Recently as part of Creative Studio, we were tasked with a photography activity. I reflected on this activity in another blog post here. This activity inspired further exploration of graphic design processes such as grid systems.
The photography resulting from the workshop has inspired me to try a new avenue of visual exploration, one that challenges the standard tried and tested grid systems that have been used within the graphic design discipline for decades. As you can see from the images, I have highlighted the lines that make up these dried forms in order to get a sense of potential grids that could be used to generate layouts for the final major project application screen designs. This experimental process could generate quite extreme layouts that could enable areas of the application to invite interaction or even be used to generate a sense of shock for the user where elements are placed on these grid lines where nothing appears to link or make sense in contrast to the rigid structures we are accustomed to.
With this type of experiment, there is a hope that as a result a deeper understanding of grid systems and layout. A further understanding of what can be done when the standard modular grid, one that features heavily in my current design process, is set aside and real natural forms are used as a replacement. How can the theme of the natural world and extinction not only become the focus of the application messaging and aesthetic but also become a method in which the screens are structured and it’s layout? With the theme of the Anthropocene being a key player in the final major project, the human element can not be forgotten. With this in mind, could a merging of the structure systems, the distorted natural grid forms that have been generated through the workshop, and the modular grid system used in graphic design are used on one screen layout? Could the screen layouts be split into sections where areas are rigid and formal thanks to the modular grid and the others be eclectic and distorted where the natural grid is used? Or could the natural grids be used in elements of the application that are hidden? For example, hidden screens that are only viewed when certain activists are undertaken on the application?
There is a wide scope for how this could develop and a seemingly endless array of possibilities for layouts that must be experimented with in order to find a system that works not only for the theme but also for the user. The user is the most important aspect of the project and this must be reflected in the layouts. This being said, how can the layouts be used to challenge the preconceived notions the user has?
It can also be mentioned that the forms that have been explored through the workshop session for Creative Studio could be only the starting point for this route of exploration. For example, could the forms of extinct animals such as the Dodo, Steller’s Sea Cow and the Great Auk be used to generate layouts? How would this affect the screen designs?
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