Topic: How can I be a better flash designer?? Pages that link to <a href="https://ozoneasylum.com/backlink?for=21356" title="Pages that link to Topic: How can I be a better flash designer??" rel="nofollow" >Topic: How can I be a better flash designer??\

 
Author Thread
paritycheck
Bipolar (III) Inmate

From:
Insane since: Mar 2004

IP logged posted posted 04-15-2004 07:15 Edit Quote

Hi me again! I'm playing around in flash making funny sites and presentations when it finally strikes me that I'm stuck in some vicious monotonous cycle that seems to hgo on and on. I seem to realise that I have no originality all my projects look the same, whats worst of all they have no aesthetic sense- the constituent elements of my projects make no sense whatsoever. Too much unneeded effects and elemenst or rather lack or improper use of it.

I realise I need help in defining what goes into a proper flash project as well as what are core essentials to desin. I must have missed out on something important in college but I find that I need advice and training on actual design i.e. what makes a goo dsite what puts one flash presentation out from the rest etc.

I realy need some help and advice on important design principles so if anyone has any ideas on online resources or books that can help or even any personal experiences that could ignite the artist within I'd love to hear.

Everytime I make a site or presentation its on instinct and alot of times my instinct fails me, I can't keep waiting for inspiration to charge me in the face and scream out for me to get started on a project. I want to be able to visualise an end product be it a site or presentation whatsoever. And I want that what ever I think of holds true and make sense, I just don't want to keep putting images and text togetehr cause it just 'looks good' so anyone who could share any information to help me become a better designer I'd love to hear

jstuartj
Bipolar (III) Inmate

From: Mpls, MN
Insane since: Dec 2000

IP logged posted posted 04-15-2004 08:44 Edit Quote

Perhaps you need to simply spend more time, identifing the purpose and audience. It may simply be the reason all your work feel the same, is you are simply building them to please yourself and not realy considering your audience.

Flesh out projects try writing a creative brief. What are the goals of the project? Examine the subject what makes it unique. The consider who's the audience? Do some roll playing, get into the mind set of your audience. Identify what drives that person/s. intrests. Why would they visit, click, or keep watching? What media do they perfer, what attracts them to it, what is it's style?

Gear the work towards your audience. Mix styles they perfer, apply some of your own style and create something truely unique.

Once you establish a creative brief, start Brainstorming, but it's important not to censor yourself just let the ideas come, record every thing even if you think it's stupid or wouldn't work. Then revisit them, many times the best creative solutions come from combining ideas two not so great ideas.

In my creative creative solution class we were assigned "Aha, 10 way to free your creative spirit and find your great ideas." by Jordan Ayan. I though it an excellent book, very readable, unlike the other 3. The book covers several method to greater creativity (10 well da...), with my favorite being "Tranformative Thinking" which is useful and might turn up something on a google search.



(Edited by jstuartj on 04-14-2004 23:53)

Relain
Paranoid (IV) Inmate

From: westernesse
Insane since: Jul 2000

IP logged posted posted 04-15-2004 14:39 Edit Quote

as for books yeah:

'Making the invisible visible...' by Hillman Curtis is a pretty good, covers all sorts of stuff on the theory of new media design. For the getting started etc.
Also 'Flash to the Core' by Joshua Davis. Both these guys are pretty much gods of flash and site design, a good source of inspiration.

You should be able to decide what makes a good site and what makes a bad site just by crusing the web and saying to yourself what's good abotu this, whats bad etc. To some extent surely you need to just get your own eye in like with art etc its not much that can be taught you just have to sort of see it.

Well thats my two pence...

paritycheck
Bipolar (III) Inmate

From:
Insane since: Mar 2004

IP logged posted posted 04-15-2004 17:07 Edit Quote

I guess os the thing is that when I look at siotes on the web I'm able to understand the logic behind the design and all but when I sit to start work on my own I get lost kinda like writers block ya know. Maybe its cos I haven't been working with actual content ! The sites I've been working upon are mostly academic work with little or no content to start with.

Cameron
Bipolar (III) Inmate

From: Brisbane
Insane since: Jan 2003

IP logged posted posted 04-16-2004 08:30 Edit Quote
quote:
jstuartj said:

Perhaps you need to simply spend more time, identifing the
purpose and audience. It may simply be the reason all your work feel
the same, is you are simply building them to please yourself and not
realy considering your audience.



He (please correct me if you're not a he) hit the nail square on the head.

If all I did was design projects for me, I'd simply wire myself to the fridge and never leave the house again. As tempting as that sounds, it'd quickly grow bored of it and before you know it, I'd have run out of wacky appliances and I'd be trying to figure how I could program my shag pile carpet.

So very not cool...

'Content', when it comes to design is but a small fish in a huge sea of monsters you should be wrestling with when it comes to design. Having said that, Having "something" to design for is imperative to the very nature of design in all of its forms, but it goes way beyond that. "Content" is meat, design isn't meat, it's the stir-fry sauce! Design puts the 'content' into context on so many levels you have to analyse it until your eyes bleed.

People who design chairs by studying other chairs are shitty chair designers. If you were a good chair designer, you might consider the following:

> who's most likely to sit in this chair?
> the way people sit, the way these people sit, the way these people should sit, do I cater to them or for them? ? there?s a difference.
> their posture...
> their weight...
> age, sex, shoe size, sexual preference, mean hair colour (<- if you ever get given that last stat form a marketing survey, be scared)
> what matters, what doesn't or perhaps the most interesting, what you make matter? (that can't be a valid use of English)
> how much is my client paying me for this?
> the materials available to you...
> analyse how many legs a chair needs, does it need legs? wheels? does/should it rotate? raise/lower? tilt? 6 degrees of freedom?
> ask yourself if this chair needs a back at all, maybe it needs more than one back?
> my client really ought to be paying me more for this shit...
> consider the space the chair is being used in, inside, outside, light, dark, noisy, smoky -- they all matter if you can scope the design to them.
> does it have a level floor?
> how much is my client paying me for this again?
> is the floor slippery?
> is the floor reflective, if so, do you consider the design of the underside of the chair as well?
> I still don't think my clients pay`n me enough for this...
> what kind of fashion trends to these kind of people and or places have in common?
> how might these relate to the aesthetics applied to the design of the chair?
> when I finish this list I'm calling my client and demanding for more pay!
> ...

I could go on for hours, but you get the idea. Design without context simply isn't design, its mere scribble (in a literal sense, not an aesthetic one).

So, be a good chair designer, think it through, write it down, re think it, mix it up and if you?re still not happy, repeat.

Although, I should point out that even if you've been using the web or designing for the web for a long time, never skip the basics. I still have problems with this as I often jump in half way through and later realised I assumed I was accounting for a lot of things because I was "experienced" when I was really just assuming and more often than not I've overlooked something rather simple yet fundamental. No amount of experience lets you skip the basics, I've learnt this the hard way many times over.

Question the very nature of web, the medium, the technology -- question every last button, font style and colour until you have a solid answer for them *before* you put them into practice. If you can't find an answer, search for it, chances are someone else was thinking the same thing and had a stab at answering it anyways. I know this seems restrictive, and it actually is at first but it really helps you to understand how it all fits together. This leads to finding better ways of doing things that you wouldn't have thought of otherwise.

quote:
Relain said:
To some extent surely you need to just get your own eye in like with art etc its not much that can be taught you just have to sort of see it.



I disagree completly.

If you see something by another designer you like, stop and break it down. Tear into it until you can accurately identify what about it you actually like and why you like it. Why is works, not because it looks nice, that's never going to get you anywhere. Poke it, prod it, turn it upside down. It might take a while, but eventually you'll start to understand the choices that designer made when making that particular work, and from that you'll understand why it works, why it looks nice. Simply remembering what looks nice/good/cool/funky/hip/whatever will do you no favours. Anyone with eyes can do that! You need to understand it on a finer level. And this is something that can be taught. Being well versed in design principals of all kinds is the key here.

I'm also going to argue against "brainstorming". It's never worked for me. Not once have I been in a brain storming session that's produce an intelligent and usable idea. Creativity, in my experience, doesn't come from some mystical place, it doesn't just *pop* out without call, there's always a chain of cognition, a trigger if you will, behind it. For me, it comes from having a good understanding of what you?re working with and devoting some quality headspace to thinking about and analysing design in that regard. Einstein didn't brainstorm, he simply never stoped turning things over upstairs to the point where he would put on the same clothes every day as thinking about "fashion" was a complete waste of time for him. Things were constantly clicking into place for him because he had the capacity and the "flow" to keep things moving. I guess this is related to brainstorming in a sense, but I think the word "flow" better describes the process of producing creative outcomes.

A good grounding in general design principals will go a long way: line, form, colour, shape, point, space (and I'm forgetting one, shame on me)... ? and a firm understanding of metaphor, the principals of communications, and semiotics (especially the latter two) will help a lot as well.

(Edited by Cameron on 04-15-2004 23:40)

Relain
Paranoid (IV) Inmate

From: westernesse
Insane since: Jul 2000

IP logged posted posted 04-16-2004 10:54 Edit Quote

touche cameron, a good post i feel. I'm not really a designer more of a photographer/painter/theoretical physicist



Post Reply
 
Your User Name:
Your Password:
Login Options:
 
Your Text:
Loading...
Options:


« BackwardsOnwards »

Show Forum Drop Down Menu