This agenda provides a detailed outline and gives a clear vision of the day’s class.
Class Info: communicate to your reader
Goal: explore sequencing
Objective: communicate your system to your reader
organize text and images on multiple pages
Topic: systems
Category: resume
To-Do: before class
Prepare to describe your work
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What is the purpose of a resume??
Grids
Critique
Miro
Activity
Resumes
Presentation
Resumes
No matter where you go, you are surrounded by systems. We use the word ‘system’ to describe a group of interacting parts as a common whole, and these can be simple, like a watch, or incredibly complex, like the web of computer networks we call the internet.
A design system describes a philosophy that encourages designers to define the rules of their designs as a system of instructions that can be used on more than a single product.
The designer considers many scenarios and constraints instead of relying on a one-off design process.
This approach is of course nothing new, and some might say that it has always been a part of the designer’s job that you would not consider if not a designer.
Most brands are recognizable for a reason: they have defined strict rules for use of typography and color across their product line.
“Meta-design is much more difficult than design; it is easier to draw something than to explain how to draw it. One of the problems is that different sets of potential specifications cannot easily be envisioned all at once. Another is that a computer has to be told absolutely everything. However, once we have successfully explained how to draw something in a sufficiently general manner, the same explanation will work for related shapes, in different circumstances; so the time spent in formulating a precise explanation turns out to be worth it..” Donald Knuth (1986), The Metafont Book
The words “sufficiently general manner” are important here. Software can be written to allow a range of possible outputs, and variations of a design system can be generated in (literally) fractions of a second. The ability to procedurally generate designs is one of the most empowering aspects of algorithmic design, whether it leads to generating 45,000 variations of a logo, building an infinite galaxy of planets with generative landscapes, or creating a dynamic article that changes its content based on map selections.
But a digital product is not the same as a printed product. Digital products are displayed on screens of different sizes and with dynamic content. Digital products allow users to interact with their content and take advantage of motion and animation. Furthermore, digital products often have temporal logic where a linear narrative is replaced by a set of complex states and transitions. All in all, digital products all share a common trait: They are created with programming languages.
For a field rooted in the fine arts, this has been a difficult transition. Many graphic design schools have resorted to teaching a waterfall philosophy where students are positioned to think of themselves as creatives who come up with ideas for others to build. After all, this is easier than adopting a whole new set of processes. However, the fundamental problem with this approach is that static design tools like Illustrator and Sketch fail at prototyping digital systems. Even in web design where the page metaphor is still prevalent, it seems limiting to define the design to just the styles of the page. Is google.com a good website because of the look of the search field? The traditions from the fine arts is a great positive, and this very book builds upon that foundation. However, there is a century-long bond between the field of design and new advances in technology, and if graphic designers do not become fluent in this new digital reality, they will become irrelevant. We now have the ability to write code that produces beautiful designs, and the designer of tomorrow will have to understand how to deliver on that promise.
Sol Lewitt
Homework
