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Similar to 7 habits of highly effective designers
7 habits of highly effective designers
- 1. 7 Habits ofHighly Effective Designers IAP 2014 January 15, 2014 Department of Urban Studies and Planning
- 2. WORKSHOP GOALS • • • • Present asimple set of principles to follow for novice designers Outline a set problems and gotchas in poster design Provide common guidelines for poster designers to fall back on Establish a workflow for creating simple and effective event posters
- 3. WORKSHOP GOALS • Designingposters is a huge part of organizing and promoting an event • Effective design can be lasting and powerful • You have to know the rules before you can break them
- 4. A bit aboutme… Mike Foster GIS/Data Viz/Graphics Specialist DUSP MIT • Eight Years experience in the GIS and Design field • Specialization in Geodesign, Cartography, and Data Analysis • B.S. Geography, University of Wisconsin – Madison (2006) • M.S. Geographic Information Science, University of Minnesota (2010) • Graduate Minor: Computer Science • Thesis topics: • GIS and Graphic Interoperability • Accuracy Assessment Methods for Volunteered Geographic Information • Spatial Database Design and Implementation • Certified GIS Professional (2013)
- 5. “It is notabout how much information there is, but rather how effectively it is arranged.” -Edward Tufte
- 6. What is GraphicDesign? The art of communication, stylizing, and problem solving through type and image. Functional and utility-driven. Composition is of high importance.
- 7. Basic Elements Typography andFont Textual Content Color and Hue Page Layout and Balance Manipulation of Image
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- 11. The Good, theBad, and the Ugly • MBTA Map Competition • Graphs and charts • Websites
- 12. The Good, theBad, and the Ugly
- 13. The Good, theBad, and the Ugly
- 14. The Good, theBad, and the Ugly
- 15. The Good, theBad, and the Ugly
- 16. The Good, theBad, and the Ugly
- 17. The Good, theBad, and the Ugly
- 18. The Good, theBad, and the Ugly
- 19. The Good, theBad, and the Ugly
- 20. The Good, theBad, and the Ugly
- 21. Less is alwaysmore • When in doubt, keep it simple • The effective use of negative space is a hallmark of good design – design the negative space just as you would the positive space. Ask yourself: “What elements can I remove or simplify and still retain my message?” Pare it down to the essentials. • For repetitive information, remember the “rule of small multiples.”
- 25. Be hierarchical. • Communicatethe relative importance of data through variations in size, weight, and intensity. You should be able to squint and clearly understand a hierarchy of your composition.
- 28. Good design hasCRAP. • It’s okay if you have a lot to fit. • Contrast, Repetition, Alignment, and Proximity: use these principles to allow your audience to easily follow the connections between your ideas and the message of the poster.
- 32. Just two fonts. •Good design can be achieved with just one or two fonts. As a general rule, sans serif fonts work well for titles, headers, and electronic media. Serif fonts work well for body text in print media. The most useful fonts have many weights to choose from.
- 35. Magic number twelve. •The human mind looks for natural proportions of 2, 3, and 4. As the least common denominator, 12 is an extremely useful number for column layout, and it’s also a good point size multiple for fonts (12 pt, 24 pt, 36 pt, etc). A good rule of thumb is that a column of text should be about 60 characters wide for your eyes to easily follow. • Use no smaller than 12 pt font on your poster, and make your titles and headings very large, 60+pt.
- 37. Imitate. (But don’t copy.) •Beg, borrow – but don’t steal – ideas for beautiful posters and graphics from experienced designers.
- 40. Be color conscious. •Like a well-written paragraph, each graphic should have a singular message. Use color to unify your message and highlight differences.
- 42. Tips for Design Letsput the pencil to the paper (or the mouse to the screen!) Specifically tailored to DUSP Event Posters
- 43. Components of aPoster 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Event Name Time/Date Location Image/Graphic Abstract Contact Information
- 44. Remove noise 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Event Name Time/Date Location/Address FlashyImage Abstract Contact Information Get these components on your poster, skip items that don’t have meaning. They are what is known in the design world as “noise”.
- 45. Size Matters… Most commonDUSP Poster Sizes 8.5 inch X 11 inch (Letter) 11 inch X 17 inch (Tabloid) These sizes will work best for posting around DUSP Smaller will get lost, larger take up too much room
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- 47. Layout Matters… Alignment isimportant (and professional) Recommendation Organize your poster with a grid Photography “The rule of thirds”
- 48. Layout Matters… Create atemplate. You can reuse an effective poster over and over, changing the elements.
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- 50. The Margin Make yourmargins consistent. Approximately ½ inch around the top and sides.
- 51. Visual Center ofthe Page The visual center of your page is NOT the same as the geometric center. Visual center is slightly above the geometric center
- 52. Bold and ContrastingColors Use BOLD and CONTRASTING colors. Dark text on a light backgrounds. Light text on dark backgrounds. Should hold up to non-color printing.
- 53. Pick a Palette Findknown and established color ramps and palettes. http://kuler.adobe.com http://macwright.org/d3-curvy http://tristen.ca/hcl-picker See handout
- 54. Design at Size Designyour Poster at the size of your final product. Set settings in your design software to the desired size of your final output.
- 55. Design at Size Designyour Poster at the size of your final product. Prevents pixilation of images, allows for proper sizing of text to maximize legibility
- 56. Image Selection Sometimes youdon’t have a choice… Book Cover Pre-chosen Event Logo
- 57. Bold and Beautiful Butoften you do… Choose images that are: Bold Relevant Colorful Indicative
- 58. Let the ImageGuide You Use the image, beautiful pictures have a built in layout for you. Place text in areas with least amount of noise and largest blocks of bold colors TRANSIT IN BOSTON A ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION THURS JAN 18, 9PM, ROOM 9-450
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- 60. Image Guidelines Use thelargest image possible that you can find. Know your pixel size. Letter size = 1275 pixels by 1650 pixels Try to choose no smaller than this.
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- 62. Sans Serif Favorites •Can be used anywhere, good for headers and titles Arial Calibri Eurostile Franklin Gothic Gill Sans Helvetica Lucida Sans Swiss 721 Condensed Swiss 721 Black Condensed Verdana
- 63. Serif Favorites • Goodfor bodies, abstracts, and content Cambria Baskerville Garamond Times New Roman
- 64. Non-Favorites • Use sparingly,by that, I mean probably never. Brush Script Comic Sans
- 65. Font Size • Title/Maincontent: 48-60pt+ • Supplemental text: 24-36pt • Abstract/Body: 18-24pt • Stay big. Use no smaller than 12!
- 66. Poster Digestion • Shouldbe able to get main gist of poster in seconds • < 15 seconds • Most viewers will see it in passing • More in waiting area • Less in hallway
- 67. Lots of SoftwareAvailable • Adobe Photoshop/Illustrator • GIMP/Inkscape • Microsoft Powerpoint/Paint The tool does not make your graphic, you do. Use the tools you have!
- 68. End. • We justcovered a lot • Questions/Comments/Complaints Special thanks to Chris Rhie and Annemarie Gray