beautiful thing in the making
beautiful thing in the making
beautiful thing in the making by (JAY) James P Jackson
THank you I would like to give a very special thanks to Vicky Carr, James Corazzo, Guy Lawrence, Helen Bee, Matthew Campagna, Anastasia “Nat” Tubanos, Liz Bennett, Des Tan, Chris Shearston, Craig Oldham, Darren Scott, Claire O’Halloran and also The guys at thoughtful; and many others in which help to shape the creation of this book.
contents Introduction
6
Define Design
8
The Six Trends
12
What is design today
23
From the Front Lines
39
Competencies
71
Post Script
89
introduction
6 Introduction
This book was written and designed to aid the designer of the future, a designer in which has traditional skills and yet a much broader perspective on problem solving. Although no one can predict the future, we must prepare for it. Knowing that there are tectonic shifts occurring in the sociological, technological and geographical environments in which designers create their paths, we can begin to formulate a picture.
7 Introduction
defiining f
8 Introduction
design
9 Introduction
10 Introduction
In 2007 AIGA (American Institute of Graphic Arts) with recognized and diverse leaders in design brought together to investigate the way into the future and trends in which effect design and designer’s. The six most important trends they identified were; Wide and deep: meta-disciplinary study and practice, Expanded scope: scale and complexity of design problems, Targeted messages: a narrow definition of audiences, Break through: an attention economy, Sharing experiences: a co-creation model and Responsible outcomes: focusing on sustainability. These trends define design’s role in a much broader, strategic context. Anticipating the future problems to provide a lasting solution and understanding the audience in which designers are communicating to. But also striving to solve the bigger problems such as global and ethical problems by using design. http://www.aiga.org/content.cfm/designer-of-2015
11 Introduction
the six
12 Introduction
Trends
13 Introduction
one Wide and Deep: Meta Disciplinary Study and Practice Designers must be able to draw on experience and knowledge from a broad range of disciplines, including the social sciences and humanities, in order to solve problems in a global, competitive market of products and ideas. As the contexts in which communication occurs become more diverse, designers need to experience meta-disciplinary study as well as training deeply in specific disciplines. They must understand the social sciences and humanities in order to understand the content they are asked to communicate and they must understand how to work collaboratively with other knowledge and practice specialists.
14 Introduction
two Expanded Scope: Scale and Complexity of Design Problems Designers must address scale and complexity at the systems level, even when designing individual components, and meet the growing need for anticipation of problem and solution rather than solving known problems. Design problems are nested within increasingly complex social, technological and economic systems and address people who vary in their cognitive, physical and cultural behaviours and experiences. The role of the designer is to manage this complexity, to construct clear messages that reveal to people the diverse relationships that make up information contexts and to deliver sustainable communication products and practices to clients.
15 Introduction
three Targeted Messages: A Narrow Definition of Audiences Messaging will shift from mass communication to more narrow definitions of audiences (special interest design), requiring designers to understand both differences and likenesses in audiences and the growing need for reconciliation of tension between globalization and cultural identity. The most effective means of communicating has shifted from broad messages for large audiences to narrowly targeted messages for specific audiences. This is the result of both media capabilities (in terms of narrowcasting and mass customization of messages) and also global dynamics. This trend demands a better understanding of a variety of cultures, the value of ethnographic research, sensitivity toward cultural perspectives, and empathy
16 Introduction
four Break Through: An Attention Economy
Attention is the scarce resource in the information age, and the attention economy involves communication design, information design, experience design and service design. The trend toward an “attention economy” encourages discussion of what is currently driving clients’ conception of form, the attraction of business to design and the problems of designing for a market that value the short term “grab”.
17 Introduction
ffiive Sharing Experiences: A Co-Creation Model Designers must change their idea of customers/ users to co-creators (mass customization) to coincide with the rise in transparency of personal and professional lives (social networking, blogging, etc.). This trend focuses on user-centered issues through a filter that identifies appropriate methods for understanding people (for example, the current movement toward ethnographic research, rather than focus groups). It brings communication design closer to the work of product designers (who really have the attention of business) and the emerging area of service design. Social advocacy issues both emerge from this phenomenon and are empowered by it.
18 Introduction
six Sharing Experiences: A Co-Creation Model
Designers must recognize that the pursuit of excellence involves focusing clearly on humancentered design in an era of increasingly limited resources, in which appropriateness is defined by careful and necessary use of resources, simplicity, avoidance of the extraneous and sensitivity to human conditions. Popular, political and business forces are all coming to grips with the challenges of working in a world of limited resources. Designers, as those who use creativity to defeat habit in the solutions they propose, must some a leadership role in proposing responsible uses of resources. This involves both the traditional concept of sustainability and also an understanding of appropriate technology and resources for the uses proposed. Responsible outcomes embody ethical issues, social need, global imperatives and the unique contribution of design thinking.
19 Introduction
20 Introduction
what is design today 23 What Is Design Today
24 What Is Design Today
Building a career in design is not something that happens overnight. It requires patience and tenacity, and it involves more than raw talent. A career demands an over arching curiosity about the world and how things work, topped off with well-honed people skills, having the ability to solver problems and to evolve in a world in which communication is ever changing. A true designer realizes to solve any problems; they must work with many other partners, collaborators and even co-conspirators.
25 What Is Design Today
Defining the Problem
The next step for any successful team is to define the problem, which they are trying to solve. Designers articulate it and surround it with boundaries to work with. Designers are called upon to help cull, visualize, and express that problem in human terms and to look at it from many different viewpoints.
26 What Is Design Today
Envisioning the desired end state
Victory is known when it becomes vital, when embarking on the journey of solving the problem. As designer’s, we can help to develop prototypes that well become an end product or state.
27 What Is Design Today
Defining the approach
Once designers know where, a map needs to be created to get there. That map must be imprinted in the minds of every participant along the way. Designers can literally make the map real.
28 What Is Design Today
Inciting support and then action
In some cases, not everyone will want to make the journey. They’ll need to be inspired, Convinced, Cajoled and Educated. As designers, we call on our skills as communicators to help them see why they should come along.
29 What Is Design Today
Seeking insight to inform the prototyping of the solution Once a team is assembled, the next task is to look at the work ahead and being intelligent to solve. Often it pays to take pause and seek insight that will enable the team to prototype a solution. That means research. Designers can help structure that research, especially in.
30 What Is Design Today
Prototyping potential solutions
Then comes prototyping a solution that might mean a physically prototype which means to build it in miniature, or as a one-off, to see if it will work. Or, it might mean prototyping a new customer experience a collection of moments that make up an experience. In either case, designers play a critical role.
31 What Is Design Today
Delineating the tough choices
A good prototype unearths all sorts of unexpected data and insight and from that, tough choices emerge. Should we include this feature, or that? What if the solution costs more than people can afford? What if there are downsides? Designers have the choices evident.
32 What Is Design Today
Choosing the best solution, then activating it This is the culmination of many steps of hard work. If designers do their jobs right, we can often be the pivotal voice in this step, helping argue for the best overall solution; we can visualize the case, see different sides of the problem and lay out a path for making a commitment to a given solution.
33 What Is Design Today
Enabling the team to work as a team
When integral to the project, designers can help the teamwork as a team. Helping them make choices. Envisioning different outcomes. Seeing the “whitespace” that connects divergent views and approaches.
34 What Is Design Today
Rapidly learning and “tacking” based on your successes and failures The most effective teams are those who are constantly learning. Striving to improve them selves. As Designers can help take the team back through the journey, as a guide to recounting the steps where good decisions were made and where the team could act differently next time they are confronted with a problem.
Failure
35 What Is Design Today
From the front lines 39 From The Front Lines
40 From The Front Lines
gEt BACK TO you 41 From The Front Lines
42 From The Front Lines
To fully understand graphic design and other areas of visual art, such as illustration, photography and many others we have asked people for their views of the future of design and the future of the designer.
43 From The Front Lines
Should designers be educated? to be able to draw on a broad range of disciplines, which include social sciences and humanities, to inform their design output? There is a tendency for the industry to blame design education for producing substandard students - which I think is wrong. These things (and more) should inform your work, but there should be things you learn yourself or pick up during education. I could not imagine fitting in these into current design education without skipping out other important elements of education. Having said that I think we do get taught a lot of these things during design education - it might just not be labeled as such.
Chris Shearston 44 From The Front Lines
Should designers be educated? to be able to draw on a broad range of disciplines, which include social sciences and humanities, to inform their design output? Absolutely, a designer with no understanding of the human condition has no skills or talent.
Matt Campagna, Filmmaker Anastasia “Nat” Tubanos, Journalist 45 From The Front Lines
Should designers be educated? to be able to draw on a broad range of disciplines, which include social sciences and humanities, to inform their design output? I think the more intelligent and informed the designer, the more intelligent and appropriate the solution is likely to be. It has always been the job of a designer to be as informed as possible about the clients market and its problems. Only then can we as designers begin to understand and solve real design issues faced by our clients and their target market.
Darren Scott 46 From The Front Lines
Should designers be educated? to be able to draw on a broad range of disciplines, which include social sciences and humanities, to inform their design output? yes, some broader study can indeed be an advantage to any designer. In my experience, the most useful studies have been those that encourage curiosity about the world and englishbased subjects - writing, and most importantly public speaking skills. A designer needs not only to be informed and curious, they need to be able to talk about and sell ideas.
Clair O’Halloran 47 From The Front Lines
Should designers be educated? to be able to draw on a broad range of disciplines, which include social sciences and humanities, to inform their design output? I think that this can only be beneficial to design students. To quote Alan Fletcher, “It’s better to be interested, than to be interesting.” This fundamentally applies to Designers as Graphic Design especially, is always about something else. Very rarely is it about Graphic Design. Design Education tends to do one of a few things: either it educates it’s students the practicalities of Design—setting type, layout, etc; it teaches them how to get a job within the Design industry, or it teaches them how to think and how to learn. Although both equally important there is a third, that although it is touched upon and it’s surface scratched, it is rarely gone into any depth. And that is of course the world in which design operates. I see it as something that should be taught. Other arts, sciences, social and practical, as well as humanities—all as you have said— should come into a Designers education. However this is not the sole responsibility of the educators, but the student also. Designers should want to learn about other things and should read and pursue the intake of other subjects that form and add to the diversity of the world in which they will inevitably be designing in, and living in.
Craig Oldham 48 From The Front Lines
Should designers be educated? to be able to draw on a broad range of disciplines, which include social sciences and humanities, to inform their design output? I‘m not sure my field of work has ever been ‘mass communication’ as the areas of work I deal with are highly specialised & have a very defined target audience. This may not be the case for other industries however. Re your comment ‘is Twitter/blogs’ mass communication?’ absolutely - just a different form to billboards. Some blogs get more readership than billboards & a much higher % or response rate too.
Helen Bee 49 From The Front Lines
Has the shift from mass communication to a more narrow definition of an audience changed the nature of your job? I assume you are talking about the increase of social networking such as twitter or blogs which allow us to target an audience specifically. As I have very limited design history, I can only guess but I would say these things have changed the way we work as designers, as any new technology would. However design is still about mass communication, we still put up posters and billboards - it’s just now we can have smarter outlets to work along side them.
Chris Shearston 50 From The Front Lines
Has the shift from mass communication to a more narrow definition of an audience changed the nature of your job? Yes and I think all good designers do this. It’s vitally important to take social trends into account when designing/planning. Social trends change constantly so it’s vital to know what is going - how else could you communicate with relevance to your audience. It is impossible to market something to an audience without knowing what/who they are & how they respond to various medias etc. For example there is no point doing a twitter campaign to an over 60’s audience as it wouldn’t get a good response rate.
Matt Campagna, Filmmaker Anastasia “Nat” Tubanos, Journalist 51 From The Front Lines
Has the shift from mass communication to a more narrow definition of an audience changed the nature of your job? Not sure I understand your question here. What ‘shift’ are we talking about? Designers have always been required to produce work for either communication for the masses or when requested a more targeted market. This is not a new issue, however designers have had to change the way they think about targeting in a very different way. This is due to the ever changing amounts of media channels available to us now via online, mobile, apps, as well as the traditional channels like print. Each new opportunity throws up it’s own set of problems!
Darren Scott 52 From The Front Lines
Has the shift from mass communication to a more narrow definition of an audience changed the nature of your job? my job is still very much about mass communication - I work on some of the largest brands in the usa and beyond. my work needs to appeal to an extremely large audience and at the end of the day increase sales - success is easily quantifiable through increased profit for my clients. consumer ‘targets’ are often tightly defined but the audience would certainly not be described as narrow. that said, understanding the mindset of the consumer target is key to a successful design.
Clair O’Halloran 53 From The Front Lines
Has the shift from mass communication to a more narrow definition of an audience changed the nature of your job? I don’t believe there has been a shift. There has never been one way to communicate, that’s the beauty of communication, it can be transmitted and received in a myriad of forms and methods, and it is an individual experience. And audiences have always been very different. Technology has seemingly further highlighted the facets of communications making your direction more ‘cost-effective’ but the messages are still the same. Communication hasn’t changed. So neither has my job. I just have more to play with.
Craig Oldham 54 From The Front Lines
Has the shift from mass communication to a more narrow definition of an audience changed the nature of your job? I‘m not sure my field of work has ever been ‘mass communication’ as the areas of work I deal with are highly specialised & have a very defined target audience. This may not be the case for other industries however. Re your comment ‘is Twitter/blogs’ mass communication?’ absolutely - just a different form to billboards. Some blogs get more readership than billboards & a much higher % or response rate too.
Helen Bee 55 From The Front Lines
Is it getting harder to gain an audiences attention? Is your design output changing in response to this?
As I touched on twitter earlier, I think this is the response to keeping an audience’s attention. Champions of this are Howies, Innocent and in fact a large number of design studios who blog and tweet to keep their audience in the loop. I’m sure this will change in the future, keeping us on our toes.
Chris Shearston 56 From The Front Lines
Is it getting harder to gain an audiences attention? Is your design output changing in response to this?
It is getting easier to get the attention of the ‘RIGHT’ audience by engaging people in social media campaigns in the lead-up to a release and even after the initial release, we’ve seen improved early reaction to release and a long tail for on-going interest.
Matt Campagna, Filmmaker Anastasia “Nat” Tubanos, Journalist 56 From The Front Lines
Is it getting harder to gain an audiences attention? Is your design output changing in response to this?
You could argue that it is getting easier due to new media channels creating more targeted opportunities. I believe great work will always stand out if positioned correctly, but positioning is key in getting the best out of the budget.
Darren Scott 58 From The Front Lines
Is it getting harder to gain an audiences attention? Is your design output changing in response to this?
yes, its definitely getting harder to gain attention. our design output at sterling as a response, is always grounded in consumer and competitive knowledge gained during the early stages of a project. its always a challenge to answer briefs and achieve stand-out in a very crowded market place. a good piece of packaging design needs to ‘pop’ on-shelf and also, fit into a consumers life beyond the store. consumers are becoming increasingly more discerning about the brands they choose to align and express themselves with.
Clair O’Halloran 59 From The Front Lines
Is it getting harder to gain an audiences attention? Is your design output changing in response to this?
I don’t think it is, really. I think that people generally shift and move with technology. I don’t subscribe to Hockney’s lamentation of the visual age, or it being dead, just because we all walk around with white-headphones in our ears doesn’t mean we close our eyes. I guess it just means we are more confined in our own space. Meaning that people now more than ever are designing their own spaces, these spaces in which they operate and live, digitally or physically. The difficulty now is just finding the right way into these more specific and personal spaces. But all you have to do is look at Facebook and Twitter and see that it’s still easy to make people aware of your work.
Craig Oldham 60 From The Front Lines
Is it getting harder to gain an audiences attention? Is your design output changing in response to this?
I don’t think it’s any harder, but I do think things change faster. The importance or Social mead (eg twitter/facebook etc) is seen as key to many businesses but didn’t exist 5/6 years ago. People need to be willing to change the way they communicate - things must be done over a much broader range of mediums than ever before.
Helen Bee 61 From The Front Lines
Do you subscribe to the co-creation model of design where the user/audience becomes a co-creator in the design / production of a product or service? I thinks this works in some situations, and then would not work in others. Some jobs need an engagement and dialogue between the design and the audience; where as some more traditional jobs would be inappropriate for this. Personally I enjoy work that allows the audience to get involved as it pushes everyone into a new area. I don’t think you are referring to this, but I don’t like crowd sourcing,which turns design into a free for all.
Chris Shearston 62 From The Front Lines
Do you subscribe to the co-creation model of design where the user/audience becomes a co-creator in the design / production of a product or service? I think the ancient art of story telling from cavemen around campfires still appeals something deeply ingrained in modern humans, and that people want to create an visual image. Even in videogames, the ultimate interactive television, a poor design makes for a poor idea. The experience of having a narrative to a design is revealed as one that is timeless. And so I DO engage the viewer in different ways, but not in ways that affect the beginning and end of the narrative.
Matt Campagna, Filmmaker Anastasia “Nat” Tubanos, Journalist 63 From The Front Lines
Do you subscribe to the co-creation model of design where the user/audience becomes a co-creator in the design / production of a product or service? What let the lunatics take over the asylum? NO! I think it is great to collaborate with skilled people. But asking design illiterate consumers to participate in creating the visual solution is very dangerous. If asked for an opinion, most people feel the need to criticise or, and best offer their own solution, which in my experience is usually based on personal preference and not educated thinking. Design by committee never really works in my opinion, the best results historically come from individuals or teams with a single minded vision that is based on a strong belief and trust.
Darren Scott 64 From The Front Lines
Do you subscribe to the co-creation model of design where the user/audience becomes a co-creator in the design / production of a product or service? yes, I think this can be a very successful model if managed well. any research or building with consumers should be carried out responsibly. consumers are not a replacement for designers, they should be used to inform and improve designs, not dictate or piece together the ‘best bits’ to create hybrids (which can happen). the best designers are able to listen and work with consumers then still deliver a product that can surprise and delight an audience - not exactly what they already know, expect and are comfortable with.
Clair O’Halloran 65 From The Front Lines
Do you subscribe to the co-creation model of design where the user/audience becomes a co-creator in the design / production of a product or service? I think I’ve hinted my answer to this in response to the latter. People are more willing to engage with an idea now than they were before. One of the biggest visual occurrences of this to me would be the Turbine Hall at Tate Modern. The Art displayed here is all about that interaction, of the user experiencing the art and Experiential Aesthetics. Whether this is in a designed manner— as in the user has a defined role in the outcome and perhaps have to do something in a certain way to obtain an outcome—or more of a serendipitous one—whereby the outcome couldn’t be predicated and becomes a virtue of the product or process. I don’t think it is a new phenomena, merely vogue.
Craig Oldham 66 From The Front Lines
Do you subscribe to the co-creation model of design where the user/audience becomes a co-creator in the design / production of a product or service? I don’t believe that I have ever worked on my own for any project since graduating 10 years ago. At minimum a project will involve the client & the designer. More often than not it will also involve an account handler, often a creative & copy writer. Some of the projects I’ve work on have involved up to 20 people - each contributing from their own specialist area. Again - this may be due to the nature of my work - it is very specialist.
Helen Bee 67 From The Front Lines
68 From The Front Lines
Competencies
71 competencies
72 competencies
In order to fulfill the expectations for the designers of the future; they will need to employ a new set of skills that include beyond these typical scope presented today. No single designer has the skills required, yet this research revealed the range of competencies of a studio or design department, among its full complement of staff, will need for the demands of the future. These competencies uncover the challenges for educational institutions and for studios, in recruiting their teams.
73 competencies
74 competencies
one Developing of Creative Ability
The ability to create and develop visual response to communication problems; this will include understanding of hierarchy, typography, aesthetics, composition and construction of meaningful images.
75 competencies
two Ability to Communicate
The ability to solve problems of communicate, which including identifying the problem. To do this the designer must research, analysis, solution generating, prototyping, user testing and outcome evaluation.
76 competencies
three Understanding
Broad understanding of the big issue is to relate cognitive, social, technological and economic contexts for design.
77 competencies
four Respond to an Audience
Respond to audience and to recognizing physical, cognitive, cultural and social human factors that shape design decisions and to further develop into an out come.
78 competencies
ffiive One More Thing
Finally to understanding of an ability to utilize tools and technology, in which will develop in the future.
79 competencies
Other Skills 80 competencies
Other Skills Which May Be Included for the Future Designer For the future designer (and design), they will need other skills required to meet the demands for the future. These skills will be to practice abilities to be flexible, nimble and dynamic, but to manage and communicate skills, which are necessary to function productively in large interdisciplinary teams and to organizational structures. They must first understand how a system behaves and aspects that contribute to sustainable products, strategies and practices. Other abilities will include constructing verbal arguments for solutions that address diverse users/audiences, lifespan issues and business/organizational operations. But a designer must work in a global environment with understanding of cultural preservation and ethics in a practice and to collaborate productively in large interdisciplinary teams. In many ways they must understand cause and effect; with the ability to develop projects to evaluation criterion that account for audience.
81 competencies
82 competencies
85 Post Script
Post Script 86 Post Script
87 Post Script
Within these four months of this project I found and rekindle my love of illustration and street art and how to develop my illustration and into more than illustration in a book.
88 Post Script
Throughout this project it was an interesting journey and taking risks and also areas that I didn’t know anything about, they eventually paid off.
89 Post Script
James Corazzo was a helpful guide through this journey and facilitated learning me to understand what this project was about.
90 Post Script
Altogether, I’m happy with what I have done, what I have learned and also where it took me. On a positive note I enjoyed the illustration for this work.
91 Post Script
92 Post Script
I also found that university is a good time and place to find and learn new skills and improve on old skills and learn new ones but also learn how to deal with time and making choices for the final major project...
93 Post Script
End 94 Post Script