Comments on: Designers as Storytellers: How to create awesome design content

By: Welcome to Gelatobaby « Gelatobaby

Welcome to Gelatobaby « Gelatobaby — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 14:56:46 +0000

[...] even more when there are people around to listen. At the Sarasota Design Summit I talked about how designers can create great design content. I recently hosted a discussion with Valerie Casey and Casey Caplowe at SXSW as part of their [...]

By: Donna Davidson

Donna Davidson — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 21:57:25 +0000

Design should “de…sign” … or surprise the viewer into noticing. We can be shocked into noticing something, but does it further the storytelling.
Bright colors, naked ladies or guys, gross “your brain on drug” images, war fatalities (like the one in the World’s Best Photos line up), but it’s getting harder to grab the hearts of readers, watchers who desensitized to the extremes.

So I want to be surprised – in a relevant way – with design that enhances a story, not tries to overcome it.

How to grab the news junkie, voracious eater of instant images with design? Stop them in their tracks, release them from their spiraling frenzy. This is our job as designers. Design should not become the only story told. The iphone has a great design, but it also had to have a useful story. The color red signals alert, but does the story? Catch phrases, like going green, don’t have to be displayed in green type. Design needs to wake up the audience, not shock, jolt, alert, distract. But to please to enchance, design becomes a partner, not the star.

To me this is the role of design.

By: Portfolio Center | Diablogue | Alissa in the World

Portfolio Center | Diablogue | Alissa in the World — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 19:13:31 +0000

[...] PC alum and unpeggable creative Alissa Walker has posted the inspiring and informative talk she gave at the Sarasota Design Summit, a presentation called Designers as Storytellers: How to Create Awesome Design Content. Click here to be transported to Gelatobaby. [...]

By: Alissa

Alissa — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 20:03:41 +0000

Caroline, that’s a great point! Please do get approval from your client, and they can work with you to make it an even better story! Thanks for your blood, sweat and tears in putting together a great site.

By: Caroline - Philly Tourism

Caroline - Philly Tourism — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 19:52:57 +0000

One piece of advise to designers looking to blog/talk about their design work – make sure you check with the client first! You never know if the client has a PR strategy that you aren’t aware of. I’m happy to report that Happy Cog did indeed get the a-ok from us (Philadelphia Tourism) before releasing their case study on our web site, http://www.visitphilly.com. We put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into that site and how we announce it to the world, so it was good to have agreement ahead of time.