Comments on: Designers must write

By: artxtra.info » Traduire sa pensée sur le papier : une nécessité du designer

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 09:16:22 +0000

[...] préconise l’usage basique du papier et du crayon, du croquis et des ratures pour formaliser réellement l’idée, le concept, avant de le [...]

By: reeblog | Desainer harus bisa menulis

reeblog | Desainer harus bisa menulis — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 18:00:44 +0000

[...] Mmm, dan ternyata ada satu artikel bagus ini yang ditulis oleh Erik Karjaluoto, seorang creative director dan principal smashLAB. Judul artikelnya cukup jelas (bahkan sangat jelas dan tegas), "Designer Must Write". Di artikel itu, dia kurang lebih bilang bahwa menulis itu bagian dari eksplorasi ide. Sebenernya dia gak bilang melulu tentang "menulis" sih, tapi lebih ke "perihal pensil dan kertas". [...]

By: Web Finds - April 25th, 2006 at Welcome to Our House!

Web Finds - April 25th, 2006 at Welcome to Our House! — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 04:46:24 +0000

[...] Designers Must Write [...]

By: rmcmahan

rmcmahan — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 19:03:38 +0000

You have to draw your sketches with pencil on paper before you can start drawing on the computer?!?

This makes no sense to me. If you can put pencil to paper to come up with a sketch, why can't you put a stylus to a "drawing" tablet (or even a mouse on a desk) to put a sketch on computer screen? The only difference should be that one is tangible, tactile, while the other is virtual, electronic--the end result should be the same.

I can put the same ideas on the computer that I can on a piece of paper. I can make the same two or three or dozen or however many different sketches want on the computer in much less time than I can on paper. If I find that I like certain elements of one sketch and certain elements of another sketch, I don't have to redraw them to see how they look together -- I can just copy the parts I like to a new sketch and go on from there. I can experiment more with colors, shapes, positions, etc.

Finally, when I find a concept, a look, a style, a design that fits my needs, guess what? I may already be half way to the finish line. I flesh it out, clean it up, add the finishing touches, and finalize it without having to start re-drawing on the computer from scratch! Even then, I can experiment even more as I go as ideas come to mind.

In fact, I can explore even more ideas in an allotted time for a job because I can work much faster (time is money, after all) on the computer. Plus, my ideas come to me quite fast so the quicker I get the idea into a visual format, there is less delay from initial thought to visual sketch.

Sometimes I draw in Illustrator, sometimes Photoshop, somtimes Freehand. I have even been known to "sketch" up a bunch of ideas in InDesign. The only time I see a "need" to do a physical sketch, is if your design relies the texture of the paper it will be printed on or if it requires the "look" of the texture of a natural media, then go for it. But even then, there is software available that can simulate many natural-media textures.

I am much more varied with my designs and more versatile on what goes on in my design; a much greater range of experimentation and what I can do on the computer than with a pencil and a piece of paper. But, hey. That's just me. More power to you however you choose to work. Just don't try to make me fit into your mold.

BTW, I was a writer before I was a designer--been doing both for over twenty years. I definitely agree that effective communication is imperative in good design! Without effective communication, design is not good no matter how "pretty" it may be.

By: Creative Guy » Blog Archive » Designers must write to be successful

Creative Guy » Blog Archive » Designers must write to be successful — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 15:01:02 +0000

[...] Ideasonideas.com has a great article titled Designers must write. It’s a great read for the novice or pro designer. [...]

By: Crazymonkey» Blog Archive » Designers must write

Crazymonkey» Blog Archive » Designers must write — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 17:54:18 +0000

[...] Πολύ καλό άρθρο από το Ideas on ideas. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. RSS 2.0 [...]

By: cgmania

cgmania — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 08:53:16 +0000

Excellent. Also, its notable how much time could be saved in a working day when the people you’re communicating with can write well. I get way more done, much more quickly for clients who take the time to write out their requests concisely than those who garble and put ‘does that make sense?!?!’ at the end of each paragraph: if you have to ask, it probably doesn’t! (Rant over!)

By: Karthik

Karthik — Mon, 25 Sep 2006 11:29:54 +0000

Thank your Eric for an essay which perfectly addresses the issues going on in my mind.

I am a designer who can write. Period.

I see myself as a communication designer. I feel apart from designing print solutions as per my job profile, I do get more involved in the overall idea. I desperately want to toy with strategy, criticise the objectives, ask the questions - all this to communicate effectively.

I have consciously tried to shift my skills to a specialist role - as in concentrate more on art direction and design. But on some level, I just go back to - Jack of all trades, (trying to become) master of all.

For me, designing the message is more important than designing for a particular medium. Only when you are clear on desining of the message that you can actually design for the medium.

Thanks again for making me realise that I have to learn to listen to my subconscious - Be a communication designer. I have that inborn gift and I should realise it to its full potential.

By: trendoffice

trendoffice — Sat, 09 Sep 2006 09:44:22 +0000

I like the description of the designer "as one that sees her/his role as a communicator and will go to any length to convey a message or idea" - the others should be part ot categories like craftsperson or artist - in the end our task is to make our life better with practical solutions for everyday activities. And I am convinced that writing is one of the most necessary tools to convey our ideas, in addition to sketching and other vissual methods.
From my experience I have learned that no words alone can be enough to explain an idea, but often people need additional explanation to the visual presentation, so combining both methods gives best results.

And another quote: "Design is not solely visual...those who slip into being a software operator due to mental laziness are, in my mind, not the most remarkable practitioners our industry has to offer" - this is a trend of our time that makes many young people accept mastering 3D presentation as the right to call themseklves designers.

Great article, with great language! I am so happy to have found this conversation - so many interesting comments and so many similarly thinking people.

By: user-experience-design.com

user-experience-design.com — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 20:57:14 +0000

Design Management and Writing...

Ralf Beuker over at Vol. 2: design-management.de describes his impressions from the Amsterdam Design Management Institute (DMI) conference (March 29–31). He gave a workshop on “Blogging for Design Leadership: What Corporate PR Can’t Tell.....