Good Design

From a personal standpoint, I believe every artist has a different interpretation of the term "good design". The viewer also perceives design differently, that may make the design good or bad. In my opinion, Good design is balanced, comprehensive, and appeals to our emotions. Good design has to be strong and balanced in terms of the overall structural aspect. I believe that a weak design doesn't keep the viewer's attention. It should create an experience of either delight, amazement, or fright to the viewer. The best design appeals to the viewer's emotions to create a connection between viewer and the design. In terms of the comprehensive aspect, the viewer has to understand or get an idea of the design. I believe that if a design is too complicated then the viewer Ð''s attention will move on to something less complicated. Personally, I believe it is how the viewer perceive the design as "good design" .

I chose the book, Calligraphy: The Rhythm of Writing by Satwinder Sehmi, because it showed a good example of "good design". This book stood out the most because it was very colorful and caught my attention. When I looked at the cover, I saw the how words were made into an art form, which was very pleasing to my eyes. The title, Calligraphy: The Rhythm of Writing, was incorporated into the cover. The writing had a sense of rhythm and movement. The author displayed that idea by overlaying serif and san-serif writing over each other. By looking at the cover, the viewer wants to continue to open the book.

The spread on p. 120-121 gives yet another example of good design. The art work has vibrant colors that grabs the viewers attention. The words used in this piece has blended into the artwork. In other words, the artist overlays words on top of words which gives draws the viewer attention from what the words are saying, but to the overall structure. Personally, I perceive the spread as the white border leading me into the drawing, and where the white stops, the words from the work pulls my eye into the center. I think that is a good design aspect, because the artist leads your eye where he wants it to go. The words to the left of the piece makes the same vertical shape as the work. This overall spread is text dominant. In conclusion, the spread shows an example of good design. It is: pleasing to the eye, leaves the viewer in amazement, and yet