Diabolical Design by Jason Santa Maria
Jason Santa Maria, the creative director for Happy Cog Studios, delivered a great talk during @media 2007 – Diabolical Design: The Devil Is In The Details. From the @media site you can download the PDF file as well as link through to the audio. He starts off discussing colour and the importance of drawing the eye in a design and the intent of telling a story. Unexpected colour. The derivation of colour palettes. Then Jason moves into the importance of creating heirarchy in the design through contrast and creating a focal point, discusses whitespace with line height (leading) and using negative space to frame content effectively. Each adds to the story through the intention of the designer. I think that is a critical point he makes well. I absolutely love the Faith Inkubators design above the fold.
Deconstructing a few grid designs he shows the design rationale behind getting them right and wrong. Breaking the grid in ways that enhance the interest but maintain its integrity can have nice results. The part I found most interesting was where he moved into his own process. This includes keeping a sketchbook (a journal) where he can work through ideas and log his thoughts on a daily basis. He shows how he arrived at the WordPress logo and some elements of the A List Apart design. The importance of planning and how developing grey box designs (an extension on wireframes that extend into typography and visual design) are crucial parts of the process. There is an inherent danger in jumping straight into Photoshop or trying to design on the fly without planning.
