These slides accompanied an assigned reading for an undergraduate class in design.

1. Kick-ass styling tips
20 Rules for Good Design
Week 3, MM1B03, McMaster University
From Samara, Design Element: A Graphic Style Manual

3. “It doesn’t matter how amazing a thing is to look at, without
a clear message it’s an empty shell.”
Do your Haiku images deliver a concept?

4. Fine Art
Leonardo da Vinci
Concept of Flight
Concept of Feminine Beauty

5. Commercial Art
Coco Chanel sketch

7. Fine Art
“Form Carries Meaning.”
Cubism 1908-11: instead of depicting objects from one viewpoint,
Braque and Picasso depicted their subject from a multitude of
viewpoints to represent the subject in a greater context.

8. Graphic Art
The Bauhaus
The design innovations commonly associated with Walter Gropius
and the Bauhaus - the radically simplified forms, the rationality
and functionality

9. YAY
ROSHANTH!!
I thought this was
more a Rule 2
example than Rule 3
but Good Spotting!!
You are rewarded
with Halftime
Entertainment.

11. Fine Art
Good design + aesthetics assumes that the visual language of the
piece -- its internal logic -- is resolved to address all its parts so they
reinforce, restate and reference each other.

12. Graphic Art
Ad “Campaigns”
Integration and consistency in ad campaigns helps promote a
consistent design message across media and across platforms.

14. Graphic Art

15. Graphic Art

17. Fine Art
Focus the viewer’s attention on one important thing first and then
lead them through the rest.

18. Graphic Art
Emphasis
Emphasis is the idea that some things are more important
than others. Must establish a focal point and a visual
heirarchy.

19. HALFTIME
ENTERTAINMENT!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sp6wUe9gMrw

21. Fine Art
Know what colours might mean to your audience.

22. Graphic Art
Logo design
Colour carries an abundance of psychological and emotional
meaning.

24. Fine Art
Malevich: The more stuff jammed into a given space,
the harder it is to see what we’re supposed to be seeing.

25. Graphic Art
YAY SANDRA-
CHRISTINE!!
You are rewarded
with Post-its.

26. Graphic Art
YAY AMY!!
You are rewarded with Post-its too.

27. Graphic Art
YAY SARAH!!
You are
rewarded with
kind words.

28. Graphic Art
YAY MYLES!!
You are rewarded with the right to wear SBPs.

30. Film Mise En Scene
Hitchcock: Space calls attention to imminent narrative action.

31. Graphic Art
YAY MAEGAN!! You are rewarded with a Sharpie Tattoo.

32. Graphic Art
YAY Rebecca!! You are also rewarded with a Sharpie Tattoo.

34. Graphic Art
Type needs to relate compositionally to everything else in the design.

35. YAY ANDREWS!! You are rewarded with a a handfull of paperclips.

36. YAY ALEXA!! You are rewarded with a bag of chips.

38. Graphic Art
Type must still transmit information.

40. Graphic
design comes
with an
agenda.
YAY UINAIZA!

41. This Graphic design comes with an agenda too. A “PSA.”
YAY AMY!

43. Create
contrasts
in density
and
rhythm.
Give
spaces
between
things a
pulse.
YAY DAVID!

44. Create
contrasts
in density
and
rhythm.
Give
spaces
between
things a
pulse.
YAY UINAIZA! AGAIN!

45. Create
contrasts
in density
and
rhythm.
Give
spaces
between
things a
pulse.
YAY UINAIZA! and AGAIN!

46. Create
contrasts
in density
and
rhythm.
Give
spaces
between
things a
pulse.
YAY MARCEL.

48. YAY
ZAK!

49. YAY MEAGAN!

50. YAY SARAH!

51. YAY AVA! (You thought this was a Rule 16 but I think
it’s better as a 13.

52. Make
sure there
is a wide
range of
tonal
qualities.

53. Ansel
Adams
advocated a
nine-level
tonal
system.

55. Ansel
Adams
advocated a
nine-level
tonal
system.

57. A great deal of the process of understanding visual material is the ability to
distinguish the difference between things.
YAY BRANDON!

59. Designers need to perceive the visual presence — weight, texture, movement,
angularity, transparency, contour.

61. Make what
you need or
pay
someone
else to
make
original
artwork for
you.

62. Yeah
AMMAR!

64. Yeah
MICHAEL!
Design and
style a
project
around the
meaning, not
the
audience’s
expectations
of current
stylistic
conceits.

66. Designers have to work hard to give 2 dimensional surfaces the
sense of movement.
YEAH ROSANTH!

68. Learn from the work of others but give it your own spin.

69. YAY, PAUL. Talk about this now.

71. Yeah
MIKE!
Symmetrical presentations are often static and offer little movement.

72. Yeah ANTHONY!