Category: Illustration

These are posts featuring illustrations designed by John LeMasney. In general, unless otherwise noted, they are licensed CC-Attribution, cc-by lemasney, and should contain a citation and linkback.

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23 of 365: Constraint #design principle

23 of 365 - Constraint design principle by John LeMasney via lemasney.com
23 of 365 - Constraint design principle by John LeMasney via lemasney.com
23 of 365 - Constraint design principle by John LeMasney via lemasney.com
23 of 365 – Constraint design principle by John LeMasney via lemasney.com

Constraint is built into systems to allow limits to negative actions a user might otherwise take in that system. In mechanical systems where too much power, volume, or other resources could be over-applied, constraints prevent the user from doing so. We also can be psychologically or physically constrained from entering dangerous areas by a do not enter sign, or areas where our presence might cause alarm or discomfort, such as a bathroom intended for the opposite sex.

In this illustration, I made a constrained variable slider control going from low to high, which does not allow for setting too low or too high.

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22 of 365: Constancy #design principle

22 of 365 - Constancy design principle by John LeMasney via lemasney.com
22 of 365 - Constancy design principle by John LeMasney via lemasney.com
22 of 365 - Constancy design principle by John LeMasney via lemasney.com
22 of 365 – Constancy design principle by John LeMasney via lemasney.com

Constancy is the idea that we see a particular object in the size, color, shape, feel, and other senses that we expect. We always see humans, for instance, in the same way. We expect that they will be 6 foot tall or less, and see multiple humans in that context. If we introduce comparative objects that we recognize the size of, it will alter our perception of scale.

In this illustration, I decided to alter the relative size of human silhouettes to expand the depth of the piece.

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21 of 365: Consistency #design principle

21 of 365 - Consistency design principle by John LeMasney via lemasney.com
21 of 365 - Consistency design principle by John LeMasney via lemasney.com
21 of 365 - Consistency design principle by John LeMasney via lemasney.com
21 of 365 – Consistency design principle by John LeMasney via lemasney.com

Consistency is important in design because it allows you to create the same quality of experience across pages (such as the use of grids in magazines), spaces (the common layout of department stores of a chain), objects (the dashboard of a car), buttons (standardized web browser dialogs), or other design elements. It allows for recognizance in the sense that very particular colors (Facebook blue), fonts (Marlboro font), layouts (Target stores), or uniforms (Best Buy blue and khaki) will breed familiarity and comfort despite a difference in place, space, or format.

In this illustration I used the Burger King logo as a basis for a genre called ad-busting, where the highly recognized brand becomes a vehicle for a countermeasure to the brand, in this case, Coronary King, associating the mostly high fat foods sold at Burger King with coronary disease.

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brand consulting curriculum vitae design principles Illustration insights portfolio professional activities research interests teaching teaching experience technology

20 of 365: Confirmation #design principle

20 of 365 - Confirmation design principle by John LeMasney via lemasney.com
20 of 365 - Confirmation design principle by John LeMasney via lemasney.com
20 of 365 - Confirmation design principle by John LeMasney via lemasney.com
20 of 365 – Confirmation design principle by John LeMasney via lemasney.com

Confirmation is necessary when you want to remind, warn, or make a user especially aware of the importance of a change or choice that they are about to make. Confirmation can happen in industrial design, such as when you have to confirm your intention to arm a device by lifting a protective flap over a trigger, but we meet it far more often in software, where we are asked if we really want to perform an action. A very simple implementation of confirmation occurs on websites with the JavaScript alert function.

In this illustration, I thought it would be a wonderful thing to have a tool that would simply remove you from all social media presence in an instant. Given all the potential cascading changes to your online identity as a result, you would almost certainly want to have your decision confirmed.

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18 of 365: Common fate #design principle

18 of 365 - Common fate design principle by John LeMasney via lemasney.com
18 of 365 - Common fate design principle by John LeMasney via lemasney.com
18 of 365 - Common fate design principle by John LeMasney via lemasney.com
18 of 365 – Common fate design principle by John LeMasney via lemasney.com

Common fate is another of the gestalt principles, and states that objects that are closer to each other or grouped in some way comparative to the overall set seem to be together, on a common path, or associated more closely than other design elements.

In this illustration, I started with a line of identical circles, evenly spaced. As the story progresses, the line of circles breaks into two even lines, creating two distinct groups. In the third part of the story, some of the circles go off on their own, and some of the circle pairs start to travel together, but none are a part of the original lines anymore.

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17 of 365: Color #design principle

17 of 365 - Color design principle by John LeMasney via lemasney.com
17 of 365 – Color design principle by John LeMasney via lemasney.com

Color is an incredibly rich and deep topic for design, but color theory has been established to make working with color as a designer easier. One misconception about color is that color is equated with emotion, e.g. blue=trust or yellow = fear. Blue used in context can evoke trust, but in and of itself, it does not have emotional predetermination. However, rules exist for easy use of color, such as 5 colors or less in a design, matching colors with their compliment (the color across from it on a color wheel) or adjacent color (the color next to it on the color wheel). Also, tints, opacity, and intensity can all affect the look and feel of a design. Darker tints, for example, can evoke solemnity and seriousness.

In this illustration, I wanted to introduce the idea of complimentary color and the effect of tinting and darkening colors for effect.