Summary of chapter 13 of visual design solutions

  We always want it be clear for viewers to look and understand easily by formulating a unified overview when we decide to create a visual design. But we also need to make it more dynamic and vivid to catch and keep viewers’ attention and motivate their initiative of perceiving. In this case, we can add visual interests to make the design interesting.

  Though many designers are used to address bullet points to stand a list of contents out for clear viewing in a wording project, but it’s not a good idea to use it frequently in a graphic because it has less visual priority than other elements and plenty of bullet list will easily gather boring feelings to viewers. To add interests on it and make it more prominent for viewing in a graphic design, we can convert it to other effective forms or replace it by other items.

  For example, we can convert the bullet points to a table format to form a graphical view because many bullet lists can be grouped into a common category which can be better recognized by viewers. Extensively, we can use excellent icons made from diverse dingbats to represent different categories for easier distinguishing. We can also replace it by colorful shapes in similar style or word balloons to make it more interesting and meaningful. And placing classified text contents of a bullet list in different columns or panels and enhancing it by using typographic emphasis can also make the original bullet points pop off the graphic. In addition, we can use a conspicuous radial diagram with no hierarchy to show original bullet points for emphasis.

  “If ‘think outside the box’ was not such a tired cliché, it would be a great description of the following techniques for creating visual interest.” (page 361) Well, breaking out the solid innatism by placing part of items out of a “box” can also be a great way to gather interests. For instance, we can enlarge the foreground elements or extend images beyond boundaries to catch viewers’ eyesight. Usually, putting a part of item in graphic to represent the whole entity can save more space for other important elements without influencing the original purpose.

  As talented triggers of interest, graphical ornaments like ribbons, stickers and tags can be used widely on enhancing emphasis and promoting interest of a visual design. We can add titles on different ribbons to generate a group to highlight the title and make it more aesthetic; we can use stickers and tags in different colors, textures to separate particular items from complex contest to stand them out and make the emphasis more elegant and meaningful.

  To avoid decreasing interests of viewers, we can replace complex text contents by symbolistic and readable dingbats which consist of little pictures, bullets and shapes to reduce viewers’ cognitive efforts and help them form a long-time memory for later recalling. Dingbats can be used for icons or illustrations depending on designers’ purpose.

  To make background or characters in a graphic more interesting, we can add some rhythmic patterns on it for decoration and match appropriate textures for fitting diverse settings or conveying moods according to designer’s purpose.