DiMarco J. Digital Design for Print and Web: An Introduction to Theory, Principles, and Techniques
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ChaptEr 3 Design: Elements and Principles 93
Evaluating and Critiquing Your Work
When we create our work for the rst time, it is
rarely complete. Design is a process, not a result.
Critiquing your design—and its ability to create a
gestalt and deliver a message—requires some sort
of criteria. You must continually rene your work
to get it to meet these specic criteria for good
design.
There are many different ways to evaluate
design work. Keeping the basics of good design in
mind, I use this simple list during in-class critiques.
I also use it to critique my own work during the
production process. It uses the acronym BANGPP,
which stands for balance, alignment, negative space,
grouping, proximity, and perimeter edge. During
a “crit,” the students and I evaluate presented
designs, identify where the design devices and
principles t into the whole composition, and
determine if there is a recognizable theme. We look
for strong and weak points, with the purpose of
providing helpful suggestions on how to improve
the work. It is a group ltering session: the group
helps the designer think about decisions he or she
made, helping to lter out wasted content or to
enhance the composition.
Figure3-35 Here is a design criteria list that can
be used when you review visual work. The acronym
BANGPP stands for balance, alignment, negative space,
grouping, proximity, and perimeter edge.
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PART ONE Theory and Principles94
References
Barzun, Jacques, and Henry Graff. 2004. The modern researcher. 6th ed. Bel-
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Bauhaus-Archiv Museum of Design. 1919. Manifesto. http://www.bauhaus.de/
english/bauhaus1919/manifest1919.htm.
Brainard, Shirl. 1991. A design manual. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Curtis, Hillman. 2000. Flash Web design: The art of motion graphics. Berkeley, CA:
New Riders.
———. 2002. MTIV: Process, inspiration, and practice for the new media designer.
Berkeley, CA: New Riders.
Elam, Kimberly. 2001. Geometry of design. New York: Princeton Architectural
Press.
———. 2004. Grid systems: Principles of organizing type. New York: Princeton
Architectural Press.
Golding, John. 1994. Concepts of modern art. Ed. Nikos Stangos. New York:
Thames & Hudson.
Grayson, Steve. 1995. Adobe Systems print publishing guide. Mountain View, CA:
Adobe Systems.
Heller, Steven, and Seymour Chwast. 2000. Graphic style: From Victorian to digi-
tal. New York: Harry Abrams.
Herman Miller. 2008. Discovering design (educational Web site). http://www.
hermanmiller.com/discoveringdesign.
Hollis, Richard. 2001. Graphic design: A concise history. New York: Thames &
Hudson.
Holtzschue, Linda. 2006. Understanding color: An introduction for designers.
Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Kristof, Ray, and Amy Satran. 1995. Interactivity by design: Creating & communi-
cating with new media. Mountain View, CA: Adobe Press.
Lauer, David, and Stephen Pentak. 2007. Design basics. Belmont, CA: Thomson
Wadsworth.
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ChaptEr 3 Design: Elements and Principles 95
Lidwell, Paul, Kritina Holden, and Jill Butler. 2003. Universal principles of design.
Gloucester, MA: Rockport.
Meggs, Phillip. 1989. Type and image: The language of graphic design. New York:
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Meggs, Phillip, and Alston Purvis. 2006. Meggs’ history of graphic design. 4th ed.
Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Stewart, Mary. 2002. Launching the imagination: A comprehensive guide to basic
design. New York: McGraw Hill.
Swann, Alan. 1997. The new graphic design school. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley &
Sons.
Tufte, Edward. 2003. The cognitive style of PowerPoint. Cheshire, CT: Graphics
Press.
Wheeler, Alina. 2003. Designing brand identity: A complete guide to creating, build-
ing, and maintaining strong brands. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
White, Alex W. 2005. Thinking in type: The practical philosophy of typography.
New York: Allworth.
———. 2007. Advertising design and typography. New York: Allworth.
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Chapter Objectives
Introduce basic conceptual-
ization techniques.
Explore exemplary and
inspirational images from
a variety of artists and
designers.
Become familiar with various
design project types.
ChaptEr 4
Conceptualization
and Planning
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PART ONE Theory and Principles98
Inspiration
Before you start the conceptualization and planning process, it helps to get
inspired. One of the best ways to do that is to observe other people’s work.
Observe print, Web, and broadcast media in the world around you. Watching
movies and television, visiting content-rich Internet sites, going to an art gallery
or museum, playing a video game, and reading magazines are all ways to seek
inspiration. Observe the branding, advertising, and waynding designs that sur-
round you. Look at billboards and signage to interpret the intended theme and
then analyze type, color, image, rhythm, style, and the possible reasons behind
the (good or bad) choices. Ask yourself, What were those designers thinking
when they made those design decisions? Look at design annuals from maga-
zines, including ID, Communication Arts, Graphic Design, and Print, to nd styles
and trends. Once you are inspired, you can begin using a design process to help
achieve your communication goal.
Seven-Step Design Process
I have isolated all the important considerations for solving a communication
design problem and fused them into a seven-step design process. It is best
to use a design process that works well for you, so feel free to manipulate my
process to nd your own. Some people are less formal in their decision making
and use divergent approaches whenever possible. Other designers need a cal-
culated approach and nd it is necessary to follow a series of steps. To help my
students nd their own path, I based this seven-step method on both conver-
gent and divergent approaches.
This process does not assume that you are working in a vacuum (without
possibilities), but rather that you are working with a client (even if that is your
teacher or your own company) to nd a vision to solve the communication
problem.
Seven-Step Design Process for Communication Problems
1. Identify the audience, problem, and communication goal(s) by creating a
scope document that species goals, audience, concept, message, image,
style, and theme.
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ChaptEr 4 Conceptualization and Planning 99
2. Research the audience and medium to clarify themes and output specica-
tions. Gather information to be used in the conceptualization and creation of
the work.
3. Target the emotional center using concentric circles to nd keywords from
which themes may emerge. These themes will lead to the emotional center
of the product or idea. Ask your client, research subjects, and yourself, What
will make people respond?
4. Conceptualize on paper using outlines, owcharts, sketches, storyboards,
and integrated site maps to connect the concept and theme. Brainstorm
divergent (nonlinear) thinking for creative solutions rst and then conver-
gent (linear) thinking for process. Use thumbnails to rough out possible cre-
ative directions.
5. Create simple solutions in the form of visual comps, prototypes, and treat-
ments using digital design tools.
6. Revise by ltering, simplifying, and justifying the work through revision.0
7. Evaluate the design against the communication goals and scope document
to measure your success and make recommendations for future updates.
See the online Appendix I for an example of this seven-step process in
action (www.wiley.com/go/digitaldesign).
Identify
As discussed in chapter 1, we create digital designs to reach a communication
goal that solves a problem. Identifying the audience, the problem, and the goals
are the rst orders of business in the design process. The more we think about
identifying these critical facts up front, the better our solution will emerge dur-
ing the rest of the design process.
The deliverable for this step is the scope document. I learned about the
importance of scope documents when I worked as a curriculum development
specialist, creating new media–based instructional design products. Scope
documents vary depending on the project type and the client policies. These
documents have two purposes: they help get a new project on track, and they
provide a project framework—the “big picture”—for managers and clients,
helping them understand the project’s creative direction so they can provide
initial approvals. In many cases, a budget is attached to the scope document to
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PART ONE Theory and Principles100
illustrate potential costs for outside services such as copywriting, photography,
illustration, or postproduction work.
Figuring out the scope of a project helps you to move forward by outlining
the broad content and important facts needed to begin the creation process.
Remember, the identication process evolves as you learn more about the cli-
ent, the goal, and the available resources. It’s OK if you don’t have a complete
scope document at rst, but continue to update it as the project progresses to
help you maintain a working blueprint of what you need to accomplish. Once
the scope of the project is identied, then you can move to research.
Project Scope
Project title:
Medium: Print, Web, or broadcast?
Goal: What is the purpose of this communication?
Entertainment (TV and lm)
Persuasion (advertising and public relations)
Information (news)
Education (corporate training, academic instruction, and public service
announcement)
Audience: To whom is this communication directed?
Concept: What is the big idea here—the unique selling proposition (USP), the
emotional center?
Messages: What headlines and copy support the concept?
Images: What visuals support the concept?
Style: What is the visual, musical, vocal, and/or rhythmic appearance being
sought?
Theme: What is the story here?
Figure4-1 Sample Scope Document
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ChaptEr 4 Conceptualization and Planning 101
Research
Research is critical to design. It provides answers to questions that guide us in
the design process. The outcome of research is to discover something new. We
may start with some information on the topic, but research extends the mean-
ing of the communication goals.
When we perform research, we are using our senses to observe, record,
analyze, and report data. We perform informal design research by talking to
clients about their business and problems and also by looking at documents
and Web sites. Formal research is performed by scientists, scholars, market
researchers, and corporations. If we need historical or contemporary facts, we
might utilize published research studies from conferences and journals.
There are two types of research data: quantitative (numerical) and quali-
tative (conceptual or narrative). Statistics are factual; they are examples of
quantitative data, which is measurable, numerical data gathered through
surveys, polling, and experiments. Qualitative data, which is humanistic and
describes experiences, uses words to explain data ndings from observations,
content analyses of historical documents, results from focus groups, and
interviews with people.
Both quantitative and qualitative methods have their place in the design pro-
cess. The process of research requires you to look, listen, think, and record what
you see, hear, and discover about the audience and the themes that will support
your designs. In her book Everyone’s Guide to Successful Publications, Elizabeth
Adler offers a list of questions that can be used to tailor a piece to an audience
(1993, 73–79). Answering these questions (some or all) will help you design
for communication by focusing on the information you gain during the research
process, rather than simply guessing or catering the piece to what you expect
instead of what your target audience expects.
Table4-1 Twenty Questions to Help You Target Your Audience.
1. Who is your target audience? (You cannot answer “everyone.”)
2. Are there more men or women? (Find statistics to support your
answer.)
3. How old are they? Are they children, teens, adults, or seniors?
(continues)
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PART ONE Theory and Principles102
Table4-1 (cont.).
4. Where do they live? In what city, town, state, or country?
5. What is their income level? Are they wealthy? Upper- or
middle-class? Or is their income low or poverty level?
6. What is their education level? Do they have a high school education?
A degree from a two- or four-year college? An advanced degree?
7. What is their knowledge level? What is their level of sophistication
with the product, service, or idea?
8. How are they different from you (be specic)?
9. How are they similar to you (be specic)?
10. What is their current attitude toward the product or service?
11. What is their background in relationship to the topic? What about the
product or service have they experienced so far?
12. What are their values—their ethical stance on various societal issues?
13. What are their tastes? Are they rened? Middle-class? Workaday?
14. How do they spend their leisure time? Are they introverted or
extroverted?
15. Do they read magazines, books, and/or newspapers?
16. What makes them unique? Are there any special features of the group?
17. When can you get their attention most easily? At what time of day? In
what environment? At what time of year?
18. In what format and media will they read or interact with the communi-
cation piece?
19. What effect do you want to have on them? How should this commu-
nication make them feel?
20. What do you want them to do? What action do you ultimately want
them to take?
Adapted from Adler 1993
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