Presentation held for Microsoft Norway 11.12.2007.
- Who am I?
- What is design?
- Design is not...
- Bad design
- Tips how to talk better to your designer
- Microsoft
- Apple
- Is it really Microsoft?!
9. Who am I?
Andreas Beining
/ Online Specialist, CMG
BA Visual Communication in Leeds
/ design + advertising
Jr. Art Director at The Farm
/ ad agency in Madrid
11. Who am I?
Andreas Beining
/ Online Specialist, CMG
BA Visual Communication in Leeds
/ design + advertising
Jr. Art Director at The Farm
/ ad agency in Madrid
Marketing consultant at Akademika
/ designing all marketing material for the
book chain + website
14. What is design?
graphic design / industrial design / garden de-
sign / webdesign / communication design /
business design / packaging design / product
design / service design / applications design /
experience design / game design / interaction
design / software engineering / software design
/ software development / system design / user
experience design / user interface design / web
accessibility / color design / content design /
information design / instructional design / mo-
tion graphic design / news design / packaging
design / production design / sound design / etc.
15. Design is not art.
Design Art
/ Use / Artificial
/ Constraints / Unconstrained
/ Representation / Expression
16. Design is not art.
“Advertising that does not sell is bad
advertising. It might be art or literature
- it can be funny, beautiful or poetic
- but it is not good advertising.”
Robert Millar, 1914
Founder of Bennett ad agency in Bergen
17. Design is not science.
Design Science
/ Soft process / Rigid process
/ Human analysis / Data analysis
/ Intuition / Proof
18.
19. “Juicy Salif”
Philippe Starck’s award winning Lemon Squeezer
21. Design is a craft.
/ artistic science
that melds technology
and humanity People
Tech
Art Design
nology
Science
22. Form Follows Function
/ Think about what you want to achieve
/ Message, theme, mood, ...
/ Type of design (brochure, community site,
logo, banner, t-shirt, ...)
/ Look at what existing designs do (user
expectations)
25. Bad design: it’s everywhere!
Why? Consequences
/ Lack of self-criticism / Frustration due to
/ Rush job more reading effort
/ Unfamiliar with best / Message is lost
practices / Lost business oppor-
/ Inexperience with tunity
tools / Not taken seriously
/ Bad taste / Lack of beauty and
elegance
26. Everyone is a designer!
/ Previously:
One needed long education to be able to, for
example, print a book.
27. Everyone is a designer!
/ Previously:
One needed long education to be able to, for
example, print a book.
/ Today:
New technology “democratized” design.
28. Everyone is a designer!
/ Previously:
One needed long education to be able to, for
example, print a book.
/ Today:
New technology “democratized” design.
(just think of all the Powerpoint presentations
you seen that were ugly..)
44. Microsoft vs. Apple
Microsoft
It’s a big company with many products.
/ Many different messages at the same time.
Can be confusing for “outsiders” (or even for
MS people..)
Apple
It’s a small company with few products.
/ One brand.
45. What can MS do?
/ Keep the design consitent:
offline + online
/ KISS principle
Keep it Simple, Stupid
Strive to eliminate unnecessary complications.
46. Be brief.
/ Explain in the brief what you want to achieve.
What should the receiver do after seeing/read-
ing your poster/website, etc.
/ But don’t be too detaily on image use, etc.
Creativity gets lost this way. (but dont’ forget
corporate guidelines.)
Again, do trust the designer. (If you don’t. get a
new one...)
47. “Can you make the logo bigger?”
/ Clients always want a bigger logo.
“The client is king” - but do trust the designer.
/ You know the content.
Designers know design. (or should know!)
A bigger logo doesn’t make it a better design.
48. Know your time.
/ Know when the time is to give feedback on
creativity, design, content and when not.
/ Nothing is more frustrating than doing a job a
second time when you thought it was approved
by the client.
49. Don’t look at the details.
Attention to detail is good, but...
/ You know the content.
Does the design display the content in a easy
manner?
/ “Just” moving a textbox or logo around
might change the whole balance of a design.
Hence, all must be designed again.
50. “It’s just a small change...”
/ Task:
Design logo with corporate identity. (Logo,
business card, word templates, etc.)
/ Client:
“Simply change the Word template a bit.”
No understanding that designing templates
in Word was difficult. Took me more than 1,5
whole days!
51. What do you want to achieve?
Always get a 2. opinion on 1. impressions.
BUT:
It’s like asking someone to find 5 mistakes.
Guide the question, examples:
/ What’s the first thing you notice?
/ What’s the message here?
/ What’s the call-to-action?
55. Zune. Is it really Microsoft?!
Creative ad campaign that uses animation and
indie tunes to promote the Zune is generating a
buzz online. (freebies: Wallpaper, videos, etc.)
“The clips, which Microsoft pays artists to cre-
ate, revolve around the concept of sharing,
which supposedly differentiates Zune from the
iPod and the rest of the digital media player
pack.”
57. Zune. Is it really Microsoft?!
/ I think I does differentiate itself from iPod.
/ It’s fresh and you want to spend time on the
website, BUT:
“Microsoft” is not branded anywhere...
58. Resources (or “books”)
”The Hidden Persuaders” - Vance Packard
“Toothpicks and Logos: Design in Everyday
Life” - John Heskett
“Hey, Whipple, Squeeze This: A Guide to
Creating Great Ads” - Luke Sullivan
“Don’t Make Me Think: A Common Sense
Approach to Web Usability” - Steve Krug
”The Art Book”