Ready…set…design blitz!

I think I’m getting used to viewing everything through a ds106 perspective. Much like the similar assignment from visual week, I found myself walking around all week, eyes darting around, snapping pictures of anything and everything that stood out to me as unique design. In my walk to the train with my travel buddy Mariah the other day, I must have stopped at least 5 times to take pictures of random objects and signs that I thought had some key design qualities.

I really like assignments like these because it really challenges me to always be on my ds106 game and always be aware of the creations around me. Also, by searching and capturing main ideas of the week it helps reinforce the lesson. I definitely found myself with a stronger understanding of design after a few days of design blitz-ing, and it definitely helped when it came to getting creative on my design assignments.

 

 

 

 

So this is not the strongest picture because I literally leaned across someone and stretch my zoom as far as it could go in order to capture a snapshot of this sign. While it may not seem that amazing, I knew immediately that it captured so many important design elements. We have minimalism, especially in conjunction with the typography. The font is simple, readable, and effective in its mission. We have dominance AND unity in the sense that “Danger” is played out in a dominant manner (also through the use of color) in order to capture the attention, but it then blends in and directs the eye down toward the rest of the message. And then obviously we have form/function/message, which encompasses the entire design here. It’s amazing to think about how much thought probably went into adding certain qualities of design in order to ensure that this sign was effective in its message.

 

 

 

 

These are the curtains in my room, and right after reading through the Vignelli canon, I stood up and took a picture. This every day item has so many qualities of design and it’s one of my favorite things in my room. It’s actually fabric that is not originally intended as curtains, but I loved the color and design so my mom skillfully turned them into curtains. I love the use of rhythm in this design. It looks like brush strokes, and there’s almost a messy quality to it but it’s executed so perfectly that I just find the design amazing.

 

 

 

 

This is another one of my favorite pieces of design that I own. It’s handmade paper from a really great store in my hometown that specializes in paper. I love looking at this, and I think it works with minimalism and color very well. There’s no crazy design here. It’s very simple, yet very intriguing. The combination of gold and dark green is also very unique. The rhythm here is also great. The placement of the green dots is so specific it’s amazing. I just love the attention to detail, and it leads to a successful design.

 

 

 

 

My final design picture is a little silly, but I love it. It’s a piece that was on the wall at a pizza place (obviously) and I thought it was so great. I think this is a really intriguing use of typography. With a different type of typography, I’m not sure the effect would be the same. I’ve never really thought too much about use of font before this week, but I’ve definitely begun to notice the importance of it in design. Here, something as simple as not capitalizing the “i” at the beginning of the sentence adds to the feeling of silliness and levity of the piece.