CDF Project 1
This is a sign for a box of cooked Singapore noodles for sale at the food market at Selfridges London, a large shopping mall visited by tourists and locals alike. The goal of the design of the sign is to allow the reader to quickly determine whether the purchase is appropriate for him/her, which is excellently achieved by good use of emphasis. The design uses scale very well to emphasize the elements of the sign in order of importance— the price, the name, allergens, country of origin, etc. Evidently, in context, the name is less important as say on an online marketplace, as one can better learn about the nature of the food being sold (as well as its ingredients) by looking at it. Those with allergies can also fairly easily determine if the food will be appropriate for them, after they have accepted the price. In addition, the large font used for the price, the element being emphasized, is coupled with a good amount of space around the prices, allowing for the viewer’s attention to be fully drawn to the prices at first.
This is a screenshot taken from the first page of the syllabus for the Communication Design Fundamentals course, to be read by students and those evaluating the course. It is intended to give a short summary of what the course involves, such as lectures, projects, etc., which will have been explained in more detail in the following pages. The goal is achieved, though the delivery is somewhat awkward to read. The extensive use of various fonts, colors, sizes, and linebreaks in this sample interferes with the conveyance of meaning as it is difficult to maintain a flow of attention through different colors of text and linebreaks (in the case of the subtexts like “to get your feet wet”). The alignment of the nouns rather than the start of the lines to each other and the lighter color focuses attention on the nouns, which are indeed the key pieces of information. However, it is unlikely that a reader will simply ignore the verbs/predicates as they are the same size, forcing the reader to read backwards from right to left, disrupting the flow of reading.
