Category Archives: Lexicons

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

Intellectual property formally credits and protects the creator of outputs of the mind such as writings or conceptual inventions. A logo design would fall under this category. Ownership means others cannot steal the concept or use it for their own benefit. Proceeds and reference tie directly back to the originator. The concept is extremely important in economics as a means of behavioral incentivization. Protection encourages innovation and creation by guaranteeing benefit only to the owner.

MINIMALIST

Minimalism is the concept of eschewing what is not absolutely necessary. In the context of visual design, this means reducing the project to its most essential elements. A mainstream, contemporary example of minimalist aesthetics can be seen with Apple.

TRANSMEDIA

Transmedia refers to communications or narratives that occur across multiple media platforms. By engaging audiences on a number of intellectual modalities, participants are able to engage in the narrative to a greater extent. This is a useful tool in education as well. For example, telling a history narrative with a digital gaming component may be more memorable and interesting to students than the sole medium of a published boo. When people can interact with a project in multiple ways (reading the story, making choices in a game, seeing a graphic representation) they are more likely to retain.

BUCKLEY

Woof, woof. Good boy.

SOCIAL PROPRIOCEPTION

Social Proprioception is our awareness of ourselves or our positions in relation to a larger social context. (I think). With a greater emergence and use of social media technologies we see a blurring of the lines between our personal and public lives. As a society, we have perhaps never been quite so aware of our social position and the lives of others. We are hyperaware of the lives and positions of everyone around us.

FEEDBACK LOOP

In a feedback loop, a system is used circularly. Either a part of or the entire output in a chain is then used to reenter the input stage, which then creates small changes that ripple throughout to output where the process begins again. In this situation you have a constant stream of feedback and reiteration.

DISSONANCE

Dissonance refers to the state of things not matching, a lack of cohesion, or incongruous notes. On a social level, technology creates dissonance in our identities. Who we are an who we project ourselves to be often do not aline. This creates a dissonance in our understanding of both ourselves and who our friends, aquantances, and contemporaries are.

COMPRESSION

Within the context of technology, compression make sme think of two things: the compression of data and the compression of our lives. In the former, processing power allows massive amounts of data to be compressed into tiny bits of very accessible information completely changing the way we think about and engage with the world. In teh compression of our lives, technology and social media is, in some sense, a limiting form of expression. Complex emotions are compressed into 140 characters.

GRAPHIC STANDARDS

Graphic standards are the rules surrounding a brand’s logo and graphic presence. It includes standards for how the logo is to be used, colors, fonts, required margins, types of acceptable applications, etc. These are used to allow for consistency and cohesion throughout the entire brand regardless to whom is doing the application.

STRATEGIC PLANNING

Creating a developed and well-thought out method to achieve a goal. This involves understanding the nature of the objectives, the various contexts affecting it, and variables, trajectories, or obstacles likely to be seen. In the realm of marketing this might mean having a long term vision for a brand or social impression of a company and developing a method to achieve it.

CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT

By managing customers’ relationships to the organization, the company can better understand customers’ motivations, needs, dislikes, and uses. By having a better understanding of the customer, the organization can target more specific programs or marketing while gaining a better understanding of their context as a business. Empathizing with customers whether through qualitative or quantitative data allows for benefits of the relationship to be maximized.

SOCIAL IMPACT/CONSEQUENCE

New technologies often irrevocably change the social landscape. The ways in which we communicate, think, and understand the world and ourselves goes through a number of iterations as new forms of media are developed. Understanding the social implications is a grey area because we are in the heart of rapid change.

NARCISSISM

It is sometimes thought that the widespread emergence of social media technologies lead to a narcissistic generation; one determined to share all aspects of their lives with the mindset that there will always be an audience that cares

SIGNATURE

A signature is a printing template of sorts that can come in a number of iterations from four page print jobs to 32 page prints. Signatures allow printing on both sides of the same sheet, to be folded in pamphlets, brochures, or booklets. This is a useful tool for planning ahead and maximizing budget as it allows for multiple pages to be printed with one ink set up and paper stock.

HICKEY PICKER

Hickeys are pieces of detritus stuck to the printing template. This could be bits of fiber, paper, dust, etc. that would compromise the quality of a print job. A hickey picker is a tool used to remove hickeys. A hickey picker roller is another tool to maximize efficiency in removing hickeys.

DPI

DPI stands for dots per inch. This is a term that refers to resolution in print as PPI (pixels per inch) refers to on-screen resolution. DPI specifies the number of ink dots a printer is capable of placing within a one square-inch space. A higher DPI will result in a higher quality, more clearly defined project.

BLEED

Bleed refers to a document that has been printed with no white space in the margins. The digital format of the graphic extends beyond the margins. When printed, a larger sheet of paper is used, and the edges are trimmed down. These allows for seamless printing to the very edges of a page.

DISTRIBUTED COGNITION AND COLLABORATIVE INTELLIGENCE

Learning is not isolated to an individual. Our knowledge is a collective process that is ingrained across individuals, tools, media, and other resources. In this sense, the mind is an extension of the individual and knowledge exists relative to its surroundings. The collaborative nature of intelligence suggests that intellect is multiplied by the presence of others. When intelligence is distributed across a group in a collaborative format agents come together to augment the ideas of the individual.

INFORMAL LEARNING

This suggests the implicit education we are obtaining at all times outside of traditional structures like schools, lectures, textbooks, museums, etc. Informal learning is an impromptu experience that can be stimulated by any number of factors such as learning social cues by being operating within society, interpreting body language, and processing consequences of different actions.

WHITE SPACE

White space is characterized by the lack of graphic presence in a particular part of a project. This can be a powerful tool in creating contrast. What is present on the page immediately draws attention by nature of is stark opposition to the white space.

FOCAL POINT

Focal points are the main area of interest in an image. They are where the eye is immediately drawn. In the image above, the focal point would be the car as it captures attention first. Focal points can be created through centering, color contrast, white space, and other techniques.

C.R.A.P.

Contrast. Repetition. Alignment. Proximity. These are the primary four essential principles at the heart of the graphic design toolbox.

Contrast allows certain aspects to stand out because of their sheer difference to the rest of the composition. Contrast can, but does not have to, imply color.  It also entail contrasting white space in a realm of busy design or using bold font in a paragraph of a lighter weight. Differences naturally catch the eye and capture attention. This is a great way to direct perception or highlight something of particular importance.

Repetition is used by having the same elements (color, alignment, font) show up multiple times. This is a tool to introduce cohesion and unification to a composition. It can tie an individual piece together, define a relationship between multiple pieces, and, on a larger scale, created synonymity within a brand.

Alignment refers to actual layout on the page. By keeping certain elements in line with each other a certain harmony rises from a clean look. Without proper alignment, a page will look amateurish and haphazardly thrown together.

Proximity uses spatial relationships to convey a message. Elements that are grouped together will implicitly tell the viewer that these topics belong to the same category. It allows captions and subtitles to make sense and apply to the correct heading. Proximity can also serve aesthetic purposes by using space to evoke emotional reactions like chaos or calm.

VECTOR

In the design world, vector is a type of image. Instead of using the individual pixels of a raster graphic, vector works with paths. An image is created of points held in a particular shape through a mathematical ratios. Shape is retained by relationships, but by lined up pixels. This allows an image’s size to be manipulated without compromising crisp quality. The ratios stay the same regardless to enlargement, so lines will always be clean and never pixelated.

RASTERIZE

To rasterize an image is to convert it from a vector format into it’s individual components. This compromises quality but is a useful tool for specific manipulations like using an eraser tool. Rasterizing allows for individual brushstrokes with is useful in manipulating images in Photoshop (or similar programs) or for creating digital paintings.

OPACITY

Opacity is the level of transparency of an object. The more transparent an image is, the more the background will be able to show through. Transparency can be a great way to overlay text on image. Using an opaque color background provides contrast for the text to stand out while not entirely compromising the image.

Type/Typography as Design

Typography is a type of art related specifically to creating and arranging letter forms. As an aspect of design, typography has significant implications on human perception. For example, bold or heavy-weighted typefaces can suggest power or strength while ones employing light cursive might suggest delicacy. Types are composed of a number of different traits (size, leading, kerning, etc.) that affect the various anatomy of letters. I think typography is particularly important as it is the form of presentation in all written communication; often the first thing someone will see when engaging with a company. It is a method for both creating an appealing aesthetic and for implicitly communicating a message about the image or brand with which the company is trying to present itself.

Typography can be traced back to ancient Greece with the first use of a letterpress of sorts. Known as the phiastos disk, characters were carved into a metal tool used to recreate and imprint them on other materials. These can be considered the first typefaces in that they were a set style that could be reproduced.

Balance

In this context, balance, to me, balance is about understanding the median between often opposing demands. There should be a balance between complicated/crowded graphics and too simplistic, between taking advantage of trends and being novel, between the company’s wishes and your own, or between the literal and the interpretive. Balance can also mean visual balance within the frame. Are images centered? Is there more going on in one particular side of the image?

Intangibles

Intangibles represents intangible design mediums like creating user or visitor experiences. In the realm of arts management this is exceedingly important as a significant portion of the industry involves visitors engaging with a brick and mortar space, such as theatres, museums, classrooms, or hospitals. By taking a human-centered and empathy-based approach to design solutions we are able to create spaces that better answer users’ implicit needs. User experience is about enhancing the ease, accessibility and positivity of a person’s interaction with a service or product. This could take the form of designing educational models, using acoustics or lighting to make a space more inviting, or even by manipulating customer service to better suit user needs.

Flexibility

Flexibility could be related to the role of the design or marketing team. There might be conflicts between the vision of the designer and various constraints like the client’s wishes, budget, or time-frame. It is important to remain flexible in projects to adapt to these various as they rise. Often design involves prototyping and first drafts rarely make it to the final cut. Designers should be flexible in their attachment to various designs and understand that they will likely need to be changed or adapted to fit within different frameworks.