gonyea |complicated doesn’t make it good *from a book about design by mark gonyea design is all...

gonyea | complicated doesn’t make it good*from A Book About Design by Mark Gonyea

DESIGN IS ALL ABOUT

THE PERCEPTION OF SIZE,

SHAPE AND COLOR.

gonyea | chapter 1

ALL OR NOTHING

gonyea | Take the two shapes below. They relate to each other in every way.

gonyea | Change the size of one and you lessen the impact of the other.

gonyea | Unless… you do something to draw attention to it again.

gonyea | And so on…

gonyea | …and so on…

gonyea | …and so on. It’s all or nothing.

You can’t change one piece without affecting all the other pieces.

gonyea | chapter 2

THE BOX

gonyea | Take a look at the square below. Imagine drawing two straight lines that intersect only once inside the square.

gonyea | Did your lines look something like this?

gonyea | Or this?

gonyea | Straight lines can indicate strength and structure.

gonyea | Diagonal lines can indicate speed and movement.

gonyea | chapter 3

1:3:9

gonyea | 1:3:9 is a ratio.

It can also be a strong graphic tool.

gonyea | The largest square is about 3 times as big as the second largest square, which is about 3 times as big as the smallest square.

gonyea | This makes the largest square the most important piece on the page.

gonyea | Apply this idea to a whole page and it might look something like this…

gonyea | …and so on…

gonyea | …and so on.

gonyea | chapter 4

CAN YOU SEE ME NOW?

gonyea | What is contrast?

I’m thinking of a number between 1 and 10.

Can you tell what it is?

gonyea | No?

How about now?

3

gonyea | That’s contrast!

gonyea | chapter 5

LETTERS ARE SHAPES TOO

gonyea | The letter A.

A is for Angles.

gonyea | The letter H.

H is for Horizontal (and vertical) lines.

gonyea | The letter T.

T is for Three (as in 1:3:9).

gonyea | The letter S.

S is for curves. (I know, C should be for Curves but S looks better!)

S

gonyea | chapter 6

COLOR SCHMOLOR

gonyea | There are warm colors.

gonyea | There are cool colors.

gonyea | Warm colors are aggressive and advance.

gonyea | Cool colors are passive and retreat.

gonyea | chapter 7

DO I LOOK FAT ON THIS SIDE?

gonyea | The next page is unbalanced. The green square gets all the attention because it’s the only piece there…

gonyea | …until it is balanced with an equally strong presence.

gonyea | Now it isn’t balanced…

gonyea | …now it is.

gonyea | Now it isn’t…

gonyea | …now it is.

gonyea | Isn’t…

gonyea | …is.

gonyea | This could take a while.

Why don’t you go on and I’ll catch up later.

gonyea | chapter 8

HEY, LOOK AT ME!

gonyea | The space between objects can tell you what’s important and what’s not.

gonyea | The shape of an object can tell you what’s important too.

gonyea | So can the color.

gonyea | I wouldn’t use all three at onceif I were you.

gonyea | chapter 9

COMPLICATED DOESN’T MAKE IT GOOD

gonyea | Nice and simple.

gonyea | Still simple.

gonyea | Uh-oh.

gonyea | Hmmmm…

gonyea | Just because something is complicated doesn’t mean it’s good.

gonyea | chapter 10

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

gonyea | 1:3:9 (about)

gonyea | Cool colors retreat.

gonyea | The letter A.

A

gonyea | Warm colors advance.

A

gonyea | Balance.

gonyea | Changing one thing affects everything.

gonyea | And so on…

gonyea | the end or the beginning

DESIGN IS ALL ABOUT

THE PERCEPTION OF SIZE,

SHAPE AND COLOR.