On Design

As some of you may know, I am working on a new online journal.  Myself, and the members of this project, have been sharing our favorite online journals and blogs.  Sharing these sites, we’ve been considering their content, style, and design, and trying to get a sense of what rhetorical and design strategies work in the online sphere.  It’s been an interesting process as I try to apply the critical eye to my favorite online spaces.  What do I value in a website?  What do I like to read online? How do I feel about a site’s design?
 

Design is perhaps the most unfamiliar terrain for me. I have always enjoyed the visual arts, have taken my fair share of art courses, and like to dabble in the world o’ crafts.  Yet, I find my ability to critically assess design is not quite up to speed with my ability to tear apart a student’s paper or a scholar’s book. The sticky part about assessing design, for me, is the way good design can seem both highly present and nearly invisible.  Consider the many objects around you, how often do you notice the design?  Typically, it seems we notice design when either:  1) it goes wrong and the design is flawed enough to disturb your use of the object, or 2) when the design is visually impressive or presents something ‘new.’   There seems a duality here. Design should be visually present and invisible at the same time. How is this possible, and how do we use this understanding to assess and create design in our own world?

Yesterday, I watched the documentary Helvetica on Netflix Instant, which considers the history of the font Helvetica and its impact on our contemporary sense of design. 

http://www.helveticafilm.com/images/sm.frankfurt.jpg

The film features interviews with several typographers and designers who each talk about the ways they perceive the design of Helvetica and its effect on our collective imagination.  The film features a range of responses, from designers praising the font’s “neutral,” “modern,” “efficient,” “streamlined and fresh” appearance, to others who criticize that same “slickness” and suggest that its ubiquity in the corporate world creates a conformist atmosphere in our design culture.  But, despite these contending views on Helvetica, the documentary illustrates how design “invites open interpretation,” “allowing us to attach meaning to it.”  This point shows both the possibilities and challenges of design.  How do we design for a vast range of human subjects?  How will we tailor our design to suit the meaning and purpose of our journal?  These are challenging, but exciting, questions for me as I begin to enter this new realm of digital design.

Share your thoughts on visual design. What websites do you admire for their design? Share the links!