jmcmichael

As starting points for design explorations, corporate logos are ideal. They often distill a single idea into simplified geometric form that is straightforward to parameterize in Mathematica. Once a logo is in Mathematica, exploring its parameter space quickly leads to the discovery of new graphic phenomena, emergent forms, unexpected relationships, and burgeoning lines of inquiry. Mathematica’s very high-level programming and interface constructs help your explorations keep pace with your brain as it flings out new ideas left and right.

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It is entirely possible that Hugh Dubberly is one of the very few people in the design community who quotes easily and unself-consciously from Plato’s Dialogues. As the former vice president of Netscape’s Web Design and Site Integration Department and the recent co-founder of his own eponymous design consulting firm, Dubberly—like favorite Greek philosopher—is a professional shiner of light into the murk and ambiguity of life. “My central concern,” he says, “is to figure out how design can be employed make complex ideas visible and understandable so that we can make better products.” With impeccable design and digital pedigrees, Dubberly has been on the cusp of what’s next since the Internet’s earliest days. So it’s worthwhile paying attention to his present thoughts on what’s next for the business of design—and the design of business.

Like iron filings arrayed around a magnet, Dubberly’s thoughts are organized around two poles. The first is that design and designers are now utterly central to big, important and fast-growing companies. The second is that designers now have an opportunity and responsibility that meld into and perhaps even herald a new field of practice.

Here’s a collection of Dubberly’s enlightening models.

In this book, I have collected over one-hundred descriptions of design and development processes, from architecture, industrial design, mechanical engineering, quality management, and software development. They range from short mnemonic devices, such as the 4Ds (define, design, develop, deploy), to elaborate schemes, such as Archer’s 9-phase, 229-step “systematic method for designers.” Some are synonyms for the same process; others represent differing approaches to design.

- Hugh Dubberly

The first part of this Five Simple Steps series is taking some of the points discussed in the preface and putting it to practice.

Ratios are at the core of any well designed grid system. Sometimes those ratios are rational, such as 1:2 or 2:3, others are irrational such as the 1:1.414 (the proportion of A4). This first part is about how to combine those ratios to create simple, balanced grids which in turn will help you create harmonious compositions.