33 of 365 - Desired line design principle by John LeMasney via lemasney.com
33 of 365 – Desired line design principle by John LeMasney via lemasney.com
Desire lines are a development tool that a designer can use from the way that people actually interact with an interface, space, or object before finalizing features, paths, or navigation. It is often used in designing walking paths in a new space to help determine the best place to put a paved path. It is also used in interface design for software and industrial design for tools and other objects, but can be applied in lots of situations.
In this illustration, I made thin lines indicating paths (desire lines) that people used to get from one place to another in a space, and wider pathways reacting to the desired lines that most people chose that might be paved and formalized.
31 of 365 - Design by committee design principle by John LeMasney via lemasney.com
31 of 365 – Design by committee design principle by John LeMasney via lemasney.com
There are times where design is best accomplished by a single, monolithic voice (design by dictator) and other times when it is best done by committee. In cases where stakeholder buy in is not necessary, the design parameters are exceptionally clear, or the scope and timing of the design are narrow, design by dictator may work perfectly. In many other cases however, design is best done by collecting representatives of diverse backgrounds, stakeholder representation, and critical thinking. The design by committee process often takes more time, is often a compromise of many views, and can be frustrating comparative to a single voice, but it often leads to a design that is of higher value to more people. Design by in-group, in which the committee is composed of only like-minded people, can be just as disappointing to a larger audience as design by dictator.
I decided to do an abstract color study illustration of the potential beauty of design by committee, many voices coming together in a reasonable fashion. Meanwhile, I did the design without advice from others. Irony?
30 of 365 - Depth of Processing design principle by John LeMasney via lemasney.com
30 of 365 – Depth of Processing design principle by John LeMasney via lemasney.com
Depth of Processing is a design theory in which it is believed that when information is analyzed more deeply, the information is more likely to be retained. Instruction sheets that are more complex and analytical are more likely to retained than more superficial ones.
In this illustration, I wanted to do some wireframes of a learning object, showing an increasing likelihood of information retention due to the more analytical thinking required to process it.
10 of 365 - babyface bias by John LeMasney via lemasney.com
10 of 365 – babyface bias by John LeMasney via lemasney.com
Baby face bias is a design principle in which designers use the generalized human interpretation of baby-faced features (such as large eyes, round head, small nose and mouth) to represent and codify naiveté, innocence and kindness. By emphasizing or exaggerating baby like features in faces, a design can evoke a feeling of protection, ownership, or forgiveness in a viewer. Alternatively. more angular features, less elongated heads, and other more adult features are less likely to be interpreted as innocent, kind, or naïve.
In the illustration I’ve made here, I took an average image of a female face and exaggerated the eyes, and diminished the nose and mouth to make a baby-faced bias in the viewer.
Advance Organizers are a design method where an audience is given new information in one of two ways to become oriented with a new concept. In cases where the audience is newly introduced to the topic, we might use an expository advance organizer. If an alien was trying to learn about the way that a human hand functions, for instance, we might use an expository advance organizer in the form of a description of the look, feel, uses, and functions of the hand. If the alien had hand like appendages, let’s say 3-pointed claws, we might use their understanding of that in the form of a comparative advance organizer that showed the similarities and differences between the alien claw and the human hand. The purpose of either would be to grant the audience a better understanding of the new concept before going into deeper detail, training, or demonstration.
Above is an illustration of the comparative visual anatomy of serif typography and sans-serif typography, in which the letter A is used in a comparative advance organizational method, since you, the audience, is likely familiar with the letter A.
Pods and Sods logo by John LeMasney via lemasney.com
My very good long time friend Craig Smith recently reached out to get some visual branding work for his new podcasting venture, Pods & Sods, which focuses on a love for music. Craig has always enjoyed vinyl, a Gen X sense of retro style, and sensitive, thoughtful conversation, so I think this venture will be a hit. Craig generously asked for my help. We started, as always in this kind of work, with font choice and color palettes. I wanted to meet his needs for vinyl centricity, funkiness, and urbanity.
I submitted this:
pods and sods font and color study by John LeMasney via lemasney.com
I had my personal favorites in this batch, but Craig responded quickly that he loved the upper right font, and the top most palette. I took this information and played with the font and color to show the ways in which the branding might be expressed.
pods and sods logo set 1 by John LeMasney via lemasney.com
In this set, I wanted to play with that retro style, emphasize or de-emphasize certain colors in the palette, and speak to the conversation and love for music. There are more and less elaborate solutions, but I like to give a range of possibilities. Craig responded that he really loved the upper right solution, and we began to talk about formats for Facebook, iTunes, and other uses.
pods and sods final branding set by John LeMasney via lemasney.com
In the final set, I played with a blue linear element, duplicated the groovy record image to balance the overall weight, and created solutions for a square, rectilinear, and profile image. I really enjoyed this process, it only took a few hours, and it resulted in a very fun portfolio piece. Special thanks to my dear friend Craig for the opportunity and willingness to share. I can’t wait to subscribe. If you love good conversations about good music, make sure to like https://www.facebook.com/groups/podsandsods/ on Facebook! If you’d like to have visual branding development for your business or venture, I’d love to help you! I’m always at lemasney@gmail.com and 609 553 9498.
