Idea Journal

[bellaw235]

In this week’s Idea Journal, I decided to explore the categories of Graphic Designs which only contain the colour black and white. Black and white are the most emotive visuals in nature. They could be used flexibly. By adjusting the thickness of the strokes or shapes, it helps creating even a bigger contrast. 

Many graphic designers today see that the best way to stick out in today’s full colour world is not to join them but to set themselves apart by refusing to follow the norm. Duality has become the name of the game, giving us every reason to try it ourselves to see the effect. 

[bellaw235]

In chapter 2 of Introduction to Information Design, it states that “when designing for an international audience, simplicity and clarity are the qualities to keep in mind. If there are fewer elements to distract, the message will be more efficiently delivered.” These are two separated SkyTrain sign found in Vancouver, seen by thousands of citizens and tourists everyday. Both of these signs use small icons, big typeface, and bright blue colour.

The second photo was taken in Vancouver Waterfront, it is one of the busiest station in the city, with sea buses, West Coast Express, and 3 different SkyTrain lines, it often attracts a lot of visitors. “Icons are used to reinforce what people already understood”. This usage of icons is helpful, as they could be easily understood, and saves the trouble of having to list out different languages. The big “T” on top of the signage also serves its purpose to the audience. The icon speaks out and clear to indicate the word “transit”, instead of having to type out the word which might have led to distraction. 

In terms of colour in this context, Introduction to Information Design also states that “colour is one the most powerful design tools we have, it attracts the most attention”. The blue colour in the picture has been constantly used in BC, it is especially synonyms in transit. Even though the two colours being used on the sign are both ‘blue’, the two shades they have chosen to use still creates a big contrast. Besides, “because people have experienced color in a confusing way, there will often ignore it”. 

[bellaw235]

Submission 2

This promotion poster from Apple is easy to read. It uses scale. weight, and repetition and proximity in its composition. The picture below is the only thing that adds colours onto this poster. However, the bright colours really pops up, and this could be use to attract people’s attention. The white texts they use on this poster also create a big contrast with the black background, allows the audience to get the information without spending too much time to get all the important informations. 

[bellaw235]

Submission 2

This is a customer service chart I found in MUJI. The grid system was created here to separate the procedures and the service they offer, giving the composition a clear and organized look. By using icons on the poster, it helps inform the audiences about the services they are looking for without needing to read the full instruction beside. The scale and weight of the font was also taken into consideration. The bold font weight matches with the stroke of the icons, which makes the composition look more cohesive as a whole.

[bellaw235]

Submission 2

This pants alteration service poster in MUJI applies good hierarchy and organization in information design. This posters uses different shapes such as circles and rectangular boarder to highlight the important informations. The scale and weight of the text are also being used here as it draws audiences’ attention straight to the price and the pick-up day. Furthermore, the background colour might seem a bit soft, but it actually creates a strong contrast with both the black texts and the white icon. 

[bellaw235]

Submission 2

Another way of drawing attention is to give content ample room to breathe. This poster at MUJI establishes hierarchy within a single typeface, weight and tone, yet it still manage to convey the information of the product. The Photo is thoughtfully placed on the poster, as the model is looking down at the text, which could help leading the audiences eyes toward the same direction. The entire poster has a clean and consistent look. The thick stroke weight text with the big picture on the top allow people to see the information without reading the full instructions. They could easily take a glance of the poster and understand the content of it.

[bellaw235]

This Chinese New Year promotion poster at MUJI has the challenges of using both Chinese and English, as another way to attract the customers. By having two completely different languages, it creates contrast, and produce a more dynamic, less linear, reading experience. Although the same colour type and font are being used throughout the entire poster, the capitalization of the text helps drawing audiences’ attention, notice that the important informations are either capitalized or extremely large.  

[bellaw235]

Submission 1

This is a poster outside of a Chinese medicine store. The poster has a very low readability. The heading written in Mandarin is placed vertically when rest of the informations are placed horizontally. The use of font is bad because is too condensed, making the letters very thin and squish together when the text already has a thick weight. Furthermore, the use of font size, as well as the colours are both inconsistent. The clusters of text are also very close in proximity, making it harder to distinguish between one other. Although they used the columns well to differentiate the chunks, there is not enough space between them. On this poster, there are too many images and texts, makes it really hard to the readers to determine which is more important. To improve the quality of this poster, they could have used less or smaller images and leave more space within each sections.

[bellaw235]

Submission 1

This menu from a noodle house has a lot of misleading components that does not clearly communicate the ordering instructions. There is not any heading to separate the sections of the menu. Since the font is so small, the boldness of the letters affect the ability to be read. On the bottom part of the menu, the alignment of the text is very spaced apart, which makes them seem unrelated to each other. Moreover, the icon on the menu does not correlate with what the store actually sells. The English translation is also written very poorly, although they are mainly targeted at Chinese customers. However, there is a good sense and use of contrast between the black coloured font and the light background. 

[bellaw235]

Submission 1

This is an example of a bad information design. The entire menu was built up by using the same typeface and font size. Although they tried to use different colours to separate each section, but the colour distraction does not help them convey the purpose. Moreover, the way they organize the column might confuse the customers because there are not enough space in between them. The colour of the background is very bright and catchy. However, the bright yellow colour draws the attention away from all the small texts, which decrease the readability.

[bellaw235]

Submission 1

This is a sign for a phone repair store. In the picture, we can see that the horizontal header is being divided, and sticked onto three different angles of glass, even though they are meant to be read as a whole. The font they used for the body text is also very hard to read, as the black outline stoke is almost merging into the dark red background, shaving the text into a thin font that makes it look even smaller. On the very top of the glass, there are three very big headings using several bright tone colours. Although there is a big contrast that makes the texts pop out, but it is also very distracting to the eyes. Overall, this advertisement lacks continuity as there is no sense of relationship between the two fonts and colours used.

[bellaw235]

Submission 1

This is a poster of a cell-phones and tablets repair store. Lack of hierarchy can be seen as the the size of the font is the same throughout the poster. There is no contrast between the title and the rest of the text. This can be improved by decreasing the size of the body font to differentiate it from the title. Several shades of colours are also used in the body making it inconsistent. It also varies in sizes making it seem as though some brands are more important than others. The text alignment is very off as they try to align part of it with the door handle. This affects the alignment of the base line for each word and compacts all the brands together. The spacing throughout the poster is evenly spread out making it difficult to determine the clusters of information.