We had a tutorial today about Design methods and methodologies. There are many different types of design methods and methodologies to take into account and consider.
SPECULATIVE/CRITICAL – takes a critical theory based approach to design. This kind of design uses design fiction and speculative design proposals to challenge assumptions and conceptions about the role objects play in everyday life
Speculative design may be understood as a new design approach- an open set of tools, techniques and methods; ready to be used and adapted to various contexts in which we live and act.
TYPOGRAPHIC SYSTEM
- Semantic hierarchy – Audit product for semantic hierarchy using WAVE chrome plugin.
- Visual Hierarchy – Inspect all type styles in descending order and check if you really need these many number of type styles.
- Body Font Size – Choose a font size that works for body.
- Body Line Height – Using Goldilocks approach, determine what line height looks best for the body font size.
- Tim Brown’s Modular Scale – Start with body line height ratio for scale.
- H1 Definition – Choose an H1 value that works first header level across all pages of your product.
- Other Header Levels – Just go 1 level lower in your chosen typographic scale to determine each subsequent header level.
- Line – Heights for all Headers – Derive line-height by using the same body line height ratio. Adjust the derived line-height values to a multiple of your baseline grid number to ensure vertical rhythm.
- Font-Weights – Compare stroke thickness of each header with subsequent and preceding headers and ensure that parent headers don’t look too thin or children headers don’t look too thick.
- Apply rules top-down – Use the concept of DOM outline – start with assigning h1’s followed by h2 followed by h3 and so on to ensure consistent application of type styles across product.
IDEO METHOD CARDS
SOCIAL DESIGN METHOD
- Interrogate the functionality.
- Start with the system.
- Look at systemic full life cycle impacts.
- Check relationships.
- Hold yourself accountable.
SERVICE DESIGN
Disruptive designers learn to love big messy problems and identify their own agency in impacting the world around them with more purpose and intent.
BRANDING
- Create a framework
- Question your customers
- Review your web analytics
- Review social data
- Review sales data
- Look at your competitors
- Take action and monitor results
USER JOURNEY
- A timescale
- A clear understanding of customer touch points
- A clear understanding of the channels in which actions occur
- An understanding of any other factors who might alter the customer experience
- A plan for “moments of truth”
- Review objectives
- Review current user research
- Review touch points and channels
- Create an empathy map
- Build an affinity diagram
- Sketch the customer journey
- Iterate and produce
- Distribute and utilize
USER PERSONA
A persona, in user centered design, marketing, and branding is a character created through researching to represent a user, or a person that represents your target market. Designers may not use persona together with market segmentation, where the qualitative personas are constructed to be representative of specific segments.
MARKET SEGMENTATION
- Demographic – THE WHO – Age, gender, ethnicity, income, religion, level of education, profession/role in company.
- Psychographic – THE WHY – Personality traits, values, lifestyle, hobbies, life goals, beliefs.
- Geographic – THE WHERE – Country, religion, postal codes, cities.
- Behavioral – THE HOW – Spending habits, purchasing habits, interactions with brands, loyalty.
Having this lecture with Carol was really useful and beneficial to know what different types of design methods and methodologies a graphic designer can use and take further into there work. There are many different approaches we can take as a graphic designer to solve problems but also for designing. This will definitely be useful when identifying what route I want my final major project to take place.
my learning journal 