Design Creative, Iterative, Communicative…Essential A presentation by Stuart Urback ‘13, Student Exhibition Assistant

DESIGN What exactly is design? Over the course of this project you will undergo a process which could be broadly construed as…

“DESIGN” “design” (air quotes important) The goal of this project is to create a fully-fledged exhibit that explores and explains the subject material you are studying. But you probably knew this already.

Cool. Cool. Perhaps in order to explain what design is, I should explain exactly what it isn’t.

It’s not movies.

It’s not Impressionist paintings.

It’s not a flower.

Or an essay.

Or him, even if he is famous. Design is not a form of expression, an experience, or natural. It can be all of these things, but these aren’t the important qualities. So what’s the difference? For one thing. Design is big.

DESIGN No… bigger.

DESIGN Nope… still bigger.

DESIGN Not big enough yet.

DESIGN That’s 1000 pt font by the way. That’s a little better. Design is huge. It’s bigger than any one person or art style, or movement. That’s 1000 pt font by the way.

Communication But at it’s fundamentals, design is very simple.

Communication Bad Microsoft Clipart FTW. It’s the act of explaining information to other people.

Communication I’m going to be honest. I don’t know what’s going on here. Bad Microsoft Clipart FTW. So that they can understand it. So what is design then?

It’s this

And this

And this FYI. This is a game.

… and even this.

Cool. Cool. All of these things are design because they are fundamentally trying to communicate with their audience. So how do we design things?

. Image provided by www.discoverdesign.com With a process. Define the problem. Figure out what you’re trying to communicate. Collect information. Research the answers. Brainstorm and Analyze Ideas. How do we want to communicate this? Develop Solutions: Make prototypes based on your ideas. Feedback: Ask people what your prototype says to them. Image provided by www.discoverdesign.com

. Image provided by www.discoverdesign.com Improve: Start the process again with a tighter focus. Image provided by www.discoverdesign.com