Nine Habits of Highly Effective Designers

Department of Urban Studies and Planning

• Present a simple set of principles to follow for novice designers• Outline a set of typical problems and gotchas• Provide common guidelines for designers to fall back on• Establish a workflow for creating simple and effective graphics

WORKSHOP GOALS

• Effective design can be lasting and powerful• You have to know the rules before you can break them

WORKSHOP GOALS

“It is not about how much information there is, but rather how effectively it is arranged.”

-Edward Tufte

What is Graphic Design?

The art of communication, stylizing, and problem solvingthrough type and image.

Functional and utility-driven. Composition is of high importance.

Basic Elements

Typography and FontTextual ContentColor and Hue

Page Layout and BalanceManipulation of Image

Urban Planning Graphics

Urban Planning Graphics

Urban Planning Graphics

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

• MBTA Map Competition• Graphs and charts• Websites

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Less is always more• When in doubt, keep it simple

• The effective use of negative space is a hallmark of good design – design the negative space just as you would the positive space. Ask yourself: “What elements can I remove or simplify and still retain my message?” Pare it down to the essentials.

• For repetitive information, remember the “rule of small multiples.”

Remove noise

Skip items that don’t have meaning. They are what is known in the design world as “noise”.

Be hierarchical.• Communicate the relative importance of data through variations in size, weight, and

intensity. You should be able to squint and clearly understand a hierarchy of your composition.

Good design has CRAP.• It’s okay if you have a lot to fit.

• Contrast, Repetition, Alignment, and Proximity: use these principles to allow your audience to easily follow the connections between your ideas and the message of the graphic.

Just two fonts.• Good design can be achieved with just one or two fonts. As a general rule, sans serif fonts

work well for titles, headers, and electronic media. Serif fonts work well for body text in print media. The most useful fonts have many weights to choose from.

Sans Serif Favorites• Can be used anywhere, good for headers and titles

ArialCalibriEurostileFranklin GothicGill SansHelvetica

Lucida SansMyriad Pro BoldSwiss 721 CondensedSwiss 721 Black CondensedVerdana

Serif Favorites• Good for bodies, abstracts, and content

Cambria

Baskerville

Garamond

Times New Roman

Non-Favorites• Use sparingly, by that, I mean probably never.

Brush Script

Comic Sans

Magic number twelve.• The human mind looks for natural proportions of 2, 3, and 4. As the least common

denominator, 12 is an extremely useful number for column layout, and it’s also a good point size multiple for fonts (12 pt, 24 pt, 36 pt, etc). A good rule of thumb is that a column of text should be about 60 characters wide for your eyes to easily follow.

• Rule of thumb for prose and text blocks:• Print graphics: use no smaller than 6 point type• Screen-based graphics: Use no smaller than 10 point type

Imitate. (But don’t copy.)

• Beg, borrow – but don’t steal – ideas for beautiful posters and graphics from experienced designers.

Be color conscious.• Like a well-written paragraph, each graphic should have a singular message. Use color to

unify your message and highlight differences.

Bold and Contrasting ColorsUse BOLD and CONTRASTING

colors.

Dark text on a light backgrounds.Light text on dark backgrounds.

Should hold up to non-color printing.

Pick a PaletteFind known and established color

ramps and palettes.

http://kuler.adobe.comhttp://macwright.org/d3-curvy

http://tristen.ca/hcl-picker

See handout

Don’t go off the grid.• Effective graphics follow strict principles of alignment and justification.

• Grid your design for a clean and professional finish.

Portrait Landscape

Orientation Matters…

Layout Matters…Alignment is important

(and professional)

RecommendationOrganize your poster with a grid

Photography “The rule of thirds”

The Grid

The Grid

The MarginMake your margins consistent.

Approximately ½ inch around the top and sides.

Visual Center of the PageThe visual center of your page is NOT the same as the geometric

center.

Visual center is slightly above the geometric center

Layout Matters…Create a template.

You can reuse an effective poster over and over, changing the

elements.

Design at size.• Layout your graphics at the proper size before you proceed with your creation process.

• Goal: Never scale your graphics once they are complete.

Design at SizeDesign your Poster at the size of

your final product.

Set settings in your design software to the desired size of your final output.

Design at SizeDesign your Poster at the size of

your final product.

Prevents pixilation of images, allows for proper sizing of text to maximize

legibility

Some other thoughts…

Here at MIT, we do a lot of poster design… let’s discuss!!

Image SelectionSometimes you don’t have a

choice…

Book CoverPre-chosen Event Logo

Bold and BeautifulBut often you do…

Choose images that are:Bold

RelevantColorfulIndicative

Let the Image Guide YouUse the image, beautiful pictures

have a built in layout for you.

Place text in areas with least amount of noise and largest blocks

of bold colorsTRANSIT IN BOSTON

A ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSIONTHURS JAN 18, 9PM, ROOM 9-450

Resourceshttp://www.flickr.com

http://commons.wikimedia.org

See handout

Copyrighted Images:When in doubt, cite your source.

Image GuidelinesUse the largest image possible that

you can find.

Know your pixel size.

Letter size =1275 pixels by 1650 pixels

Try to choose no smaller than this.

Event Poster Digestion• Should be able to get main gist of poster

in seconds• < 15 seconds• Most viewers will see it in passing

• More in waiting area• Less in hallway

Event Poster Font Size•Title/Main content: 48-60pt+•Supplemental text: 24-36pt•Abstract/Body: 18-24pt•Stay big. Use no smaller than 12!

Lots of Software Available•Adobe Photoshop/Illustrator•GIMP/Inkscape•Microsoft Powerpoint/Paint

The tool does not make your graphic, you do.Use the tools you have!

End.•We just covered a lot•Questions/Comments/Complaints

Special thanks to Chris Rhie and Annemarie Gray