communication tools in order to convey a message from a client to a particular audience.
AIGA.org
Graphic design is the activity that organizes visual communication in society. Quality in graphic design is measured by the changes it produces in the audience.
John Frascara.
owing to its impeccable whiteness, the Lucky pack looks, and is, clean. It automatically denotes freshness of content and immaculate manufacturing.
Raymond Loewy, 1942.
...cleanliness and Americanness gave the Lucky Strike packet an American image, which ensured it a national market. A member of any ethnic group could identify Lucky Strike as an American cigarette by virtue of the packs conspicuous cleanliness, and perhaps, by purchasing a packet, instantly feel part of American culture. Adrian Forty
No design works unless it embodies ideas that are held common by the people for whom the object is intended.
Adrian Forty.
7. Prototyping
6. Developmental Work
3. Information Gathering
Design process model, Don Koberg and Jim Bagnall, The Universal Traveler, 1977.
User-Centered Design
a.k.a Human-Centered Design
User-centered design is an approach to design that grounds the process in information about the people who will use the product. The design processes focus on users through the planning, design and development of a product.
Diagram of a UCD process from the ISO 13407. Identify need for human-centered design
Evaluate designs
Specify requirements
Specify the context of use: Identify the people who will use the product, what they will use it for, and under what conditions they will use it. Specify requirements: Identify any business requirements or user goals that must be met for the product to be successful.
Create design solutions: This part of the process may be done in stages, building from a rough concept to a complete design. Evaluate designs: The most important part of this process is that evaluation - ideally through usability testing with actual users - is as integral as quality testing is to good software development.
Case studies
Define design problem Is the problem significant? Can visual communications contribute to its reduction?
Yes
No
Define causes of the problem Define target audience Begin divergent research Visually research target Gather quantitative data Enhance Design Problem Agree design objectives
plan and implement ways to measure this
Agree channels of distribution Are channels an affordable and effective way to reach the target audience?
Yes No
Design prototype graphics Test on members of the target Are graphics appropriate?
Yes No
A design process model Ian Noble & Russell Bestley, Visual Research: An Introduction to Research Methodologies in Graphic design, 2005.
Recommend improvements
Stage 4
Measure effectiveness
CONVERGENCE
TRANSFORMATION
Stage 3
DIVERGENCE
Stage 2
DEFINITION
Stage 1
I never design a building before Ive seen the site and met the people who will be using it.
Frank Lloyd Wright.