Month: February 2021

I came across this image in an article by 99U. This is a screenshot of the mobile game Dots. The objective of the game is to connect as many of the same colored dots within sixty seconds. The score total is based on the number of dots that get eliminated by the connections made. The dots board is continuously revealing new dots as dots are getting eliminated by the player. In addition to beautiful game graphics (primary colors and simplistic designs), the game designers were able to incorporate a game-mode made specifically for color blind people. In order for color blind people to play a game that is based on one’s vision of colors, the designers decided to put symbols on each color. By pairing each color with a symbol, people with a color blind disability are able to match the dots based on the shared symbols. Although it is harder to search and connect symbols rather than using colors, it is an amazing feature that made the game inclusive to a broader community.

The use of the symbols on the dots was the best solution. It welcomed the color blind community to the game experience, as well as matched the game aesthetics. The designers did not attempt to fix the disabled people. They worked on and revised the game. In addition, the game on color blind mode is still playable for those that are not color blind. This is very important. It means that two friends (One being color blind and one not) can share the game experience together at the same time.

After reading and learning about this wonderful design, I started to believe that it is possible to create designs that will always be inclusive of disabled people. Great examples of this are street signs and other standard signs within or on buildings. These necessary signs must adhere to everyone, but I think that graphic designers can go further. I’d love to see all magazines, advertisements, posters, and artworks made to be read or viewed by the disabled community.

Sustainable design is a great way to help the environment. I find it to be very impressive if I see a product that is well designed and has a label that says it is made from recyclable materials. Most of the products that I’ve seen are water bottles, bags, jewelry, and clothes. I believe that environmental design is growing, but not at a rapid rate and into every design field. My personal hobbies include basketball, drawing, and skateboarding. Therefore, I’d like to work my way into those fields with my graphic design degree. When I try to apply a environmental design mindset into that, I think about the materials that make up advertisements and products. I may be able to create posters made of recyclable paper, inks, or cardboard. In addition, the designs themselves could be an inspiration to recycle. An example would be a tribute to Kobe Bryant poster with trees and recyclable material designs infused into his signature basketball poses. That’d be a super cool form of media that would reach out to the basketball community and spread a positive message. As for the environmental design of physical products, I can see how skateboards and basketballs can be recycled for their wood and leather/rubber. From personal experience, I know that skateboarders go through 1-2 decks every month and just trash their used decks. There must be some way that these beat-up planks up wood can be reused to save trees. The leather and rubber of a basketball can also be reused. I don’t think a lot of people realize this and just toss their worn down basketballs away. In order to get people to notice that a lot of things are capable of being recycled, it goes back to my previous mention of possibly making environmental design friendly posters. Big corporations that make these products, such as Nike, Girl, Spalding, Wilson, and many more, need to create systems that encourage customers to recycle these goods. It is not just the basketball or skateboarding industry that I’m thinking about. All corporations that have popular products should make recycling their main priority. By doing so, the environment will benefit from our sustainable designs. In addition, we need to keep the environment from harm in order to live happy and healthily.

Besides Passion, What Makes a Good Graphic Designer Truly Great?https://www.aiga.org/design-job-question-how-to-be-a-better-graphic-designer. Accessed 12 Feb. 2021.

Designer Ram Castillo is the author of this article. Castillo is a design director, author, and podcast host based in Sydney, Australia. He has worked with well-known companies such as Tesla, McDonalds, Apple, Audi, Google, and many more. His main focus these days are to coach business owners and organizations with critical design problems.

Castillo gives his opinions and summarizes the answer to what makes a graphic designer great. The main points are to be willing to listen, collaborate, take critique, be productive/professional, use technology to create design solutions, understand cultural sensitivities, and know that design is business based (Not personal). To expand on the last point, Castillo means that designers should always design to meet the business needs/wants. A designer should not prioritize his or her own thoughts/ideas. Castillo ends the article with his opinion that asking questions to mentors, who have a similar design style, will help a lot. He also says that great designers are constantly working on their craft behind the scenes. One should remember to work hard but have fun in the process.

“Give It Five Minutes.” Signal v. Noise by Basecamp, https://signalvnoise.com/posts/3124-give-it-five-minutes. Accessed 12 Feb. 2021.

This article is written by Basecamp Co-Founder Jason Fried. In addition to being a CEO, Fried is a columnist for the Inc. Magazine. His columns are called “Getting Real”. His education is from the University of Arizona.

In the article, he talks about the time when he was in a disagreement with a guy name Richard Saul Wurman. They both had a talk at the Business Innovation Factory in 2007. The main point of the article is to give a think about it five minutes before saying anything back. At the time, Fried confronted Wurman and gave many counter arguments to the talk he gave. Wurman then said to think about it again for five minutes. Fried began to realize that Wurman has studied his points for thirty years, while he immediately dismissed them in seconds. Fried’s main point is that this moment was a great lesson. It taught him that an idea should be well considered. An idea starts off as completely vulnerable and fragile. It is easy to ignore and destroy. It is hard protect and explore it. Fried says that it may be worth it. Do not just dismiss an idea because it is too much work or is out of the ordinary.

Norcross, Natalie. “Council Post: How Graphic Design Is Evolving.” Forbes, https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/10/09/how-graphic-design-is-evolving/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2021.

Natalie Norcross is a “Council Member” of Forbes Agency. Norcross is also the CEO of A Design Partnership, which is “a marketing agency that serves as an outsourced CMO for design-minded brands”. She has a degree from the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising.

The article starts off with a point on graphic design’s ability to grow and give success to a business. Companies are now starting to invest a lot into their design teams, because it is the design of buildings and posters that give companies an edge over competition. Norcross goes on to say that graphic design has been a huge success for hotel businesses. Designers create an engaging and beautifully composed website for hotels that capture the eyes of tourists. Hotel websites are now not just for bookings, but also serve as a portfolio for the hotel’s interior design.

The second half of the article talks about the growth of the graphic design industry. With the evolution of technology happening at a rapid pace, the graphic design field is growing as well. Companies are in need of solid designers in order for their brand to excel. According to Norcross, Adobe has gone up from around 5 billion to 6 billion of revenue from Creative Cloud subscriptions in a year span.

“The Evolution of Graphic Design in the Gaming Industry.” Designer Daily: Graphic and Web Design Blog, 30 June 2016, https://www.designer-daily.com/the-evolution-of-graphic-design-in-the-gaming-industry-58262.

Mirko Humbert is the author of this article that stresses the importance of graphic designers in the gaming industry. Humbert is the editor-in-chief and of main author of Designer Daily and Typographer Daily. In addition Hubert is the founder of WP Expert, as well as being a graphic designer himself.

Humbert’s first paragraph talks about the history of gaming technology. He mentions that the very first video games were all text based. There was no such thing as RAM (Random Accessed Memory) or graphics cards in PCs. When the Atari 2600 first came out in 1977, there was no RAM. Humbert then goes in on saying the 1990s was the rapid turning point for gaming technology. After mentioning multiple games and their capabilities, Humbert leads into his main point that these games would not be possible if there wasn’t excellent graphic design components. Humbert said that the first gaming designs were all flat with only a few poses. Now days, graphic designers are able to create life-like facial features and movements. Humbert ends his article by saying that graphic design is a “key component” in which it allows gamers to “immerse yourself completely” into the experience.

Personally, I’m not into politics. I have not been into politics for my entire life. I haven’t been keeping up with political news at all, and do not understand how our country’s system works. Because of this, the relationship that graphic design has with politics is less interesting to me. I am more interested in Modernism, Art Deco, Bauhaus, and other design movements that are focused on “art for art’s sake”.

My thoughts on political design are not negative however. My classes on the contemporary issues of design and graphic design history have taught me about the impact of design on important political decisions. Examples of this are the World War I and II posters, El Lissitzky’s Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge, the Constructivism movement, and many more. I admire many of the works that came out of the war with much respect. I can only imagine how much of an emotional impact the war has brought on artist’s during that time. It is clear that their art and designs were influenced by this.

In addition, a lot of the great Dutch and Swiss designers were working hard during the war periods. This is amazing to me. Hendrik Werkmann and Willem Sandberg were heroes to the design community. Werkmann was able to have a secret print house that made anti-Nazi propaganda, as well as beautiful Jewish stories. Sandberg saved hundreds of art collections in a secret bunker and created fake documents for Jews to escape from the Nazis. These artists are only a couple of the many whom have incredible political designs. Their stories allow me to appreciate the relationship between politics and design in a new light. I also was intrigued by Sandberg’s creative take on typography. He incorporated Dutch Modernism with typography that was made out of torn paper and ink.

With the knowledge of the history between politics and design in mind, I have a greater appreciation. I have seen posters of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris and take into account the overall messages that needs to be made. Political posters are a big deal. Their impact has no ceiling, especially in this era of social media. Any sort of media can be reposted and spread across numerous platforms. It is important that a design has a positive and correct political message. Overall, I believe that graphic designer’s ability to create designs that have so much political power is amazing… and those that do so deserved a great amount of respect.