5 things to read and see
This week, read about ways to overcome creative block, look through a new site that collects and displays government data and see an excellent spread about Ohio’s opioid epidemic.
6 Strategies for overcoming a creative block
Feel like you don’t have a direction for your next design project? Or maybe you’re worried that what you’ve created just isn’t good enough? This article has some great advice for every designer who’s struggling self-doubt — which means it has great advice for every single designer.
What would happen if we treated democracy + equity like a design problem?
A fascinating Q&A about how both architecture and graphic design contribute to social power structures in society. Jack Self does a great job explaining the nuance of architecture design and its influence on subtle, long-term social change, and how those same principles can be applied to graphic design. Design can, and should, be used to promote a more just and equal society.
Steve Ballmer spends millions to redesign government information
The site USAFacts.org just launched Tuesday, and contains tons of information, statistics and numbers that have been collected from over 70 government sites and presented to the American public in a readable and searchable way. This article breaks down the goals of the site, which was spearheaded by former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, how it came together and how to use the site. Fair warning: the site is still in beta, but I’ve been looking through it and it’s incredible.
How climate change could ravage America’s national parks, in 7 ominous posters
This article explains Hannah Rothstein’s excellent posters depicting the future of America’s national parks if climate change continues on its current path. The posters are beautiful yet haunting, and serve as a scary reminder about what could happen to America’s natural beauty.
Wasted yet wanted
An incredible article about food waste and its repercussions for the economy and the planet. The design of the article is truly superb: there are vegetables that you scroll past as you move down the article, statistics that materialize in different areas and a large interactive timeline that presents food waste information. It’s a completely engrossing online experience. I can’t wait for part two that’s coming in May.
Page Designs
- The Creatives Issue | Ka Leo, University of Hawaii at Manoa
I really enjoy how different this cover is from most newspaper covers that I’ve seen. The diamonds on the side, slashes on the top and the unique font choice perfectly capture the look of a creative and innovative magazine, which I think is what they were going for.
2. Making a case for cannabis | Central Michigan Life, Central Michigan University
Using the clouds of smoke perfectly ties into the subject matter, and having the square border rise from the clouds is a great way to integrate it into the image. The border color matching the color of the word “Cannabis” also helps to tie the whole cover together and draw your eye to its most important word.
3. How does Ohio recover? | The Post, Ohio University
This entire spread is really well-designed, from the excellent use of spot color to the simple illustrations and clean infographics. Keeping the color consistent makes it clear which pages are part of the same article, and it’s used smartly for different kinds of dates in the timeline, drop caps, and to highlight important parts of different quotes. It’s a very well-thought-out and cohesive design.
4. Under watch | The Daily Orange, Syracuse University
I really like the way the designer chose to visualize the number of security cameras at each school. The different sized circles and colors makes sense and are easy to understand for someone just glancing at the page. I’m just a little confused as to why they spent so much work creating a beautiful design for a story where Syracuse isn’t an outlier in regards to the number of security cameras or campus crime.
5. Full speed ahead | The Michigan Daily, University of Michigan
I enjoy the movement that the multiples of the same baseball player gives the page as he becomes clearer as he moves across the photo. It helps to reinforce the headline and the stats at the top of the photo, which show that Michigan is on a hot streak for baseball. Using the grass to fill the headline is a fun touch that ties the article into the image as well. I just wish that the date and score in the top left wasn’t so hard to read as a result of this choice.
If you think you have a well-designed page or a good read to share for the next roundup, email me at shays2@elon.edu
Students, did you know you can join the Society for News Design for as little as $5 a month?
