Meaning and Design

Tacit can be defined as something that is understood without ever being explained/verbalized. In the reading the word is used on the first page in the sentence “Until recently, the primary focus of design was on form – with a tacit recognition that the elements of the form of an object evoke a multitude of associations for the individual who interacts with it.”

As the above sentence states, the ‘old’ meaning is that of form, and the paper later goes on to state “…meaning and form are separate but connected.” This suggests that while they are joined loosely, either aspect can be examined on its own. The ‘new’ meaning focuses more on the sense one has of something, as opposed to the actuality of it. The example used for the “flower viewing situation” was a concise way of explaining how the perspective has changed.

An example of old meaning can be found here. The logo for the company is that of a dog’s paw, which is a direct connection with the name of the company, while the logo for the “Off Screen Film Festival” doesn’t give a direct hint to what it’s about with their logo, found here

Complementing
The complementing approach is the most straight forward design approach, and essentially it means that you are working inside the box (or rocking the boat, or any other cliché of that nature) to create a product that will work with the established elements without pushing the idea very far. The Enviga site is a fairly good example of complementary design, as it looks good but is not very innovative. There is a basic layout setup, the product is front and center, and the site does its job perfectly well without surprising anyone.

Opposition
Opposition design is when you understand what the complement of the goal is, and then strives towards the exact opposite. I had a difficult time finding any examples for this style because it can be difficult to successfully create a design that utilizes this technique.

Sleepwalking
Sleepwalking is what Brian often has said as ‘it just looks good’ without the knowledge of how design works to support that intuitive leap. I’m using some of my own work as an example, since I know for certain that I was making intuitive leaps when I created this typographic motion piece.

Reconceptualisation
This concept is one that I always think of as ‘rebranding’, but this term is more all encompassing as far as design goes. The idea here is that you take a developed idea, turn it on its nose, and come up with a completely new interpretation from what you started with. The most common arena this can be seen is are businesses, as they will (hopefully) evolve and change over time. The two images I have are an example of two brands that underwent significant re-conceiving. In both instances the companies upgraded their images to something that is more in keeping with the times.




Dance, play, and design all utilize rhythmic structure in some way to encourage dynamic movement (whether this is moving your body, your eyes flitting across a page, or just mental leaps and bounds). All of these things encourage action and re-action, a sort of tug-of-war that when executed well leaves the person engaged, excited, and impressed. One type of design that I associate with this concept are typographic motion pieces, such as this one

The ‘metaphoric running line’ is a fairly straight forward concept; it is what keeps a viewer/reader involved and driven onward to the next variance. In motion design this idea is what keeps the viewer interested in what comes next, in how the piece will evolve over time. I’m not completely certain that what I am thinking of is exactly what the idea means, but when I see this video I feel as though I am being pulled forward through the song and I feel compelled to watch and see what comes next.