Interactions - September/October 2010

And this is where most design schools start (and quite a few stop). A typical problem in a graphic design class asks students to design a poster. The teacher provides the context—perhaps a poster promoting a concert for the Boston Pops. The teacher also provides much of the message— the copy to be included. The teacher may even specify the size, particular colors, and typeface. All that’s left is for the student to arrange the elements. Each student should produce half a dozen or more variations.

A class of 25 students produces 150 variations, which provide the basis for a critique—a discussion about the student’s proposed form and perhaps its relation to the given message. Through prototyping and discussing, students come to understand the space of possible solutions—the degrees of freedom open to them—and the trad-eoffs between various factors.

Projects like designing the form of a concert poster remain the reality of most graphic design classes at the undergraduate level today—and quite a few at the graduate level. Such formal projects are also the reality of much of practice. Not just for graphic design, but also product design, interaction design, and architecture.

As young designers gain experience, they may get opportunities to affect the way projects are defined. At first, that may mean simply having visibility into new projects and being able to express interest. Later, they may sit in on planning meetings and then client meetings. Eventually, they may take on responsibility for “running” a client engagement. In function, if not name, they become managers. Here they can affect at least how a design team organizes a project.

However clients still constrain the level of engagement. Figuring out what product to build or which markets to serve are pragmatic business issues—the third level of the matrix—typically decided by the CEO or other “C-level” officers. Such issues are almost always outside the hands of even the product manager—and the designer.

It’s always good to remember at the beginning
of each project to explicitly confirm the level of
engagement:
• Is the focus here making icons and skinning
this interface?

• Or do you want us to look at the interaction as well?

• Who’s writing the copy? Developing the content?

Space of Design Constraints Brian Lawson has proposed a model of the space of design constraints, defined by three dimensions:

1. The generators of constraints: designers themselves, clients, users, and legislators. On this continuum, designer-generated constraints are the most flexible; client- and user-generated constraints less so; and legislator-generated constraints are the least flexible.