Studio Brief 4 - Design Process - Communicate

This is the Frankie & Benny's current homepage online, the initial connotation that came to mind was the colour scheme reminded me of christmas, it feels very festive due to the green colours used alongside the red. This seems to not fit in with the season with it being January and Christmas being the furthest holiday away, I don't think they are giving off the right impression with this colour scheme as it doesn't particularly remind me of Italy when there is so little white used. The three grid column used allows the images and text to be set out in a clear structure and guides the audiences eyes from top to bottom of the page. The logo stands out well on this page and is a high contrast to the vibrant red background. The typefaces used are mainly sans serif with only very few serif typefaces used, this maximises simplicity. 

The main thing I like about the layout of this app is the way the audience is able to scroll across along the bottom to see more options, this maximises use of space and is convenient and easy to look at. It also allows the top two thirds of the image to show just an overview of the film and an image making the page look easy to navigate around as there is little clutter and confusion. Only the necessary information is used to save time and white text against a black background I believe is more appealing to read. I think that black body text on a white background has connotations of textbooks, instructions and other mundane items which we have to read daily so it is a good idea to change this to something more unique and interesting. If I were designing this app I think I would have made the title of the film into a larger typeface and placed it either in one of the top corners for obvious reasons that this would be where the audience would look for the title or layer it over the image. I think where it is positioned now it doesn't really stand out as a title but just seen as a subheading. I think the deep red background colour works well but the scroll button seems to be almost camouflaged into the background as the same colour is used with only a small highlight. I think either it needs to be highlighted more or have a complete colour change.

Epicurious

The concept of this app is brilliant, I downloaded the app out of curiosity onto my phone and was extremely disappointed, I get the impression it was designed for the iPad and then transferred to iPhone without any adjustments. On the iPad it is clearly laid out in a grid that I assume is three columns and four rows, this makes it a simple layout that makes it easy to navigate around the app. To the left allows you to select a variety of options, I think it is useful that the button changes a different colour in relation to what page you are on to clarify this and stay clear of any confusion. The iPhone app isn't organised enough I personally think, the lists are long and you scroll continuously through heaps of categories that I believe could be condensed down into maybe twenty larger categories to make browsing easier. The background on the iPad app I feel could be a bit more lively, the bar across the top with strawberries in could be extended right the way to the bottom or maybe just a simple block colour instead of the grey, it looks a bit dull.

Gojee

Gojee is an app that gives the viewer a chance to type in what sort of food or drink they would like and view a list of recipes to make your own or a list of recommended local places. The concept of the app is really good and could prove useful to everyone, a wide target audience is good if you can design something that applies to all. In this case this app feel as though it works much better as an iPhone app rather than an iPad app, on an iPhone the information is listed portrait with small images and key information in a small space. However on an iPad I feel that the information is swallowed up by the size of the screen, it is a large app and the images are unnecessarily huge on each page and it feels as though the designer was trying to fill empty space. I think the body text should be made bigger, it is still legible at the size currently used but doesn't draw the attention of the audience and they tend to skip over it. I found the 'favourites' section (the lower image) fairly vague, the images had no title or name so which dish it was could be unclear, a small subheading in each box would allow the audience to view these meals much easier.

Carmel Cafe and Wine Bar 

This cafe and wine bar in Florida already uses iPads to order food and drink and they have obviously considered the setup thoroughly. Split into two columns the page is easy to look at and decipher how to work it to order your food, the tabs at the top show clear headings and give indication of which page you are on. The images are small but big enough to be able to easily see the dish on offer and the title and price are both visible showing the key pieces of information the customer wants to know when ordering food. The 'add' button is in a colour that stands out to make it's purpose obvious and there is an option to zoom in on the food to take a closer look. I think that to improve this menu visually it requires a few changes, the layout is perfectly simple just a little boring to look at, the white background looks a bit clinical, I think it would look nice with a pale neutral or pastel colour applied. it could also be useful to maybe add nutritional information of each dish either below it or have an option to click and see them.

isushi is an app that is clearly set out but just looks very dated and unimaginative, the concept and screens are set out in a distinctive way with the tab icons at the bottom but the colour scheme and icons used feel old and although not much consideration has gone into them. I like the black background, that does feel slightly classy and modern but it is then juxtaposed by simplistic 2D looking icons. I like the use of a simple sans serif font used on content screens but the header serif font look as though it has been warped in an attempt to fit to the screen size. The red text is overwhelmed by the black and 'pacific rim cuisine' lacks luminance and is unnoticeable initially.

The format that this layout allows is one I think is a growing popular way to navigate through an app, the JQuery accordion slider allows the viewer to flick through slides in a more sophisticated and clever set up. I think that it should be applied to the majority of the screen not just in the centre and the titles of each page would be visible on each of the tabs.

Into my research of grids I came across these four which seem to be four main dominating grids used over a variety of media. I am unsure as to whether these are regularly applied to app design but I think they would still be successful digitally. The one thing I noticed across all of them was the simplicity, I believed that grid systems were complex and difficult but these proved me wrong, with minimal columns and rows they are simple to placing images and text. I personally like the Fonmon grid best, I like the idea of the central column being the most dominant and then the two either side providing useful information relative to the central content.

Studio Brief 2 - Design Process - Research

Song Dong - 'Waste Not'

Collecting information or objects is something that is widely done across the art industry and made into forms of art. Although this is slightly different to how I am collecting information it shows how a diverse range of items can be collected but still relate to the same theme. Song Dong, a Chinese artist has created this exhibition surrounding his mothers hoarding of thousands of different objects over the years. He categorises them into the same objects as displays them on stands made out of items she has also collected such as structural features of previous houses. He lays them out in almost a grid format of columns and rows of equal numbers, they are aesthetically pleasing to the audiences eye and show of range of items that are all brought together by the product. I like the methodical way that he collects, categorises and displays them all in a way that makes them much more interesting than just being all placed together.

Design Studies: Theory and Research in Graphic Design (Audrey Bennett)

Before beginning my research I looked to see what methods if research I could find that would be applicable to my sign language topic. This grid that I found in Audrey Bennett's book really helped me to break it down into specific categories. 'Survey, behavioural and participatory' were the three main categories that I looked at as I wanted to make my research range over several different ways of collection. I think behavioural would be quite interesting, to get a deaf person to write a small diary to record daily tasks would be useful.

Studio Brief 3 - Design Process - (Page Layout) InDesign

It's Nice That - Printed Pages Winter Edition 

The combination of image and text used here is really interesting, I like how it spreads over the two pages crossing through the margins, this makes the pages feel less disjointed and gives a feel of unity particularly in the top image. There are two columns on the right hand side page of text, I feel there is quite a lot of text compared to the rest of the double page all in one area. On the lower double page spread I like the three column split that lays underneath the 1 column introduction, however I feel that the text should be of equal length in each column as it looks slightly unfinished. I would increase the gutter size slightly so the text frames were thinner and the text reached the same level in the third column as the first and second.

Blueprint - Architecture Nov - Dec Edition

I'm not particularly engaged by the use of colour on these two spreads, I think if it was just text on top of the yellow it would have worked much better as I feel the images don't contrast well as they contain too many colours. However I think the layout of columns on the left hand side pages are successful, even though they don't contain the same amount of text in each frame I think it works as they are all varied and not just the one. Small pieces of information broken up by space are much easier to intake and read rather than big chunks and so the text is more appealing to read. I find t a bit overwhelming on the top right hand side page that there is such a large section of information, it's too much at once and I think the use of columns might have made it a bit more aesthetically engaging. Alongside this I don't like the layout of the two images used, they feel disjointed and not considered compared to the rest of the design. I do think that the four columns at the bottom finish the page of with a sophisticated edge however, the small subheadings and thin lines to divide are neat and orderly.

As for the bottom right hand side page I really like the way the images are displayed, the constant of the space between them contrasts with the change in size throughout. 

Blueprint - Architecture Nov - Dec Edition

I like the regulation in this double page layout, how it is split into three makes it easy to navigate around the page and conveniently readable. I think the text frames in the top section and the text frames in the bottom section should have been the same width to continue this consistency but it's not a major inconvenience and doesn't stand out. I like the blue background along the top and the use of white text against it, it lightens it up and makes it seem more appealing and friendly. I don't like the blue layer over the images, I think it makes them seem boring and they seem to lose their importance in this piece as they merge into one. There is a lot of information at the bottom but I think it is much easier to read as it is split into six small section across. Using the two pages as one is something I think works really well, it allows the images and text more freedom to spread out.

Emigre 2 - The Magazine That Ignores Boundaries (1985) 

I decided to look at some layout examples from further back into graphic design to see if the principles had changed a lot or if the main guidelines from then were still followed now. One thing I think works really well on the top left hand side page is the use of white space, the text is positioned to the right leaving a wide area to be empty, this somehow makes it seem structured with a contrast of questionable reasoning. I don't think the thick black cross works as well as it could, the delicate white space seems too overpowered by the cross, it is too heavy and seems to be impeding on the space. I believe the image on the bottom left looks slightly disjointed, if it had been placed under the first column I think this would have been much more successful in terms of bringing the piece together. The top right hand side layout is not one that I would use personally, it seems a bit too simple and as though more thought could have been put into it. The block back backgrounds are too much for the delicate illustrations in the opposing two boxes, however the white text does work well and there is minimal, necessary text only. 

The lower double spread is much more fulfilled and informative, I like how the rule of thirds is apparent on the left hand side design, it is defined by the grey bar and title, giving two thirds to the large black and white image. I like how the image bleeds off the page, it draws the eyes to all areas instead of centrally focusing all the attention. There is a small piece of information to introduce the topic placed centrally and a small sub heading, aligned with a quirky feel slightly to the left. The right hand side is very heavy with information, it seems to overwhelm too much and put the reader off from indulging in the page if the introduction didn't grip them. 

MILK Design Magazine

If I were to compare these two double page spreads I personally prefer the bottom one for several reasons. Firstly I think the use of white space on both layouts is successful and makes the information feel like it can breathe rather than it all being cramped into one space it is able to spread out. As far as the images go I prefer the layout on the bottom as I feel it is more structured and ordered, it is methodical and runs horizontally like text would if we were reading it. The images on the top layout seem to be dotted around in an 'L' shape, admittedly the grid used is simple and effective but I feel that the text should directly relate. The text frames in the bottom image are directly below the image the information is referring to, whereas above the corresponding text and images are numbered almost like a catalogue. I think it makes it more unique that all the information is placed to the bottom right on the bottom design, it guides the reader to other areas of the page first in a new way they are not used to.

I found that web design was very similar to printed layout regarding using grids as a structure for text and image to keep it all ordered in a specific format. I firstly looked at a design related website; Creative Review however I was quite unimpressed with their homepage regarding the aesthetics. I think that the colour scheme used is dull and unimaginative, granted it is neutral and doesn't clash with any images used but it doesn't feel very creative. I don't think the toolbars are in the right places either they seemed to be squashed into the top right corner with unnecessary white space left on the top left. The transition from two columns to three columns isn't very smooth and looks uncomfortable, I think it should have been visually broken up to show the difference and change in grid.

The simplicity of Elm Wood Design Studios homepage is what I think makes this so successful, there is no small text and complicated links and directions. At first I didn't like the colour scheme but it grew on me as I navigated through the site, the dark navy acted as a good backdrop for the lighter text. I think that splitting the homepage into just two columns sets the initial impression of simplicity that is carried through as an ongoing theme, the logo is big and bold to create a vision and a short intro of key information is all that is necessary.

The clear setup of the Apple website is immediately obvious, it follows on with the theme of Apple in general and the sleekness and sophistication of their products. Colour is only used in context in relation to the products and a neutral grey tone colour panel is the basis of the design. The toolbar along the top is well positioned, easy to navigate and clearly displays the different pages available. Regarding the layout it is very simple and obvious, each different section is broken up by colour so nothing tends to merge into one, this makes it easier to see what is available.