We watched a short video last week from Ted Talks. Chip Kidd starred as the guest speaker. I enjoyed listening to him. His sense of humor was refreshing and made the topic that much interesting.
He discussed several key words that aid in creating an understandable, visually pleasing, and modern design. He spoke about the visual vernacular and defined it as the way in which we are accustomed of seeing/viewing a certain thing(s), will be automatically applied to whatever it is that we are working on. He discussed the difference between clarity and mystery and how important both are in designing. Clarity gets to the point – it’s honest, blunt and sincere. Mystery demands to be decoded. He then proceeded to give examples of how bad design (diet coke poster campaign) and effective design (used examples of his book covers) look, and the messages that can be conveyed if not executed right.
Apart from the video, we discussed the different roles of designers such as project manager, art director, production designer, copywriter etc. We went into detail about each of the roles and how they play a part in the design process. We discussed the difference between an art director and creative director. This particular class on a whole was very enlightening and informative. I now have a clearer cut understanding of where I would want to be on the design ladder.
