OUGD601 - RESEARCH - The Design Of Everyday Things

THE DESIGN OF EVERYDAY THINGS:
Donald A. Norman

Business and industry:
- 'business and industry have learned that their products ought to be aesthetically pleasing. A large community of designers exists to help improve appearances. But appearances are only part of the story: usability and understandability are more important, for if a product can't be used easily and safely, how valuable is its attractiveness? Usable design and aesthetics should go hand in hand: aesthetics need not be sacrificed for usability, which can be designed in from the first conceptualisation of the product' (pg.vi).

Usable design: the next competitive frontier:
- 'modern industry must distinguish itself through its consideration of the needs of its customers' (pg.vi).
- 'designers know too much about their product to be objective judges: the features they have come to love and prefer ma not be understood or preferred by the future customers' (pg.vii).

CHAPTER 1:
The psychology of everyday things:
- 'the importance of visibility, appropriate clues, and feedback of one's actions. These principles constitute a form of psychology - the psychology of how people interact with things' (pg.9).
- how do people cope with the multiple interferences of everyday things? 'part of the answer lies in the way the mind works - in the psychology of human thought and cognition. Part lies in the information available from the appearance of the objects - the psychology of everyday things. And part comes from the ability of the designer to make the operation clear, to project a good image of the operation, and to take advantage of other things people might be expected to know. Here is where the designer's knowledge of the psychology of people coupled with the knowledge of how things work becomes crucial' (pg.12).

The paradox of technology:
- 'technology offers the potential to make life easier and more enjoyable; each new technology provides increased benefits. At the same time, added complexities arise to increase our difficulty and frustration. The development of technology tends to follow a U-shaped curve of complexity: starting high; dropping to a low, comfortable level; then climbing again' (pg.30).
- 'the same technology that simplifies life by providing more functions in each device also complicates life by making the device harder to learn, harder to use. This is the paradox of technology'.
- 'the paradox of technology should never be used as an excuse for poor design. The principles of good design can make complexity manageable' (pg.31).

CHAPTER 2:
The seven stages of action:
- 'the specific actions bridge the gap between what we would like to have done (our goal and intentions) and all possible physical actions'.
- 'forming the goal, forming the intention, specifying an action, executing the action, perceiving the state of the world, interpreting the state of the world, and evaluating the outcome' (pg.48).

The seven stages of action as design aids:
- 'visibility: by looking, the user can tell the state of the device and the alternatives for action'.
- 'a good conceptual model: the designer provides a good conceptual model for the user, with consistency in the presentation of operations and results and a coherent, consistent system image'.
- 'good mappings: it is possible to determine the relationships between actions and results, between the controls and their effects, and between the system state and what is visible'.
- 'feedback: the user receives full and continuous feedback about the result of actions' (pg.53).

CHAPTER 3:
Knowledge in the head and in the world:
- 'information is in the world: much of the information a person needs to do a task can reside in the world. Behaviour is determined by combining the information in the head (memory) with that of the world'.
- 'great precision is not required: precision, accuracy and completeness of knowledge are seldom required'.
- 'natural constraints are present: the world restricts the allowed behaviour'.
- 'cultural constraints are present: in addition to natural, physical constraints, society has evolved numerous artificial conventions that govern acceptable social behaviour. These cultural conventions have to be learned' (pg.55).

- 'people function through their use of two kinds of knowledge: knowledge of and knowledge how. Knowledge of - what psychologists call declarative knowledge - includes the knowledge of facts and rules. Knowledge how - what psychologists call procedural knowledge - is the knowledge that enables a person to perform an action. Procedural knowledge is largely subconscious' (pg.57-58).

CHAPTER FOUR:
Conscious and subconscious behaviour:
- 'much human behaviour is done subconsciously, without conscious awareness and not available to inspection. Subconscious thought matches patterns. It operates by finding the best possible match of one's past experience to the current one. It proceeds rapidly and automatically'.
- 'conscious thought is slow and laboured. Here is where we slowly ponder decisions, think through alternatives, compare different choices' (pg.125).
- 'both conscious and subconscious modes of thought are powerful and essential aspects of human life. Both can provide insightful leaps and creative moments. And both are subject to errors, misconceptions and failures' (pg.126).
- 'subconscious thought is one of the tools of the conscious mind, and the memory limitation can be overcome if only an appropriate organisational structure can be found' (pg.127).

Social pressure and mistakes:
- 'although it may not at first seem to be relevant in design, it [social pressure] has strong influence on everyday behaviour. In industrial settings social pressures can lead to misinterpretations and mistakes' (pg.129).

CHAPTER 6:
The natural evolution of design:
- 'much good design evolves: the design is tested, problem areas are discovered and modified, and then it is continually retested and re-modified until time, energy and resources run out. This natural design process is characteristic of products built by craftspeople. With handmade objects, each new object can be modified slightly from the previous one, eliminating small problems, making small improvements or testing new ideas. Over time, this process results in functional, aesthetically pleasing objects'.
- however, 'natural design does not work in every situation: there must be enough time for the process to be carried out, and the item must be simple. Modern designers are subject to many forces that do not allow for the slow, careful crafting of an object' (pg.142).

Putting aesthetics first:
- 'if everyday design were ruled by aesthetics, life might be more pleasing to the eye but less comfortable; if ruled by usability, it might be more comfortable but uglier' (pg.151).

Designers are not typical users:
- 'designers often think of themselves as typical users. After all, they are people too, and they are often users of their own designs. All of us develop an everyday psychology. As human beings, we have access to our conscious thoughts and beliefs but not our subconscious ones. Conscious thoughts are often rationalisations of behaviour, explanations after the fact. We tend to project our own rationalisations and beliefs onto the actions and beliefs of others. But the professional should be able to realise that human belief and behaviour are complex and that the individual is in no position to discover all the relevant factors. There is no substitute for interaction with and study of actual users of a proposed design' (pg.155).

REFERENCE: Norman, D. (1988) The Design Of Everyday Things. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press.

OUGD601 - RESEARCH - The New Handmade Graphics: Introduction

THE NEW HANDMADE GRAPHICS: BEYOND DIGITAL DESIGN:
Anne Odling-Smee

Introduction: the rough and the smooth:
- 'the designers in The New Handmade Graphics are no longer willing to put up with the homogenity that has been spreading through globalisation or the widespread use of modern technologies' (pg.6).

- 'not everyone wants to live in an environment full of polished surfaces, artificial materials and perfectly designed spaces - generally, people are attracted to rough edges, natural fibres, and mistakes they can see'.
- 'graphic designers are beginning to realise this at a time when their industry has become increasingly dominated by perfectionist technology. The last fifteen years have witnessed a period of excess in graphics, with designers producing complex fusions of computer-generated matter that have often confused the presentation of information and achieved limited visual impact' (pg.6).

- 'some practitioners are becoming aware that because of the ease and speed of digital production, there is a danger of complacency; in general, people are now more equivocal about the benefits of using the computer in graphic design, particularly as a means of creative expression' (pg.7).

- 'graphic design is a key indicator of how technology is being transformed. Designers have to keep abreast of the latest developments to stay competitive and meet, on one side, the technical demands of print and production and, on the other side, the commercial demands of clients. Each new invention or discovery initiates a change in production methods, which is followed soon afterwards by a shift in visual style' (pg.7).

- 'by the 1970's, design had also become an intrinsic part of business in western countries, at a time when corporate agencies were beginning to replace many of the smaller design firms'.
- 'house styles were considered essential, every company wanted a logo and the 'Swiss style' became the generic look, with its anonymous san-serifs, lack of decoration and rigid adherence to grids. This strain of graphic design became no more than a mass-marketed style that was applied across a wide range of consumer products, leaving little or no scope for individual creativity' (pg.8).

- 'various experimental movements in graphic design emerged during this time, partly in reaction to this aesthetic uniformity' e.g. punk/new wave (pg.8).

- 'although the poor reproduction of the printed graphics was often criticised, the typographical execution somehow seems to underline the quality of the design itself - it was a case of artistic expression being more important than technical perfection' (pg.10).

- graphic design critic, Silvano Capri - "what made the biggest impression on me in Polish graphics was something which is found in both commercial and free graphic work: the awareness of human values, deep faith in life seen as a continuation of other existences in other epochs. Such values are found ever more rarely in our art, which is becoming increasingly tightly enclosed within so-called pure aesthetic intelligence" (pg.10).

- deign critic, Rick Poyner (1998) - "the technology is boringly slow, the interfaces clumsy, the mainstream product banal, and who really wants to spend large chunks of their leisure time gawping at computer screens" (pg.11).

- 'people are far more visually aware than they were thirty years ago'.
- 'the demand for sophisticated media design had led to mass production, and the computer has acted as an equaliser, erasing the difference between text, images, sounds and films. As a result, everything has become homogenised. As a result, most design succeeds in generating only a brief moment of interest that is quickly forgotten and that allows little opportunity for imaginative engagement' (pg.11).

- John Maeda - "in the field of digital art, an entire generation of creators shop at the equivalent of home-improvement megastores, eagerly acquiring all kinds of prefabricated components and add-ons. Blissfully unaware - or even worse, uninterested in - the basic nature of the technologies they are using as tools" (J Maeda and N Negraponte, 2000) (pg.12).

- the use of reductive rather than additive methods.

- 'as the influence of the West penetrates into the consciousness of increasing numbers of global communities via an ever-expanding market for its goods and, as a result, cultural differences diminish, designers have to work harder to resist homogenity'.
- 'in addition, the boundaries between disciplines are breaking down and the public now also have a greater influence on design, having become more astute judges through their own daily experiences of living in an intensely consumerist society' (pg.13).

REFERENCE: Odling-Smee, A. (2002) The New Handmade Graphics: Beyond Digital Design. Hove, Sussex: Rotovision.

OUGD601 - Books on Phenomenology (Art and Design)

• The Phenomenology of Modern Art by Paul Crowther.
• Phenomenologies of Art and Vision by Paul Crowther.
  
  Contemporary discussions of the image like to emphasise art's societal functions. To address the question of how painting becomes an art, Crowther uses the analytic philosophy of Richard Wollheim as a starting point. But to sufficiently answer the question, he makes an important link to a tradition much more successful in giving voice to the deeper ontology of visual art - existential phenomenology. The result is a work that demonstrates the reciprocal relationship between phenomenology and analytic aesthetics.

Both books concern phenomenology in regards to 'art' in general and one more specifically to modern art, however some aspects of the book's arguments and theories could potentially also be translated into the context of Graphic Design as a potential art form (themes of phenomenology and aesthetics).

https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/phenomenologies-of-art-and-vision-9781472579652/
(Accessed 14 September 2018).

OUGD601 - RESEARCH - Phenomenology and Experience

PHENOMENOLOGY AND EXPERIENCE: THE ROLE OF THE GRAPHIC DESIGNER:

"EXPERIENCE" reinstating the definition:

'Hassenzhal and Roto (2007) state the case for the difference between the functional view of usability and the phenomenological view of emotional impact. People have and use technological products because "they have things to do"; they need to make phone calls, write documents, shop online, or search for information. Hassenzhal and Roto call these "do goals", appropriately evaluated by the usability and usefulness measures of their "pragmatic quality". Human users also have the emotional and psychological needs, including needs involving self-identity, relatedness to others, and being satisfied with life. These are "be goals", appropriately evaluated by the emotional impact and phenomenological measures of their "hedonic quality"'.

'Interactive products are perceived by their users/owners with regard to their capability to fulfil do-goals and be-goals. Thus, people may perceive products as primarily hedonic (a be-product), primarily pragmatic (a do-product), both or even neither hedonic or pragmatic'.

(Hassenzahl and Roto, 2007).

Phenomenology:
is a branch of philosophy that explores the structures of conscious experience.

- experience is subjective - 'we live through them or perform them'.
- intentionality describes how the individual intends towards an experience - that is, the individual directs consciousness towards and experience - "will".
- experience is constructive - experience is experience in context.
- the conditions of intentionality - the role of preconscious or unconscious activity in experience - 'or own experience spreads out'.

Aesthetics:
broadly speaking, aesthetics is the philosophy of "beauty". However, contemporary perspectives recognise that aesthetic appreciation is embedded within history and cultural diversity. Therefore, a knowledge of aesthetics is depended on knowledge of culture and context.
For a graphic designer, aesthetic knowledge stems from an understanding of the development of graphic technique and form, as well as the interrelationships of beauty, culture and communication.

Subjectivity:
aspects and theories of subjectivity play a pivotal role in graphic design practice. Certain facets of subjectivity inform an understanding of the individual:

- desire.
- identity.
- gender and sexuality.

These aspects were adopted in Ernest Dichter's "motivational research" which explored often hidden motivators in consumers.
Effective graphic designers strike a balance between aesthetic appreciation and communication that places the end-user as the central motivator.

https://www.slideshare.net/nuxuk/the-role-of-the-graphic-designer-in-uxd-simon-jones-leeds-college-of-art
(Accessed 14 September 2018).

OUGD601 - RESEARCH - The Skirball Center Identity

DESIGNED BY MICHAEL BIERUT (PENTAGRAM):

- The Skirball Center for Performing Arts at New York University (a cultural centre which hosts dance, theatre, music, film and performance art).

- The identity was inspired by the venue's senior director who envisioned the centre "as a place where uptown meets downtown" which makes the most of New York University's global connections. Working towards this envision, Bierut and his team wanted to reflect the 'rich graphic heritage' of downtown New York, and did so through the visualisation of gig posters, zines and handmade flyers in order 'to evoke the days when Washington Square was the providing ground for a revolutionary American avant-garde".
- Pentagram explains that the identity's design direction "reflects the intellectual counterculture traditions in the historically Bohemian Village".

- The identity has also been used consistently throughout the New York University campus in some of their branding and printed media, such as the season brochure which was printed on newsprint in a zine-like style.

IMAGE ANALYSIS:

The new identity produced for The Skirball Center was designed with handmade material in mind, such as hand-printed gig-posters and zines, reflecting the downtown areas of New York. Despite this, the identity seems as though it has been produced mainly through digital means, replicating such handmade visuals through the use of a computer. It seems strange that this should be done digitally, however perhaps this was done in order to put a more contemporary twist on the designs to not only reflect the American avant-garde, but also the modernity of the New York University.

However, this identity has also been used within their printed material, this time more physically reflecting on the handmade through their design production in that they printed the University's seasonal brochures on newsprint in a zine-like style.

https://www.itsnicethat.com/news/michael-bierut-pentagram-the-skirball-center-graphic-design-070218
(Accessed 14 September 2018).

OUGD601 - RESEARCH - Handmade Graphics Refuse To Go Quietly

HANDMADE GRAPHICS REFUSE TO GO QUIETLY:

- in spite of the huge progressions made by mechanical and digital technologies on graphics and printing throughout the twentieth century, the handmade graphic just refuses to go away quietly and bow to the authoritative precision of works mediated through metal type or digital bitmaps. The answers may lie in that assumed authoritative precision which edits out all the imperfections, the unfiltered emotions, the unpredictabilites and the vagaries of the human touch.

- the 'truth' offered through homogenous consumer aesthetics is rapidly becoming less believable. The stranglehold of the computer program in flattening out the texture of imagery and its physical, material presence creates something quite different in experience from the image created by materials manipulated by hand.

Potential works to look at:

- Claude Lichtenstein's essay 'Tangible facts'.

(articulates the age-old problem for designers about the importance of playfulness with material craft in keeping their work fresh, alive and open to possibilities, and hints at the potential gains to be explored working in the space between the manual and the Mac).

http://www.eyemagazine.com/review/article/handmade-graphics-refuse-to-go-quietly
(Accessed 14 September 2018).

OUGD601 - RESEARCH - Why Designing By Hand Still Matters

WHY DESIGNING BY HAND STILL MATTERS:

- using your hands stimulates brain activity. Studies show that increased brain activity occurs when you write by hand versus on the computer.
- making things with your hand yields personalised results. No one can reproduce the work you make, because it comes uniquely from you.
- making things by hand gives less control. Imperfections become part of the work and add visual interest.
- in contrast, making things by hand also gives you more control. You aren't tied to the capabilities of the software you are using.
- physically, it's better for you. Manual processes involve your whole body, versus the static state we are in when we work at a computer.

https://www.creativelive.com/blog/graphic-design-by-hand/
(Accessed 14 September 2018).

OUGD601 - RESEARCH - The Future Of Handmade Design

THE FUTURE OF HANDMADE DESIGN:

- mass-produced, machine-made and digitally crafted works have ceded some ground to the imperfect, tactile and subjective qualities of the handmade, and we have found ways to intervene by hand in the more alienating aspects of technology.
- creatively, we have reached something of a watershed. This return to humanistic and tactile sensibilities - a partial reversal of modernism's sterility and machine-made aesthetic - sits alongside a new wave of technology that places control and ingenuity back in the hands of the individual.
- the movement is related to a shift in design practices in response to changes in consumer demand.

- Stefan Sagmeister: "with the advent of modernism, everything became machine-made, be it in architecture, products of graphics. This made a lot of sense in the 1920's when there was a need to get rid of ornamentation in order to reflect the cultural climate. As this machine-made 'objective' direction has now been the status quo for almost 100 years, a more human, handmade, subjective, natural approach is the more effective way to communicate".

- the digitalisation of design revolutionised graphics in the 90's and has since given rise to an endless proliferation of new fonts, some of which attempt to mimic handwriting. Meanwhile, the practice of writing by hand in everyday life has become scarce, with typing taking place of pen and paper.

- digital degeneration.
- Dutch lettering artist, Job Walters, laments the decline of traditional practices in self-expression.
- "in a world where manual craft is supplanted more and more by digital technique, I find the universal and physical nature of handwriting fascinating. Most people acquire their penmanship in their early youth, but do not practice it until much later in life; the hand degenerates". So too has the digitalisation of the design process affected its aesthetic development - to empowering effect, but also detriment of character.

- Aslak Gurholt Rosen of Norwegian design studio Yokoland - any form of handmade process leads to a unique understanding of the design process. "Today, I spend most of my day in front of a screen. To do things by hand - drawing, painting, making a sculpture, or even constructing a piece of furniture - gives you an understanding of form, size, construction and colour, which is essential in design. Ultimately, how can you design anything without knowing how it's produced?"
- ceding a degree of control over the end product is part of what enables handmade processes to reach their full potential.

- what emerges is that design practitioners are forging new ways to integrate manual and digital methods, using them at different stages of the design process, with one informing the other.
- Sam Winston - to circumvent the homogenising influence of the computer. "Even though a machine can create many things, the point of input is always the same, so a an experience goes, it can be very limited".

- as our lives become increasingly digitalised, and we consume more images on-screen, the presence of handmade elements in a digital context brings the content back into our 'real' world and our tactile experiences.
- what takes months of planning and building by hand could be achieved in minutes on a computer, but the final image would lack integrity.
- there is a sense of honesty in the handmade process that can be absent in design created mechanically. Handmade elements set up a relationship with the viewer based on trust and shared experiences. Imperfections are natural, human and signifiers of a narrative that discloses how an object has been made.
- Illenberger: "I think that working by hand contributes to the proximity between the work and its audience".

- if human touch is absent from products, consumers are intervening to customise and 'hack' mass-manufactured items into something more personal that genuinely answers their needs.
- "when this ethos is applied to our relationship with design, it has a more fundamental charge - a return to design as a direct response to real problems faced by real people".

- Anthony Burrill - it isn't about peddling nostalgia or making things look old. "That's something I'm very conscious of. Just because I'm making something using old techniques - I still want it to feel contemporary".

- the open source movement.

- while digital-aided design can create cheats and illusions, there is no substitute for the quality of the end product and the satisfaction in the making of a well-executed piece of handmade work. Likewise, the shortcuts implemented by machine-made production can be reversed by consumers' interventions by hand.

- the future of handmade is not simply about an aesthetic or a set of tools or practices, then, but a system of beliefs, or an ethic about ways of working that upholds quality, craftmanship and innovation. The handmade design is bound up with wider cultural changes relating to consumption.
- fundamentally, we are rediscovering our hands as tools, making us active participants in designing the future.

https://www.creativebloq.com/future-handmade-design-5132895
(Accessed 13 September 2018).

OUGD601 - Exploring Other Potential Contexts

- AESTHETICS - defined as concerned with beauty or the appreciation of beauty/ a set of principles underlying the work of a particular artist or artistic movement.
- Aesthetics and culture (combined) is the study of all things that appeal to our senses. For instance, through the means of expression and cultural contexts of the arts in modern society. Is this having an effect as to why there has been a resurgence in more handmade methods of production?
- Vignelli, M. - Long Live Modernism: Massimo Vignelli Reaffirms His Faith in Form and Function. AIGA.

"I was raised to believe that, as a designer, I have the responsibility to improve the world around us, to make it a better place to live, to fight and oppose trivia, kitsch and all norms of subculture that are visually polluting our world".

- Massimo Vignelli was an Italian designer, whose work sat firmly within the modernist tradition of design. As a very opinionated designer, he believed that we have a responsibility to improve the world by getting rid of any 'bad' graphic design. This quote also raises problems associated with subjectiveness. What Vignelli believed to be bad graphic design may be an example of good graphic design to another person. He believed that design must be timeless, however it is clear that design is not static, it is constantly developing with the times.

- TECHNOLOGICAL - relating to or using technology.
- Theoretical and practical research will be situated partly within the context of technology, since there is a difference between the handmade and digital in terms of production. One focuses on technology present in the digital age to produce work, whereas the other looks more at traditional machinery to produce work. This also has a context related to distribution.
- Erik Spiekermann (2014) - Interview in Creative Characters.

"What I find very interesting is the movement of people who are savvy in digital design but are genuinely interested in analog techniques. It is now more than a passing trend; there must be a deeper motive why we are newly interested in the hand-made and the haptic, material and three-dimensional aspects of type and design".

- This quote concerns the differences between contemporary digital design, and more traditional design and production techniques, such as handmade production and printing. It looks at the reemergence of handmade graphic design techniques and how this is taking design back towards it's roots, as well as considering the advantages and/or disadvantages of rapidly developing technology which is changing graphic design as a whole. What impact is this having on contemporary design practice?

OUGD601 - Updated Reading List

• By Hand: Handmade Elements in Graphic Design by PIE Books.
• The New Handmade Graphics: Beyond Digital Design by Anne Odling-Smee.
• Fingerprint: The Art of Using Handmade Elements in Graphic Design by Chen Design Associates.
• The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman.
• Emotional Design: Why We Love (Or Hate) Everyday Things by Don Norman.
• Designing For Emotion by Aarron Walter.
• Consumer Psychology by Catherine Jansson-Boyd (?)

OUGD601 - RESEARCH - Psychology In Design: Principles Helping Understand Users

PSYCHOLOGY IN DESIGN: PRINCIPLES HELPING TO UNDERSTAND USERS:

- 'Donald A. Norman in his book "The Design of Everyday Things" defines design as an act of communication, which means having to deep understanding of the person with whom the designer is communicating. In order to get better insight into people's needs, designers are recommended to bear in mind the psychological principles of human behaviour, aspirations and motivations'.

- (figure - ground gestalt principle - demonstrates the eye's tendency to separate objects from their background. There are lots of examples of pictures that show two faces depending on where your eye is focused, the object or the background).

- Hick's Law: 'the law states that the more options users are exposed to, the longer it takes them to make a decision'/ the next steps of the interaction. The possible result is that users find the interactions or design unpleasant or uninteresting and therefore leave. 'Remove unnecessary choices, make the usability of the product more effective'.

https://tubikstudio.com/psychology-in-design-principles-helping-to-understand-users/
(Accessed 13 September 2018).

OUGD601 - RESEARCH - Gestalt Psychology and Why It's Essential For Good Design

GESTALT PSYCHOLOGY AND WHY IT'S ESSENTIAL FOR GOOD DESIGN:

- making sense of things by seeing a whole rather than the individual parts is called gestalt psychology.
- important for designers to create complete and compelling visuals.
- psychologists: Max Wertheimer, Kurt Koffka and Wolfgang Kohler.
- 6 design principles: figure - ground, similarity, proximity, closure, continuity and order.
- figure - ground: the thought that when we look at a scene of separate objects that some of the focus /
- similarity: the notion that we place objects with similar characteristics in a group. These characteristics can include colour, size, font, shape, texture, etc.
- proximity: the belief that we group together objects that are close to each other.
- closure: the idea that our minds close objects that are not necessarily together or complete in order to create a whole.
- continuity: the theory that we continue to follow objects that are visually aligned until they are interrupted.
- order: the belief that alignment and symmetry are attractive and essential elements in design.
- when gestalt principles are ignored, designs can look out of place or incomplete forcing our eyes to focus on little inconsistencies rather than the greater whole.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dk7cXdjX2Ys
(Accessed 13 September 2018).

OUGD601 - RESEARCH - The Science Behind Design: 8 Psychology Principles

THE SCIENCE BEHIND DESIGN: 8 PSYCHOLOGY PRINCIPLES:

- design is all about making choices. Each decision will 'ultimately influence the message you're trying to get across'.

- 'learning to design well has as much to do with psychology and user behaviour as it does creativity' (as argued by author, Bethany Cartwright).

1. Mental Models (specifically in UX design):

- the process of designing something like a website or app requires trying to uncover and act on what users might find intuitive.

- 'mental modelling is the process of mapping out what a person understands about the real world through experience and replicating those models in the design of something in the virtual space/ it's about trying to uncover your audience's intuitive process'.

- designing with users' experience in mind.

2. The Von Restorff Effect:

- 'the idea that the oddball out is the one that gets remembered'.

- sometimes when designing you want your audience's eye to be drawn to one specific spot, e.g. through using a different colour, font, size, etc.

3. Gestalt Principles:

- 'gestalt psychology explores how elements are perceived in relation to each other visually/ the gestalt principles (or laws) focus specifically on how design elements are grouped together'.

- proximity: 'the idea that when objects are placed in close proximity to one another, those objects are seen as a group rather than individually' e.g. the Unilever logo.

- similarity: 'objects that look similar will be perceived as one object or as part of the same group' e.g. the NBC logo.

- closure: 'closure occurs when a shape is still perceived as a whole even when the object is not fully closed in reality'.

- continuity: 'occurs as the eye moves naturally from one object to the other. This often happens through the creation of curved lines allowing the eye to flow with the line'.

- figure and ground: 'when the eye notices an object as an object, it separates the object (figure) from the surrounding area (the ground)'.

4. Visceral Reactions:

- a gut reaction.

- 'designing for visceral reactions is essentially designing to create a positive aesthetic impression' e.g. knowing what does and does not please people.

5. The Psychology of Colour:

- associations of different colours with certain feelings or thoughts.

- blue: secure, calm, honest, trustworthy, strong, caring, e.g. Facebook.

- red: energy, love, exciting, action, bold, passionate, e.g. Coca-Cola.

- orange: happy, sociable, friendly, affordable.

- yellow: logical, optimistic, forward-thinking, confidence, playful.

- purple: imaginative, creative, nostalgic.

- green: growth, organic, natural, caring, fresh, earth.

- black: sophistication, luxury, seductive, formal, authority.

- multi-colour: multi-channel, positive, playful, bold, boundless, e.g. Google.

6. The Psychology of Shapes:

- 'like colours, humans associate different shapes with certain emotions and characteristics'.

- circles, ovals and ellipses: positive emotional messages attached to community, friendship, love, relationships, unity and femininity.

- squares and triangles: stability and balance, strength, professionalism, efficiency, power and masculinity. e.g. Microsoft.

- vertical lines: masculinity, strength and aggression.

- horizontal lines: community, tranquillity, calm and equality.

7. Duel-Coding Theory:

- 'the idea that both visual and verbal cues can represent ideas, but using both can help the brain recall those ideas faster'.

- we need both visual and verbal information to better digest and remember information.

- duel-coding theory is what helps the reader/viewer truly understand a concept.

8. Cost-Benefit Analysis:

- making content as simple as possible for an audience, while still being able to fulfil the goal of the content.

https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/psychological-design-principles

(Accessed 13 September 2018).

OUGD601 - Responding to Cop3 Proposal Feedback

For Context of Practice 3, I initially intended to research and investigate handmade methods of graphic design vs. digital methods, with a particular focus on print culture whereby we are now living in what is called the 'late age of print', where it can be seen there has been a return to handmade production methods of design and print, such as letterpress and screen-printing.

CoP3 Proposal Feedback:

This is a tricky topic to explore for CoP3 since it does not offer easy to identify opportunities to explore contexts and theories. As such, your reading list covers ideas related to design that you are no doubt very familiar with. You need to find a way into this topic that situates this particular approach to graphic design practice in "real world" contexts. For example, this could be about finding ways to embed more human character into design which is increasingly flat and digital therefore you can begin to explore contexts and theories related to subjectivity, embodied experience, phenomenology, psychology, etc.

In response to this I began to do some basic research into the different examples given in feedback, in particular, embodied experience and phenomenology.

Embodied experience and "embodied design" is said to grow from the idea of embodied cognition: that the actions of the body can play a role in the development of thoughts and ideas. Designers can use embodied cognition as a tool to study human behaviour and create user-centred designs.

Phenomenology is an approach that concentrates on the study of consciousness and objects of direct experience. This theory seems to hold the idea of consciousness as a key theme, which could potentially be related to ideas based on cognitive psychology within graphic design and advertising to explore how people react to different aspects of design.

Both theories, embodied experience and phenomenology, seem to have apparent links to ideas of consciousness which can then also be linked to ideas of cognitive psychology. This is something, however, which can be situated more directly within advertising as part of graphic design practice and so a way needs to be thought as to how such theories can be embedded into ideas proposed in my initial CoP3 proposal (digital vs. handmade methods of production). Perhaps discussions can be made as to what draws people to either digital or handmade graphic design, and how their experiences and conscious behaviours affect such things.