Too much to see

It's funny that there is so much design in the every day world. Too many people don't quite know what graphic design is or what graphic designers do, but their work is just about everywhere you look. Good or bad, some form of design is usually within arm's reach.

However, so much design also presents an interesting problem. We are inundated with design, so much so that most people only process it all on a very subconscious level. Even designers themselves forget to take this into account. While we can't design in a vacuum, and we take into account where objects will be seen, sometimes we forget how many other objects will be around ours. What we have worked on may be wonderful, but it could be missed do to the visual cacophony surrounding it.

My favorite example of this is the grocery store. Not only is there so much to see, most people aren't even interested in seeing it. Most go to the store with specific needs in mind and brands they like already. This is also a good place for impulse buys, and those can be due to how the product looks and what is actually inside. However, everything still has to fight to be seen. Recently, while in the store I almost missed this little jem of design by Chiquita.



Each bunch of bananas had a different face on them, and it was easy to tell that no one else had spotted them. While I stood at the banana display and took several pictures, the rest of the shoppers looked at me like I was crazy. After I walked away, I saw a store employee look at the bananas and soon a quiet "...Oh I see!" escape him. Not even the people who are around these items ever day notice the design of them.

Another place that struggles with visual inundation is the book store. Books have a slight advantage over produce though; people expect to linger looking at books and don't necessarily have a choice of book in mind when they get there. Plus, books can catch a break in terms of how they are displayed. I never would have spotted this collections of books on the shelves, but due to their own display I now plan on buying at least one of them.



As a designer I attempt to take in all that is around me, and to point out interesting things to those I am with. But sometimes even I just tune out all the visual data that bombards us every day. I think that every designer has to find that balance within their own world. There is just so much to see that trying to truly see everything would drive you crazy. But then again, every once in a while being hyper observant allows you to see something you wouldn't have expected. :D

Names

The other day I was in the car with my sister and we were straining to read a bumper sticker. Indignantly she yelled "why do bumper stickers have fine print?" Almost as soon as the words left her mouth I started thinking about how I would make that bumper sticker better. Which got me to thinking about how design is generally inspired by some kind of problem. But that thought lead me to how designers are generally called "problem solvers."

This term has always bothered me. Yes, designers solve problems but that is not all we do. Take this wonderful Delta ticket redesign project by Tyler Thompson. In truth, the problem that existed was that you need to tell people where to go, and a paper way to keep track of them. This problem alone has been solved by the original delta ticket. But the first ticket has several problems left within it. It's confusing, there is too much data to look at, and just sort of blurs together visually.

The redesign tackles all of these problems, and ads something more. It is now visually pleasing. The color draws the eye, and I don't know if everyone else reads this much into plane tickets, but to me it is much more friendly. That ticket makes me feel like flying should be fun and calm.

Now some would say that getting me to feel this way due to a simple ticket is part of the design problem. And perhaps it is, but I don't feel that those types of problems are thought of when you say the words "problem solver." That particular term sounds impersonal and some what one-dimentional.

However, it could be that I am simply adding baggage to a term that doesn't actually have those connotations. If I apply deeper meaning to the word, then I can understand how designers would be called problem solvers. But then so would everyone else. Teachers, scientists, therapists, contractors, doctors, and retail workers all solve some form of problem. So I don't believe that design can simply be explained as just problem solving.

There is still a lot of art and craft to design. It's not just about solving a conundrum, but making things better, more useful and more beautiful while you are at it.

While I may not like the term "problem solvers" to be the only explanation for designers, there is something nice about thinking that the world is filled with problem solvers.

Beginnings

Each project has a start, and it is generally with some apprehension and a lot of joy that I approach them. Beginnings represent a blank slate just waiting for a revolutionary idea, and no idea is unheard of yet. However, things can go sour fast and that is where the apprehension comes from. Sometimes projects just look like they are going to be trouble.

I don't know about most people, but I tend to like beginnings. Feeling like you are getting a fresh start and an open world of ideas at your fingertips is kind of intoxicating in a good way. Besides, design, like a lot of things, is all about what you put into it. So starting a project in a happy frame of mind is always a bit better in the long run. Then when the challenges come later hopefully you can still like the project on some level.

But thinking on beginnings can also get you thinking on endings, and for me that is the conundrum of starting a new design project. You are beginning work that is a means to an end. Each project generally has a definite purpose and all of those wonderful ideas from before must serve that purpose above all else. So is the beginning still just as open as before? I still think so. It's one of the first things you have to learn with design: limitations and purposes are not really as restricting as they seem at first glance. It is the wonderful job of limitations to help a solution take form from the primordial-head-soup of the initial idea. But that delves more into process than beginnings.

Sufficed to say, I enjoy beginnings. They give me hope and make me smile. So, in the spirit of good starts I present this:



What is that? The raw form of my sisters FANTASTIC cinnamon rolls. Their beginning was a little strange, but they ended up being awesome. That bit of delicious kitchen magic gives me hope for all beginnings, design or otherwise. :)