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.