As I sit here writing this blog (which was supposed to be due by midnight last night) I’m very aware of the design process as a whole (especially since I just pulled an all-nighter to finish a project for this class…which I haven’t done since Junior year in college for my studio art classes) and would like to take this time to reflect on that.
Lists, are good! Although I’ve had experience with the process of creating artwork or in general with the creative process, the process of design for functionality is a whole different animal. When dealing with process of design for functionality, lists are oh so good. At this point in the game (or up until I’m a design wizard) it seems impossible to design without having my lists in front of me.
So what goes on these lists? Well first there’s LATCH. I think I may have written LATCH on every single assignment sheet we were given this year. I think those letters might be burned into my brain. Next on the list, Gestalt. Although I wrote this down to constantly remind myself to try to use Gestalt I bring it up more because I now notice it everywhere. That FedEx arrow still gets me…sheesh that’s good! Lastly, I think I wrote the word “clean” on my “things to remember in design” to-do list and then made it my mantra. I would keep saying it to myself and asking myself, “Is this clean or not?” and that was my check to be sure I wasn’t cluttering up my design.
To-Do lists are also rather helpful. Especially for grad school. Especially when you’re assigned big projects that take a really long time to do and can easily get you stuck if you “design yourself into a corner” as one of my profs would say. The sketching process has become more important than ever in this program. It’s so easy to get caught up in the nit-picky technicality aspects while using some of the design programs and it was nice to design without such heavy constraints and then get finicky later when it’s time to turn on the grid view!
I’ve realized now more than ever just how important the process phase of this all is, especially when the ideas you have might be availalbe for all the world to see! I’m going to need a new sketch book for the spring!
Learning more about visual design has impacted my daily life. I’m constantly viewing the world differently in light of what I’ve learned in this course. It’s also made me rather critical of the visual culture around me…um kearning! I think I’ll attempt to take the most important things I’ve learned (some stuff I’ve mentioned above) and remember not to design in a vacum, to try to gain inspiration from those who came before and kicked butt.