Lecture on Feb 17, 2015. Guest: Bree Galbraith
I felt like I was stuck with my theme. Not a while ago, before writing this feeling down, I was a bit anxious. It was like there was nothing I could modify to make my fonts easier to read, or to change my fonts’ colours that would seem more “professional” (SEEMS). From the lecture and tutorial, I learned that I could at least change something to satisfy myself a bit more. Changing is always intended to be better, I believe. A stable style matters eventually.
Assigned readings
From the book review on “The Elements of Typographic Style” by Maurice Meilleur, I have learned that Bringhurst’s reputation is built upon three key elements: range & depth of treatment, the quality of writing, and the confidence & generosity of tone. I believe his passion has to deal with his success- being a book designer, utilizing typography. The only thing I have to mention is the last commen of Meilleur: Typography is meant to honor content. Also, I agree that it is much more effective for future generation to learn about the process of using typography instead of what outcomes would look like.
I am glad to hear from “Why coding is not the new literacy” by Chris Granger that modeling system is the answer. Perhaps, I am speaking from most students who are not professionals, regarding coding/ programing language. The key idea is that the future generation should not just learn how to give computer instructions. Instead, modeling our own systems has to include exploration by shaping ideas/ thoughts, understanding by breaking things down, discovering models’ results in various contexts. Tools have to be more flexible, human-based like the example of Excel (for the alphabetical organizing system). However, I am not sure about the whole coding system that we have been using, and it seems to continue. I hope for the best.
“Facebook Design Director The 5 Most Common Design Mistakes” by Julie Zhuo reminds me of the concept of ‘content first’. Designers should be encouraged to take the risk (investment problem, financial support I suppose) to explore broader systems or model changes. When designing, designers should not be engaged to one idea, refining it again and again. Content matters. The excellence of presentation of designers’ products should put the content at high rank (maybe they should be at the same level of design for some people). More importantly, I believe designers are meant to create something that is for all people who desires to use it. Meanwhile, designers should take a step back, from customers’ perspective, to analyze how they could lead them to choose their products.
Everyone is a designer. I think we should consider ourselves designers/ artists. The professional skills of using technical applications (Photoshop, coding language etc) should not be the limiting agent of the creativity of individuals. It is hard to suggest this to everyone, and I understand. Perhaps, I should address it into “always learn a little bit more about everything (photo editing, coding system etc)”, which would always help us to approach the goals a bit faster.
