: How to describe/talk like a designer? I am a front end web developer. I tend to mostly deal with code but do, from time to time, have the opportunity to create graphics. I notice the designers
I am a front end web developer. I tend to mostly deal with code but do, from time to time, have the opportunity to create graphics. I notice the designers I work with are able to talk in great detail about the images/designs they create. They can give meaning to why a button looks a certain way or the feeling behind their design decisions. What I am wondering is, as I have done some searching with no luck, are there any books on how to talk/describe this way? I am finding it hard to describe my question but I am looking for info on how to better 'sell' a design or justify a design decision.
Backing up layout decisions from studies/stats is fine, justifying those things can be backed up with numbers. But, it is more the whys and whats of color decisions and the purely visual side of things.
Update: Any links to good books would be a great help - typography, color theory, etc.
More posts by @Carla748
6 Comments
Sorted by latest first Latest Oldest Best
I think it's great that you want to understand more about how people you work with think and talk. There should be more of that!
I'm more familiar with resources on the print side, but I think some of the following could be both useful and fun:
Maura Keller and Michelle Taute. Design Matters: An Essential Primer. Beverly, MA: Rockport Publishers, 2012. Expensive, but beautiful and wise. If it's too pricey, find a bookstore with armchairs and browse through it there.
Patrick J. Lynch and Sarah Horton. Web Style Guide (3rd edition). webstyleguide.com/. This might be too elementary for you, but from what I remember, it gave a clear explanation of some major design and style issues.
Robin Williams. The Non-Designer's Design Book. Berkeley, CA: Peachpit Press, 2010. A very engaging and non-intimidating introduction to basic design.
Good luck and have fun!
Amanda
Your question just reminded me of Hoefler and Frere-Jones in the film Helvetica in which they describe typography with subjective qualitative terms:
Notice how they use cultural references to describe design. It's this kind of awareness of and emotional connection with the cultural world past and present, which enables a more organic and natural description. You describe design with things you're most familiar with (in a non-professional setting). Try less to be technical and jargon-heavy about everything and bring it down to the level of the vernacular.
Specifically, in terms of color theory and description, I've been reading Colorist: A Practical Handbook for Personal and Professional Use that, within its first few pages, has a word image scale to describe colors. That should help you build a vocabulary for explanations of color choice.
There are valid, objective ways to show and describe why one particular design solution is better than the other. It's really about the business of selling--which Graphic Design is a big part of.
There's also the fact that one needs to be confident in what they are presenting, and that's a bit of the salesmanship side of things. Some incredibly talented designers aren't good at that. I don't have a magic answer for that - short of saying that there's great benefit in working with someone that does have that particular talent.
My advice would be to really study your client's user base. The more you know about your client's industry, and the needs of their customers, the easier it is for you to make strategic design decisions and back them up with appropriate arguments.
For a little more insight into the real whys and hows of design, here's an excellent and insightful article by John McWade that will help you pick out the useful from the merely fluff-and-puff.
I'm not sure I know what you mean by "talking like a designer" but using the words a designer understands can be learnt. There's a glossary of design terms here.
Searching for 'design glossary' also brings up others with different terms, though the one I've linked to seems to have the most definitions from the ones I've briefly read.
This was going to be a comment turned out to be quite long, so here it goes:
I don't want to sound rude, really. But how do you expect people to believe in something YOU don't believe in? You are going to be designing, how are you going to make the design decisions about something looking this or that way? There is a theory behind our options when creating graphic/web products, and it's not only about making things look pretty.
Instead of a book on how to talk like a designer, I would get one on what design is...
EDIT:
After reading your answer I think I can say some more things.
One thing I always find inspiring is looking at logo creation processes. For example: creativenerds.co.uk/articles/30-professional-logo-design-processes-revealed/
When you see how these guys went from a very simple idea to a whole concept, you really understand what this is all about. At the end, you spend days thinking about the why, and really a few hours on the how. After something like this, I can imagine it's not difficult at all to explain the client why you did what you did, because you followed an idea, you developed it and the final result is the product of this personal work.
And if your strength is code, then your words can go for functionality, simplicity and user experience: "This is good because this is the best way to do it, because it's the shortest path to your aim". Programming is all about that, right? Finding the best simplest solution? Designers are all different, some are great with art and lousy with coding, some create strong structural websites that look ok. And some have it all, but I guess that requires either talent or lots of work.
Terms of Use Create Support ticket Your support tickets Stock Market News! © vmapp.org2024 All Rights reserved.