We All Use Design Everyday

The Vignelli Canon made me realize that even little details that seem obvious are aspects of design. To me, use of space and colors are obviously design qualities because they catch the eye and are interesting (hopefully). However, I never thought of little things like flush left or centered as a design quality because I always make my writing flush left (unless it is a poem or something that has to be centered). Looking at it now, it makes sense that all these little choices are aspects of design. It also never occurred to me that things could be centered on grids to make them more uniform. The attention to detail on a simple thing like a letter blew my mind! I loved reading the sections on timelessness and simplicity because it is so true: we want simple but elegant designs that will last forever. Designs for companies shouldn’t change all the time just for the sake of change because nobody will remember who they are. After reading this it occurred to me that literally everything man-made was designed by someone. That makes me look at things differently.

I also appreciated how angry Vignelli gets st people who create bad designs. He seems to take it as a personal insult when people don’t follow his rules of design, which is kind of scary because I know he was a genius, but also true because I don’t like looking at things that are designed badly either. He finds the advent of technology as something good, but also something that has led to more terrible designs. I don’t know about that, but I do know that I hope my designs will always follow his rules because I don’t want to get on his bad side!!!