Honestly, I never knew all that I just read about went into design. I usually just get some pictures, make some text with bold headings, slap the pictures in the text, and call it good. My roommate is a graphical design major, and I never understood what he did. He would always try to make things look so "pretty" while I would view the document as not having enough information. I think for a good design, two people with these contrasting mindsets should work together to form a great design.
I really enjoyed the tropicana design review. It is true that certain designs cannot be changed. The goal of any logo or design is to have it so memorable that you never need to change it again. For instance, Nike's swoosh logo will never be forgotten. A design for a document or our instructions should be completely opposite. The goal of my instructions is similar to my design goal of my resume; the design should be smooth-flowing and, as the instructor blog stated, invisible. As people read my instructions, they should not think once about the design. Nothing should stand out saying, "Look at me, I'm out of place."
One thing that I already frequently use in many instances is
white space.
I try to incorporate white space in some of my writings to set off certain features of my document, such as tables and charts. The link to the article about white space helped me to think of more ways to introduce white space in my documents. I will definitely be using white space in my instructions, as this is a fast and easy way to help my design out, if I do it right.
More specifics please
You state: "I try to incorporate white space in some of my writings to set off certain features of my document, such as tables and charts. The link to the article about white space helped me to think of more ways to introduce white space in my documents. I will definitely be using white space in my instructions, as this is a fast and easy way to help my design out, if I do it right." This is a good start, but it would be more productive for the class if you identify how you might use white space in instruction sets. Keep in mind that ultimately we want to turn these posts to pragmatic discussions of how the readings can help us accomplish our project goals.
My White Space
I see what you're saying. I talked about how I used white space in the past, but not in the future, especially this upcoming project. I am not 100% sure how I will design my instructions yet, but there will be many pictures showing the reader exactly where to click next to setup Outlook E-mail. I will incorporate white space around each picture. This will set the picture apart from the text, and with many readers "raiding" the instructions, the white space will attract their eyes to the pictures. The pictures will contain the most information, and the text will mostly be supplemental. Therefore, when their eyes scan the pictures, they should be able to know how to do it.
Did Anybody Else Prefer Tropicana's New Design?
Although several people complained about the new Tropicana carton design, I think I've actually bought more of it since the change. The old carton was so old fashioned. The words and pictures didn't make a bold statement. When I saw it I said to myself, "eh, that looks like it's probably just some mediocre-tasting orange juice." The new design, however, makes it look like a higher quality product. Instead of looking at an orange peel and wondering what the fruit looks like on the inside, the juice is right there, in your face. I also think that they used a better alignment scheme. There's a distinct column down the left side. The old design centers everything. To me, that isn't appealing, nor good practice. If we made instructions with all the text centered, I'd bet our grades would definitely suffer. The new design also uses its white space more effectively. The bottom right corner gives my eyes a break from the information, whereas the old design just incorporates a generic white background without any tactic (boring). Overall I think the new carton makes a bold statement. The combination of the alignment and large sans serif fonts draw the attention of the reader, but the graphic is also large enough and clear enough that it is appealing to the audience (or at least me).
Old Logo, New Design
The way you explain makes sense. The old one was kind of boring with the plain, white background. I think they should compromise both designs. Keeping the current overall design while replacing the glass of orange juice with the previous logo (orange with straw) would accomplish all the complaints. First, the design would be more appealing, like you said, and they would also retain the famous logo of the orange with a straw in it. This way, more people can relate to the container. People will be more attracted to it because of the better design. Also, loyal people who are receptive to the famous orange and straw logo will also be lured.
Design matters
I personally like it when a company switches up their design. Sure I’m going to keep buying Mt. Dew no matter what it looks like but when I see a new design it draws my eye. I Think it’s best for the company too because someone who may have never thought about a product will see it as something new and take a second look. Even some simple changes catch my eye. I think your design has a big impact on how people view your product. This is why I like instructions that have a good design. When I go to buy something new and check out a manual to see how it will work to decide between two items the design plays a part. Unique designs stick in your mind.
-Chris
Keep Recognizable Images in New Designs
Switching designs is good to some extent. I like change. For example, it seems like I am always changing something around in my apartment, usually furniture arrangement in my living room or bedroom. I think changing designs is good, but the key thing to remember is, if your company has a logo or famously known image that people recognize and respond positively to, then you should still incorporate that into the new design. For instance, when McDonald's makes new commercials, their design and approach always seems to be different to attract different audiences. But you always see the M logo somewhere. This needs to be there, even if for a brief moment, to let people know that it's the M, so they instantly recognize it and remember it.
Lab/Project Designs
Apershon, knowing who you are outside of this class and knowing that we are in the same major might be the reason why I feel the same way as you do about design. For any projects or labs that I have had I normally just throw in a picture or graphic with labels and put a bold faced/underlined header on it. With our major, we normally just have to present the data that we gathered in the easiest way possible, and the overall design of how we do it may not be important to the data itself. Maybe design is something that we both could consider in future classes.
Design Classes?
I am slightly becoming more aware of different designs since my roommate is a graphic design major. I see projects he works on and I notice little things he did to make it stand out. Sometimes he explains why did certain things also. I believe that a design would be good for anybody. It could help us to design better project proposals and reports. It could also help everyone out by teaching them design techniques. I think if I knew some of these techniques, I would not be lured to certain products as much. I could look past the design and see if the product that I am buying is worthwhile and a bargain, not buy it just because it is pretty. As for classes for me, I'm not sure I will ever take one. It would be good, yes, but I am graduating this year and am pumped to not going to any classes after this semester. Now if I could only find a job in this amazing economy...
Recognition
I completely agree with your statement, citing the readings, that a great design should be "invisible" and simply blend into the background. I think the Tropicana example was a great illustration of this. While the new design may have prevailed in a few areas such as concerning alignment, as noted by Joe above, I think it had the major flaw of standing out and not having that "smooth-flowing" aspect. It seems that after some time, people really come to expect and recognize certain consistencies (such as the Nike logo) and will often reject any adjustments that may be considered. I think, because of this, most people would agree that they prefer the old Tropiciana design. I think the arguement could also be made that, had the designs been flipped, people might reject the "old" design of the straw through the orange had it been released later.
simple designs aren't always the best
I am not sure what major you are in apersohn. But it sounds like you design things much like I used too. I always used to just put on a few pictures, and then bold headings or things when I designed posters or displays for class projects and such. But my senior your of high school I took a photoshop/graphics design class, and remember the first project was making a poster for an upcoming school activity. I just put some picture in the background and had all the information laid out in what I thought of as a plain and effective, yet I received a poor grade because of how simplistic it was. Nothing stood out or caught the readers attention, or helped keep the readers attention and have it flow across the poster. Thats something I plan to keep in mind on the project, making sure my instructions can grab the readers eye, and easily flow from one step to the next.
Patrick Griffin
pgriffin@purdue.edu