Disclaimer: I am oversimplifying almost everything presented, so do not take this as gospel. If you find yourself needing to push a design past the guidelines I lay out, go to your local library or amazon.com and get a book on the subject. Most rules in design are made to be broken as long as it keeps the overall design within the context desired.

Table of contents:

1) Where in the hell do I start?
2) Idea generation
3) Images
4) Typography
5) Color Theory
6) Layout layout layout
7) Information Flow
8) Peer feedback

I'm going to try and post a full section at a time. I'll post some external resources too, but only things I can find that are freely accessible online. I HIGHLY encourage anyone interested to go to a library or amazon.com, because there are a ton of amazing texts out there commercially. I just don't want this to become a thread about spending several hundred dollars on books and references.

6/4/2007 12:45:11 AM

1) So, where in the hell do I start?

            From my experience, most people think that there is some magic extra chromosome in a designer that allows them to do what they do so well; an innate ability to creatively solve problems and present solutions.  It is true that there is a common thread among good designers, but it’s not a genetic anomaly.  It’s an amazing work ethic.  For almost all designers, the biggest factor in the quality of the result is how much time and effort was put into it.  Over years and years of professional practice this does turn into much more intuition and much less grunt work, but the same can be said for many professions.

            Idiom #1 – Designers never start with a blank canvas

Even most artists don’t.  I am convinced this is one of the secrets of design to scare away everyone else.  Before you ever lay pen to paper, hand to mouse or paintbrush to canvas, you need to know in some manner what you are attempting to do.  This can be as simple as a doodle on a napkin, or as complex as a fifty page design brief.  The less confidence you have in your ability to “fill in the gaps”, the more you need to before you start the design.

So what information is useful?  I’m going to identify the basics that can apply to any design, from web to print, video to exhibits.  I’ll fill in with a few examples for application specific information along the way too.  Initial research is a lot like writing the market analysis section of a business plan.  The key difference is, for a designer, most of the time you are being assigned a project that already has a business end assigned to it, so you can glean much of the required information quickly from your client.  If the information does not exist, you may recommend to the client to write out a business plan first, to do some basic market research, or to hire you on to help do that with them.

#1) Who are you designing for?  Is this a company hiring you, or a friend, or to represent yourself?  Regardless, write it down.  If it’s being done for an organization or several different people, it’s important to know who or what the design is going to be created to aid.

Find out as much as you can about your client.  What they do, their history, any existing design they do or have, their likes and dislikes.  In the case of having a large organization or company as your client, you need to find a representative of the company who can answer these kinds of questions.  Design by committee does not work, do not get roped into working with a large group of clientele and do not allow the approval of your designs to hang on the decision of a large group or committee.

#2) Who are you trying to reach?  First, find your target market(s).  If possible, personifying your market can help tremendously.  Instead of saying “I want to reach 25-35 year old white males who listen to AC/DC”, it will stick much better in your mind to say something like “I want to reach Jim, he’s 27, a white guy from Little Rock, Arkansas who has shoulder length hair and loves to rock out to AC/DC”.  Stereotyping in design helps you as the designer focus the designer more clearly and streamlines the process of addressing the needs of your target market. 

Next, find out everything you can about your target market(s).  In the case of Jim, find out what he eats, where he shops, what his hobbies are, what he spends his money on, his favorite food and his favorite color.  This can seem very daunting, but keep it simple.  Find out where your market hangs out, roll out there with a clip board and a questionnaire and spend a few hours asking questions.  Most people love to talk about themselves.  You can take this information and compile it, to see where trends emerge.

#3) What are you selling?  Design is ALWAYS selling something.  Even if you are just designing an informational site, you are trying to sell the validity of your information.  Talk to your client, talk to your consumer.  Figure out what you are selling and more importantly why a design is needed to sell it.  If you are supposed to be creating a brochure, when a website would be a better selling tool, now is the time to speak up.  If you are about to undertake a million dollar website, and you find out that a printed catalog would reach your consumer more effectively, you need to change course immediately.  This can be an extreme test of professional ethics, because there will be many times where the more effective medium is going to be the less expensive one.

#4) How is the consumer going to be introduced to your design?  Don’t spend too much time on this one.  Just keep in mind how you intend for your design to be propagated, and make sure it isn’t being presented in a manner that wasn’t intended.  For instance, you create a website, but you find out your client is spamming millions of people to tell them about the site.  Or you create a brochure intended to be handed out in person, but they are being stuck under windshield wipers in parking lots.

If you would like to read more about this, here are a few resources:

How to do Ethnographic Research: A simplified guide http://www.sas.upenn.edu/anthro/CPIA/methods.html

Market Research http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Market_research (surprisingly a really good overview)

6/4/2007 12:47:08 AM

I don't mean to crash your thread because I for one like to read different approaches towards design since I fit this category, but here is the mother of all link pages for web design: http://www.dezwozhere.com/links.html

6/4/2007 12:56:25 AM

thats actually pretty helpful. I've got a new project to start on tomorrow (supposed to be receiving all the info,logo,images etc at least). and i'll be starting from scratch. I'll have to read more of this tomorrow when i'm more awake.

6/4/2007 12:57:55 AM

^^This isn't really for web design, but a basic guide to overall fundamental design theory. I've found that (your link included) most "web design" links and sites are really heavy on the programming/code hacking/basic layout stuff, and very very light or non-existant on the actual design theory behind it. The idea here is to present the basics that can be applied to any medium, or at the least, so a non-designer can better understand the rationale and work that goes into the things they see, use and work with.

I'm going to do all I can to get at least a couple more sections put up tomorrow night, condensing all this stuff takes a while!

6/4/2007 1:09:23 AM

ok, i guess i was just mislead by the title of the topic and your first post.

6/4/2007 1:26:01 AM

Quote :

"overall fundamental design theory"

images, typography, and layout, information flow are all strongly related to graphic design, after just reading the brief index it's clear it's not general design you're talking about

if you're interested in writing about design fundamentals, talk to any of the design fundamental prof's in the CoD

although the design fundamentals are technically for those in the 'design' school, consider this, it's the first class you take coming out of high-school, meaning most are on the same playing field as any other non-designer (except maybe an extra art class or two).

while i understand your purpose and your background, i'd say that to simply state a good work ethic is the only thing that matters is a bit misleading. while i agree it greatly determines how "well" the design is thought out and implemented, creativity doesn't come out of hard work, it's a way of thinking.

imho, where designers draw their talents from is typically from how they were brought up, whether it's art or music or problem solving, or where they grew up that influenced the amount of creativity they had to use as a child, the experiences they had as a child, etc...

i'm not saying this is a necessity, but the main reason why you are a good designer and computer guru is your ability to problem solve and be creative, these are two common traits both designers and engineers possess just applied to different applications

this is why we need both architects & engineers to build buildings
as well as both web designers and web developers to build websites (of varying degrees)

while i do agree design in part can be learned, i'd say that not "everyone" can learn design, some personalities just struggle period with it.

[Edited on June 4, 2007 at 11:27 PM. Reason : .]

6/4/2007 11:08:13 PM

yea, those are very good points. My intent isn't so much to make everyone into a designer as to give some insight to the people who really aren't cut out for it to at least have some understanding of what being a designer really is.

And I'm going to try and keep it as general as I can, although this is DEFINITELY a 2-dimensionally oriented guide. Just like in design fundamentals, you learn the 2d first and then you can venture into 3 dimensions.

I'm also trying to keep this from devolving into drawing/sketching exercises, which I admit is a good part of general design, but I think it would just take away from the main focus of teaching principals to people with no concept of what they are looking at.

I guess my point about work ethic is that hard work can overcome a LOT of natural creativity. And in my experience, the kids who work the hardest have tended to end up with the best designs, and the kids with the most innate ability are more likely to either do the bare minimum, not finish on time, or have poor time management and end up with a rushed end product. I'll take a hard and dedicated work ethic every time over natural creative ability.

[Edited on June 5, 2007 at 12:24 AM. Reason : .]

6/5/2007 12:20:58 AM