My Design Musings

Design Practice: Accessible Design

Being a designer means solving problems for people – all people. Designing for all people includes solving problems for everyone from college graduates to foreigners to those with disabilities, because everyone experiences things in different ways. Several organizations have been created in order to protect people and their rights, such as the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA), the Business and Institutional Furniture Manufacturer’s Association (BIFMA), and the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was also created for the same purpose.

The purpose of OSHA is to look out for working people by improving workplace safety. OSHA does this by “setting and enforcing standards, providing training, outreach, and education; establishing partnerships; and encouraging continual improvement in workplace safety and health.” OSHA serves almost every worker in America, with exceptions such as miners, transportation workers, many public employees, and the self-employed.

BIFMA is an organization which serves American businesses in the office and institutional furniture industry, by advocating legislation and government regulation, facilitating dialogue and education, and developing standards. Adherence to BIFMA is voluntary, with furniture designers being able to choose whether or not to abide by BIFMA’s standards. 

The goal of ANSI is “to strengthen the United States marketplace positioning in the global economy, while helping to assure the safety and health of consumers and the protection of the environment.” ANSI creates guidelines for businesses in every sector to abide by, thus creating uniformity and advancing the global competitiveness of the U.S. marketplace. Part of creating guidelines is setting up accrediting programs which assess conformance to standards, such as the ISO 9000 (quality) and ISO 14000 (environmental) management systems. ANSI is also an organization with voluntary compliance; however, streamlining the marketplace through setting standards greatly benefits the U.S.

Solving problems for all people includes designing for people with disabilities. The ADA assures that impaired people are not discriminated against, by providing standards for accessible design. It is imperative for designers to be familiar with the ADA’s regulations, as these regulations affect environmental design. By solving problems such as clearspace for a wheelchair to turn around in or maximum front-reach for wheelchair-bound people, the ADA makes sure that everyone can experience every public place. The ADA has regulations for all elements in all public buildings, ranging from stores to airports to hotels, and following these regulations is not optional. 

Abiding by the standards set by OSHA, BIFMA, ANSI, and the ADA aids in solving design problems for all people. While these organizations and acts seem to relate to business and buildings, they are also very pertinent to graphic designers who design for people and environments. 

Design Thinking: Michael McDonough’s Top Ten Things They Never Taught Me in Design School

After reading Michael McDonough’s Top Ten Things They Never Taught Me in Design School, his first point stood out to me in terms of finding a job. Even though it seems unlikely, talent is only part of the equation. People can slide by on talent alone for awhile, but the reality is that hard work is what propels designers to the top. The people who pump out ideas, producing thumbnails and roughs, and consistently push their designs to do more, are the people who succeed in the end. As a student graduating from college soon, I do not have the work experience design professionals do, but that doesn’t mean I won’t succeed. Having a great work ethic and making the most of my time on the job with experienced professionals, as well as putting extra hours in will give me the experience I need to consistently produce great work for clients. 

Design Thinking: Tangoes

The game of Tangoes is competitive tangrams. Each player or team has a tangram set and is given a card with a shape on it. The first team which uses all of the pieces in the set to correctly create the shape on the card, wins.

A game like Tangoes relates to Graphic Design education, in that it involves thinking creatively as an individual or team, to solve a problem. Many of the shape cards are tricky, resulting in pieces fitting together in unexpected ways. Therefore, just as creating high-level design requires a mind that can visualize elements working together in unique ways, winning at Tangoes requires a mind that can see the pieces fitting together in different ways.

Playing Tangoes as a group also relates to the experience of working as a design team. Just like in a design team, in Tangoes, there needs to be a group leader. This leader is primarily responsible for moving the pieces around, or else mass chaos reigns and a complete shape will not be formed. The group also needs strategists who are busily visualizing and thinking about the next move.  

Finally, coming up with a perfect solution to Tangoes brings about the same feeling as creating the perfect design—a sense of achievement and pride.  

Design Thinking and Business: Grand Rapids

I recently visited Grand Rapids, where I had the opportunity to meet with Ryan Van Dyke, a web designer and developer from Carnevale ID; Kevin Budelmann (President), Yang Kim (Vice President/Creative Director), Brian Hauch (Design Director), and Adam Rice (Graphic Designer), from People Design (formerly BBK Studio); Bill Holsinger-Robinson, the Chief Operating Officer of Spout.com; and Dalin Clark, a writer-strategist.

Meeting with Ryan Van Dyke was very encouraging, as he graduated from Ferris State University a year ago and now has a good job with Carnevale ID. Van Dyke is Mike Carnevale’s only employee, and is very involved in each project. Van Dyke gave tips on working with slideshows in Flash, using Google gadgets, and balancing projects. This advice was extremely helpful, as Van Dyke has soaked up a great deal of information from flash genius Mike Carnevale since being hired.

Touring People Design was a great experience, as it is a high level design firm in Grand Rapids. I was able to talk to people ranging from the president to the creative director to a graphic designer. They showed recent projects, including client work for Spout.com and Herman Miller. I enjoyed the atmosphere of People Design, as a passion for design was very evident, shown by the sketches hanging on the walls and the prototypes spread out on the floor. I thought it was interesting that Creative Director Kevin Budelmann mentioned that as designers with the use of a computer, there is no excuse for not cranking out hundreds of ideas.

Bill Holsinger-Robinson offered a good perspective on design and business, as the COO of Spout.com. Spout’s mission is to help people find films and films find people, and Spout has 100,000+ active members. Holsinger-Robinson discussed differentiation; how Spout does not want to compete with Meijer, Wal Mart, or even Flickster, because Spout deals with tagging films, rather than full reviews. Holsinger-Robinson also talked about what he looks for in hiring designers; he wants movie lovers who are mature and have good work ethics.

Meeting with the above-mentioned designers, as well as hearing from Holsinger-Robinson about managing a well-designed, popular website like Spout.com was a great experience in learning about design and business. However, the most unique part of my trip to Grand Rapids was meeting with writer-strategist Dalin Clark. I take tremendous pride in my ability to write cleanly and concisely, making my interaction with the quick-witted Clark a pleasure. She discussed the difference between a designer and a writer, and the strategic process she uses when writing.

Clark gave many tips for becoming a great copy writer, and four are listed below:
-Make every word count
-Ask good questions
-Be aware of other languages, as translations may take up more space
-Fulfill project requirements and then add one more thing to show the client you care

After talking with Clark, I realized the importance of a designer gaining input from his or her copy writer. Clark is very smart and creative, always asking questions and looking to solve problems. Designers should work alongside their copy writers, providing all information up front, sharing designs and ideas, and involving the writers before the design is set. Writers have a lot to offer; I had the opportunity to talk with Clark about a current project I’m working on involving a specialty shop, and she gave me many new ideas.

Design Thinking: The Big Apple & Me

From the organic architecture of the Guggenheim Museum to the towering modern skyscrapers, New York City offers an excellent variety of architecture and design. The city contains everything from specialty shops to huge corporations to well-known design firms, making good design essential in getting a message across. It was interesting to see the methods of advertising in big cities, compared to the methods of advertising in small- to mid-size towns.

Buildings are very compact, and everywhere a person looks, a message is attempting to be conveyed. With design emanating from everywhere in the city, everything is game for advertising and space is maximized. Companies have neon signs and lights flashing from doorways and windows, while taxicabs carrying advertising on their roofs. The insides of subway trains are lined with advertisements, and it is common to see billboards taking up enormous amounts of space on the sides of buildings.

Designers automatically think about designing for city life: for scaffolding, skyscrapers, and subways. They have to think deeply about a message creative enough to catch the eyes of people who are bombarded with thousands of messages at a glance. Seeing all of these advertisements pushed me to think of more creative ways to display my message, such as on the side of a building or as a subway train graphic. It also made me realize I need to think deeply about the pace of life my audience is living, and design specifically for that, while putting my message in places unique to this style of life.