Design Studies: Communication Design Principles

Consistency

Perhaps the most essential aspect to effective communication design is consistency in various ways.

Aesthetic consistency involves maintaining the same form and appearance over time.

Functional consistency involves the continued use of symbols associated with function.

Internal consistency is the integrity of design within a product.

External consistency concerns design across systems. It is most important when a brand goes global.

Legibility concerns how well the typeface communicates the message.

There is no performance difference between serif and sans-serif.

Anti-aliasing can be used to improve appearance, this concerns any diagonal or curve which can appear jagged in digital display and can be smoothed through “anti-aliasing.”

Contrast between background and text should be high, patterned backgrounds should be avoided

There is no performance difference between justified

and unjustified, but be aware of length

Figure Ground Relationship

Based on Gestalt principle that people normally recognize figures versus ground. This is a natural tendency and designers can use it to create stability. When it is disrupted, often for artistic purpose, communication decreases in legibility.

Wolfgang Weingart

Iconic Representation

Similar: resembles what it represents, use for simple situations

Example: represents the thing exactly, use for complex relations

Symbolic: Associated images understood over time, use for existing recognition

Arbitrary: Socially determined, must be learned, use for standards

Storytelling is important for all categories of design not just communication. It includes

-setting

-characters

-plot

-invisibility (the author fades, the story rises)

-mood

-movement

Good communication design, especially for websites and flash, is able to achieve all these elements

Hitchcock relied on the communication design of Saul Bass to start the story for his films with particular settings, mood and movement. This also included the promotional posters which in many ways serve as the cover to the book of film.