Final Design PortfolioBy Danielle Ambrose

High Effort/Low RewardIt is hard to tell the purpose of the internet page and the news paper add doesn’t entice you to want to read it. There is not enough white space in either design which adds to the cluttered feeling. The alignment is all over the place in both.

While there appears to be a title there is nothing to direct your eye further. It is hard to know where to start. There are too many images on the web page so your eye doesn’t know where to go. In the web page the text is all over the place with no apparent order, making it hard to follow.

Where as in the news paper add there is simply a lot of text with no sub headings to break it up. The text is difficult to read as well. The image is difficult to decipher and doesn’t create interest.

Low Effort/High Reward

The title catches your eye and interest with it’s bold lettering and creative word choice.

There is a label to tell us what the add is about.

There is a nice use of white space to help emphasize the design.

There is a simple graph like elements to help explain the products purpose.

The text clearly states what the intent of the design is about… “Confetti party hats”…

The image captures your attention and draws your interest.

Bad Use of Theme

You can easily tell this brochure is about Salinas Valley California. However there are to many different forms and styles of text used in the headers. This creates an un-unified design. It doesn’t flow well and the design conflicts with itself.

There are also to many text and background colors, creating further conflict within the design. There is nothing to tie it all together. No element repeats itself except the map (which is squished on one page).

This web page appears to be about electronics or maybe robotics or …the only thing we really have to go on are the images and there are too many of those. There is little that ties the design together. The font appears to be the same style however there is excessive use of color and font size with no clear rhyme or reason. Again there is not enough consistency or unity in this design.

Good Use of ThemeThe color pallet of white, light gray, light blue, and pink helps create a soft fresh feel.

The images used throughout the design emphasize the fact this is a header for a fashion website.

The text color and layout help ground and unify the set as well.

It is clear the theme is Australia. The images and text do a nice job of keeping the theme throughout the design set. On the first page where the image could be anywhere the title clearly brings us back to the theme.

Picture Words and Analogies

The thumbs up smiley face sends a conflicting message from what, I’m sure, the text was suppose to convey. In this particular example the message is misinterpreted as a result of bad translation, however when designing signs for multiple languages it is a good idea to make sure the interpretation is correct. It might just have dangerous consequences.

This might be a stretch, however I firmly believe when writing for a journal, newsletter, or news paper it is quite beneficial to use picture words and analogies to help the reader connect to your story. It might be hard to read here but this article, from the Heritage Herald, about a “Story and Recipe from…” could benefited from the use of picture words and analogies. Not only is the title boring and long the story does nothing to excite your imagination. The writing is what I think of as dry. It doesn’t keep my interest, while the story could be interesting it is hard to relate to and doesn’t paint a very good visual picture for the reader, especially if they aren’t familiar with the Oregon Trail.

Picture Words and AnalogiesIn this example the use of analogy helps paint a picture of the effect smoking has on our life span. “How long can you live?” Is a clear, blunt, and relatable sentence, however combined with the image of the cigarette and the age graph the message becomes even more impactful.

Here’s a good example of using an analogy to convey a message. The text graphic paints a picture to help the viewer understand which version of the product they might need.

Audience – Bad Designs

While this brochure is clearly about Salinas Valley, California what isn’t clear is who this brochure was designed for… is it for tourists?... a prospective resident?

The purpose of the brochure appears to have been lost. While there might be good information here it is unclear who the designer is trying to reach.

This blog won an award for being the best kids recipe blog… design wise, I can’t tell it has anything to do with “family focused foods”, as the editors statement suggests. The title “Simple Bites” might give a little clue but it’s not nearly enough. At first glance I actually though this blog was about the Paleo diet…?

Audience – Good Designs This add is clearly geared towards smokers and/or those who wish to quit smoking. The image and text provide a strong visual message correlating life expectancy with the effects of smoking.

Right away you can tell this blog is about food and not just any food, healthy vegetarian food.

Bad Embellishment

The images and some of the texts do not enhance the design. They are thus embellishment and aren’t necessary. Some of them appear to be used to fill space.

The colorful backgrounds act as embellishments rather and do not enhance the design in any way. On the contrary they distract from the message.

The flowery embellishments in this news letter do not add to the overall design. They create clutter and aren’t necessary.

Embodiment/Enhancement

It is clear from this header this website is about fashion. The icons embody the idea of fashion as well as the pages they are linked to. They enhance the design by creating interest in a playful and creative way.

This design was created to communicate a name change for a blog. The blog is about cocktails and the like. The images used in this design clearly embody the message of the blog “Cocktails.” The image of the bar and the graphic of the margarita glass both enhance the design.

Bad use of Proximity The images and prices are grouped so close together and so randomly it is hard to tell what price goes with what image.

Everything is crammed onto this page making it feel cluttered and unorganized. Not only is it hard to get a feel for the navigation it is difficult to tell one section/add from another.

Both of these designs are great examples of how having white space could help to improve a design. There is definitely not enough white space and everything is crammed onto the page. They both feel cluttered and unorganized. Adjusting alignment, proximity, and adding white space would go along way to improving both of these designs.

This is a clip from a blog I follow. The post was demonstrating different ways of using fresh flowers to decorate your home. Each image was accompanied with a short explanation and a number to associate it with a link at the bottom of the post. Number to associate image with link at bottom of blog post. It overlaps the image, clearly identifying this idea as #4.

A short explanation overlapping the image so you can tell this description goes with this image.

Good Use of Proximity

Each link title and icon are placed next to each other with faint dotted lines separating each set. It is clear which icon is for which link.

The alignment appears to be centered throughout the design. However, it also looks messy. The text size of the title appear to be two different sizes but not different enough, they don’t align very well and it causes it to look like a mistake and the rest of the alignment looks unbalanced and off centered.

The alignment is not consistent making it look cluttered and messy. The justification changes throughout and is inconsistent. Towards the bottom changing from both left and right justified to centered. In some other areas you can’t tell. It looks sloppy and off balance.

Bad Use of Alignment

The body of text is aligned to both right and left justification giving a clean look. The bottom of the “K” lines up with the top of the second paragraph which helps unify the design. The body of text is slightly inside the title width helping to emphasize the title.

Good Use of Alignment

The alignment in this design creates a clean and impressive grid like feel. It looks structured and organized. The navigation menu aligns perfectly with the left edge “06 Mar” image. The Title and subtitle align perfectly with the left edge of the “13 Mar” image.

Repetition of leaf shape to emphasize the season, however some of them conflict with text and there are too many of them which makes it feel cluttered.

Bad Use of Repetition

The flowered embellishments in this design do not add to the design. They are distracting and although they add a repeated element there is no benefit to including them.

Repetition of the circle shape to tie the text graphic to the image. Repetition of the color red to help unify the design.

Good Use of Repetition

Repetition of the layout and the color pink to unify the design set.

Bad Use of Contrast

There is not enough contrast in font sizes between the titles and the text to make them stand out. They are too close in font size, and appear to be the same size font.

The title font sizes are too close to the same size they aren’t different enough or should be the same. It looks like a mistake and creates and unbalanced feel.

Good Use of Contrast

There is clear contrast in the font sizes and styles for the reader to clearly identify the subject and title of this page.

The contrast between the two font styles, script and slab serif, work well together in this add. They create interest and not conflict.

Bad Use of Color

There is too much color on this page it distracts from the design and the information is lost.

The use of orange in this design should add interest and draw your eye to important content. However the over use of the color puts the focus on “Friday,” “Sunday,” and “modern” rather than where it should be “Family Weekend,” “February 7th,” and “February 9th.”

Good Use of Color

In this design the color red is used to tie the design text to the image. The red circle behind the letter “A” plays off of the red in the hat and dress of the little girl.

In this design the color pink is used to unify the design. The pink in the flowers is pulled into the colored circle. This draws your attention to the circle (which is a reference in the larger design set) adding interest but keeping the design relaxed and balanced.

Bad Use of Style This is a bad example of style. There are too many different backgrounds, fonts, and alignments with nothing to ground the design. I can’t even tell if any of the fonts are the same. I would say this design has no style.

I think this design attempted to have a style and failed. It appears as if they were trying to go with an antique or old style. They mixed fonts that conflict and didn’t commit enough to the style they chose.

Good Use of Style

There are repeated elements to tie the design together. The pink lettering and white side bar do a nice job of creating unity between the pages.

The image placement is consistent, adding another repeated element which helps to keep the style consistent throughout the pages.

This is a website for a skateboard company. Their site is done in a grunge style. Using a decorative font with a worn look to it. It woks well with their content. I would also consider this a minimalistic design.

Conflicting Type

There are too many different types used in this design they are conflicting with each other and distracting from the message.

In this design there are two fonts that are too similar to each other. It looks off and unbalanced.

Contrasting Type

The sans serif font used in the body of text and the script font used in the image help create interest and do not conflict with each other.

The script font is delicate but works well with the natural elements in the image. It doesn’t distract from the image but adds depth and interest.

The bold sans serif font used for the title catches your eye and works well to keep this design simple and clean.

The slab serif font and the sans serif font in this design work well together. They are different enough that they create a nice contrast.

The EndCSE 615 Designing Information