OUGD401. context of practice. Aesthetics.

carrying on from the ppp post concerning the 6 images.


we were asked to bring in 6 images of design. 3 that we liked/3 that we didnt like. one using just text, one using just image, and one using both.

we got into groups and pooled our images to see what everyone had come up with. it was interesting to see the similarities and differences between the groups chosen pieces of design. there was more similarity i think between the ones we liked, many of which had a minimalist feel or the use of simplicity in design.

after talking for a bit about why we chose what we chose we were asked to decide, individually, our two extremes; our favourite out of the 3 we liked and our least favourite out of the 3 we didnt. i chose the tempa logo and the bazzah logo.

we then had to come up with five adjectives as quick as possible that we each thought described our chosen two designs. i liked this task as it made me think about articulation, vocabulary, observation and really made me look at the design in order to truthfully represent it through words.

i described the tempa logo as minimal, suave, subtle, cool, composed.

i described the bazzah logo as disorganised, offensive, rushed, weird, ugly.

we then had to do the same for the designs chosen by the rest of our group. we had a quick few minutes after to compare our words and see the similarities/differences. i think its really interesting how so many words can mean such similar things to some people and such different things to others and can be completely different again depending on the context. after the class had finished we pooled all of our adjectives on the board to create a list appropriate for positie and negative description.

positive: 

illustrative, simple, minimal, clean, symmetrical, crisp, sophisticated, hand-rendered, organic.

negative:

blurry, dull, cluttered, disorganised, offensive, rushed, inconsistent, unconsidered. 

after this fred explained how the brain reacted to time based exercises differently depending on the time limit given. its true that with less time the brain is more rushed and forced to some up with an answer with less consideration to its appropriateness.

we then swapped our images round within our group, so i got someone else's favourite and least favourite, and were given slightly longer to come up with five adjectives for each. this time i felt much more relaxed and was able to observe the designs in detail prior to attaching words to them. 

i described this design as complex, collected, calm, grainy, matte, serene. 

i described this design as intrusive, confusing, stressful, in your face, dated, cheap.

after this task was completed we were asked, as a group, to come up with ten aesthetic rules that any design should follow in order to achieve aesthetic success. 

1. follows a minimalist format.

2. simple and selective use of colour.

3. creative use of space/composition.

4. confidence in subtlety.

5. working use of mixed media.

6. clean execution.

7. innovative use of negative space.

8. strong use of structured and composed type

9. effective language.

10. inclusion of appropriate aspects.

from this we were asked to come up with 3 of our own aesthetic rules with which we would be working at a later date. 

1. simple and relevant use of colour and colour combinations/schemes.
2. clean and considered execution of process/technique.
3. minimalist and confident use of type.

the follow on task from this lesson can be found on my design context blog under studio task 2.