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The Swiss style of graphic design (also known as the International Typographic Style) was made famous through the work of talented Swiss graphic designers such as Armin Hofmann and Josef Müller-Brockman. The Swiss design style was pioneered during the 1920s and 1930s through projects for engineering, pharmaceutical and manufacturing companies in Switzerland — which required very basic instructional form factors for their technical materials, and therefore extremely simple and streamlined visual treatments. Thus, the style was born from a need for function over fashion.

Hallmarks of this minimalist functional style are the use of:

• a tightly-controlled, mathematically-driven grid to provide an overall orderly and unified structure for information
• sans-serif typefaces (such as Akzidenz Grotesk and, later, Helvetica) in a flush-left/rag-right format
• black/white (sometimes with a single accent color), or no more than two primary colors (instead of black/white)
• use of clean black/white photography (rather than illustration) in most cases
• a fierce reduction/subtraction of elements, to encourage legibility and protection of whitespace

The overall impression is simple and rational, tightly structured and serious, clear, objective, and harmonious.

At its surface, it’s all too easy for today’s design professional to dismiss the Swiss style as rudimentary, outdated and constricting – as a purely visual framework (and a limited one at that). However, upon deeper study, Swiss is more than just the art of placing and aligning elements; there’s a subtext of semantic organization of information, which is an integral part of the style’s essence.  The online world alone is rife with examples where too much information is haphazardly crammed into a single space – often because that space needs to serve multiple masters (content, navigation, social, brand, advertising, etc…) all of which insist on having equal emphasis.  Embracing the Swiss style forces everyone involved to make tough but necessary choices on what the true purpose of each space should be for the audience, and distilling the related elements down to a level of elegant simplicity – of minimalism.  Swiss is about removing the unnecessary and emphasizing the necessary; it’s about a functional and simple use of fundamental elements of style for the purpose of the primary objective; which infers that said objectives of any space must be given a hierarchy of importance, and that hierarchy be adhered to throughout the experience.  In short, Swiss is not just visual organization, Swiss is visual storytelling.

Some have even gone so far as to infer that the principles of Swiss design have no place in the world of “new media” – after all, we now have technology that allows us to do things in the design-space that those in the ‘20s and ‘30s could not even imagine, and that we should be free to express ourselves creatively without limitation or “rules”.  I would contest that now, more than ever – in this “new media” world of instant access, information overshare, and supersizing – that we have a duty to embrace our inner “Swiss” and encourage a return to a more rational and sane methodology for information delivery.  In many ways, the Design discipline is still trying to find its way in this online world.  I see this as an ideal opportunity for us to rise up as a collective voice and evangelize the Swiss style as the “sanity check” for online user experiences.

How can you help?

• Read and explore what Swiss means to you (online or offline).
• Share your thoughts (here or elsewhere).
• Post your favorite examples of Swiss design in the comments (especially if they are your own work).
• Spread the word!

We’ve all heard of—and probably experienced—death by PowerPoint. But who would have thought it plagues the military as well? One retired Marine colonel says those mind-numbing, fatigue-inducing presentations are commonly referred to as “hypnotizing chickens.” Sounds like something I’d rather avoid.

An article on nytimes.com, We Have Met the Enemy and He Is PowerPoint, discusses how prevalent PowerPoint is in military briefings and meetings. Many military officials, however, are highly critical—not necessarily of the program itself but how it’s used.

As reported in the article, Gen. James N. Mattis of the Marine Corps said, “PowerPoint makes us stupid.” Another General said PowerPoint leads us to present bullet points for issues that “are not bullet-izable.” Still more criticism says that its presentation format squanders discussion and critical thinking. (Although this notorious slide, shown to Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, leader of American and NATO forces in Afghanistan, spurned plenty of discussion, like whether or not the intricate graphic resembles a bowl of spaghetti.)

While the NY Times article hones in on PowerPoint’s use in the military, the issue translates to just about any industry or sector—from Fortune 500 companies to higher education. Considering how ubiquitous the program is—and that it’s not likely to disappear—how can we change the way we use PowerPoint to become more effective?

Changing Your Approach to PowerPoint

I could list (in bullet points, no less) all the strategies you’ve already heard for refining PPT presentations, like using bullet points, avoiding jarring colors and distracting fonts and not cluttering a slide with too much text. But I won’t.

Rather, I’d like to prompt discussion on when to turn to PowerPoint. Many people go straight to the program and begin playing with whizzing animations and list formats before they really know what they need to say. A better approach is to formulate your presentation in its entirety—whether that means writing a script or a thorough outline—and then move over to PowerPoint when you know what big ideas you need to reiterate on screen.

Steve Jobs’ presentation style alludes to this type of process. As many bloggers have noted, Jobs tends to use slides with a single image or a short phrase; they’re not distracting (like the bowl of spaghetti), but supplement the ideas he’s talking about and help him communicate his story. They engage and entice the audience without diverting their attention—or putting them to sleep.

Part of the problem may be that we’ve come to expect PowerPoint presentations laden with lists and loads of text. But if we look at PowerPoint as a supplementary tool—not a stand-alone presentation—maybe we can avoid the narcolepsy-inducing presentations and actually facilitate critical thinking and discussion. In other words, no more “hypnotizing chickens.”

Need assistance perfecting your PowerPoint? Filter has a team of PowerPoint pros who can help you communicate your big idea in a cohesive, compelling way (without causing anyone to fall asleep!).

In the April 2010 issue of Boxes and Arrows, Joseph Selbie looks at best practices for in-house design teams creating web applications. In his article Bringing Holistic Awareness to Your Design, Selbie considers how increased specialization (from information designers, UX designers, user researchers, usability designers, etc.) ultimately affects user satisfaction.

In his case study, Selbie found that a shared, holistic understanding amongst all team members—regardless of specialization—actually plays a more important role in end user satisfaction. He summarizes the findings as follows:

“Those teams that achieved the highest degree of shared, holistic understanding consistently designed the best web applications. The more each team member understood the business goals, the user needs, and the capabilities and limitations of the IT environment—a holistic view—the more successful the project. In contrast, the more each team member was ‘siloed’ into knowing just their piece of the whole, the less successful the project.”

Facilitating Shared, Holistic Understanding

Selbie cites five key tactics for fostering holistic understanding among all team members (see the original article for a full explanation of each). These are:

1. All team members conduct at least some user research
2. Team members participate in work and task flow workshops
3. Team members share and discuss information as a team
4. Team members prioritize information as a team
5. Team members design together in collaborative workshops
   

Selbie advocates that collaborative design is the most powerful way to encourage a shared, holistic understanding. He suggests conducting “wireframe-level, whiteboard-style, collaborative design sessions” including representative team members from all sides of the equation including users, business and IT.

The benefits of a collaborative design session include the ability to make real-time decisions, create buy-in and save time down the road because less iterations are needed at a later stage. BUT, many people are reluctant to participate in a collaborative design session, seeing it as counter-productive (you know, the whole “too many cooks in the kitchen” thing).

Given Selbie’s argument that shared, holistic understand leads to higher user satisfaction—and that collaborative workshops are the best way to get there—it’s worth a shot, right?

How to Conduct a Productive, Collaborative Group Design Session

Here are some suggestions on how to conduct an effective, productive group design session.

• Devote enough time to the collaborative workshop. Selbie says, “We have found that between 10 and 20 core screens can be considered, discussed, iterated and designed in 4-5 days of workshops.”
• Clarify business goals and the scope of the session from the outset.
• Enter the collaborative session with a few rough ideas in mind already. These can be used to start sketching and jumpstart others’ creative thinking.
• Consider dividing the group into two smaller groups for a given task and having each group report back; the two main ideas from the groups can then be addressed and iterated on by the group as a whole.
• Create an environment that promotes respectful listening and learning. Encourage the sharing of ideas—even bad ones! Those bad ideas could lead to new insights.
• Create a focused environment (meaning no checking email on your Smartphone, IM’ing from your notebook, etc.).
• Respect the process of discovery rather than focusing on the end result.
  

In addition to these ideas, the article Using a Collaborative Parallel Design Process on uxmatters.com gives insight into making the parallel design process more collaborative. Parallel design involves starting with a large pool of ideas, evaluating ideas in a systematic way, and then selecting the most appropriate ideas to move forward with in the next brainstorming step. The article makes suggestions on how to present ideas, how to analyze designs and how to vary the collaborative format depending on your needs/goals. 

What’s your experience with collaborative design sessions? Are there any methodologies you use to ensure a productive, successful session? We’d love to hear how you’ve used collaboration to increase group understanding and ultimately create a superior user experience.

I stumbled across this article today, Serif Fonts and Their Peculiarities, which outlines the wide variety of serif fonts, from the old and transitional styles to modern, slab, Clarendon and freeform serifs.  While I’m definitely no type designer, I find it fascinating to trace how a style evolves over time and how the evolution of typography reflects other cultural and societal shifts. And I just love looking at typefaces, whether it’s a beautiful drop cap in a classic hardbound novel or the type on an underground subway map.

Reading the article on serifs led me on a bit of an archeological dig for other interesting ideas on typography. Here are a few of the gems I uncovered for serious typographic junkies, designers and casual onlookers alike. Enjoy!

• Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Typeface: In this article on designobserver.com, Michael Bierut reflects on his movement from typographic monogamy to an over-indulgent typographic promiscuity, ultimately sharing how he finally settled somewhere in the middle. He provides thirteen reasons for choosing a particular typeface. 
• Typography articles on A List Apart: A List Apart, which explores the design, development and meaning of web content while focusing on web standards and best practices, has a tempting selection of articles on typography and the web.
• Thinking with Type: The online companion to Ellen Lupton’s book Thinking with Type: A Critical Guide for Designers, Writers, Editors, & Students, this site covers some of the basics and provides a great appendix of links plus tools, exercises and resources for teachers.
• Know Your Type: Starting points for typographic inspiration: This article by small design shop Red Labor offers just that, a starting point. They discuss the “voice” of a typeface, the issue of scalability and even give suggestions on what subjects to search for in the library to find the most thought-provoking, interesting old posters (like 1930s American boxing posters or communist propaganda pieces) for typographic inspiration.
• Open Type: A blog from German designer and author Ralf Herrmann covering everything from webfonts on the iPad to display ampersands.
• Typography articles on AIGA: And of course, AIGA has an enticing array of articles like Lettering Grows in Brooklyn and Lights, Camera, Helvetica.

Like the Sirens’ song in The Odyssey, the web is full of temptations and distractions that threaten to lead designers and creatives astray. But rather than the risk of shipwreck, the danger lies in producing unoriginal, uninspired content that undermines the basic premise of design—that is, to communicate in an effective, innovative and aesthetically stimulating way and to illuminate new truths or provoke new ideas.

Is Design a Dying Art?

With the proliferation of content on the web, some see the state of design as regressing rather than progressing. Take for instance a recent article on Smashing Magazine: The Dying Art of Design. In the article, UX Designer and writer Francisco Inchauste discusses how “modern design tools and processes do more harm than good” when the tools themselves begin to replace the fundamental understanding of why a design solution is used or what fundamental problem is being addressed.

In the article, several problems are brought to light, including:

• A tendency to consume shallow content such as inspirational lists, tutorials and freebies rather than in-depth content. According to a poll conducted by Smashing Magazine, “Over 75% of the articles that designers read are either design tutorials or inspirational lists.”
• The positioning of how-to articles as “design tutorials” when really they are “tool tutorials” that teach only a singular aspect, leading designers to use a technique without necessarily understanding why it’s appropriate for a project.
• The growing use of cheap or free content, resulting in a lack of originality that begins to commoditize design and potentially lessen its value in the eyes of clients.
  

As the writer of the article sees it, the threat posed by these trends will potentially undermine design as an art and craft: “. . . designers will never be considered people who can solve problems for businesses and their customers and who can effectively communicate ideas. We will simply be a mindless pair of hands that knows how to apply some trendy colors and glossy effects to make things look nice. A technique with no purpose makes a design irrelevant. If design becomes irrelevant, then at some point we may be, too.”

Cultivating Strong Design Habits

Francisco, however, does offer some ideas and reminders of how to keep the design profession thriving and continue improving as an individual designer. He suggests:

• Creating your own assets, such as textures and graphics, rather than looking for fast and free ones that may be lesser in quality or lacking in originality.
• “Digging deep” in a book instead of clicking away on the web for shortcuts or quick tips.
• Devoting the time and money to attend a conference or event.
• Looking at tools and tutorials as “a means to good design, not the end.”
• Returning to sketching to flesh out a concept.
  

In addition to Francisco’s poignant reminders in the article, here are some additional ideas on how to continue fostering strong design habits:

• Step away from the computer and find inspiration in the real world.
• Join a local meet-up group where you can discuss ideas, projects and challenges with other professionals.
• Think back to why you wanted to become a designer and consider how you can continue to meet that goal every day.
• Go back to the basics. Don’t get immediately swept up by every trend and fad.
• Take the time to appreciate great design—whether it’s in a gallery, a book, in street art or on the web—and reflect on what makes it powerful.
  

Leveraging the Web to Strengthen Design

The web doesn’t have to be a threat to good design and original thinking, and design certainly doesn’t have to succumb to a death sentence as an art form. When used in the right context, online tools and content can serve to augment design thinking and provide a platform for elevating the standards rather than lowering them.

Francisco Inchauste ends his article with a relevant piece of advice: “We determine the type of information made available to us. Every click (and tweet) can be a vote for a better and smarter design community. Please choose wisely.”

Best User Interface Design Resources: The Round-up, a post on Dzineblog, includes an informative and inspiring collection of UI examples, designs, tools and more. The list covers multiple resources for discovering new UI patterns and templates (such as Pattern Tap and The UI Pattern Factory) as well as a host of interesting site samples. Another cool resource that made the list is Type Tester, which generates previews of text in different formats and provides the corresponding CSS.

Check out the post here to reignite your UI design muse. 

Twitter is tweaking its homepage, as reported here on their blog. Though it looks like the design hasn’t been fully implemented yet (the test homepage was live on March 30th), Twitter says it aims to demonstrate through its design changes that “Twitter is not just for status updates anymore.” 

As pcworld.com discusses here, the new UI includes a scrolling area with trending topics, a ‘Top tweets’ area that constantly refreshes (windows phone topped the list when I checked it out), and a ‘See who’s here’ section showing a random selection of Twitter users.

What do you think about the new design? You can compare and contrast the old and new homepage here on mashable.com or see a screenshot of the new homepage design on the Twitter blog. Will the redesign attract more new users and demonstrate the mass appeal of Twitter?

Your fingers know the drill. You effortlessly hit shift 2 on your computer, or scroll quickly through the symbols on your mobile. You see it constantly: in email addresses, and now on Twitter. It’s the @ symbol, and after years of overuse and no recognition it has earned a place of prestige in the design realm. 

The Museum of Modern Art in New York officially admitted the @ sign to its architecture and design collection, which includes about 28,000 pieces. Of course it wasn’t just a wayward move; the @ symbol was subjected to some serious scrutiny first. To be included in the collection, a piece must demonstrate excellence in form and function. It must be impactful, innovative, and—above all—it must be crucial to our lives. Those on the committee must ask how the world would be different if the object hadn’t ever been designed or created.

Crediting Raymond Tomlinson—who added the @ sign to the address of the first email message sent between computers—MoMA admires the symbol for its timelessness, economy, elegance and relevance.

To read more about the @ symbol’s inauguration into MoMA and the design hall of fame, see Alice Rawsthorn’s article in The New York Times: Why @ Is Held in Such High Design Esteem.

It may seem unusual to some that such an ordinary object is considered an important emblem of design, but designers already know that seeing the extraordinary in everyday objects is what design is all about.

Let’s take a quick (completely unscientific) poll here.

How many of you carry a sketchbook around with you?

Now, how many of you have traded in your old Moleskine or scrap paper for a digital sketching tool (or you’re holding your breath until there’s a tried and true stylus for the iPad)?

Whatever mode or mechanism you choose, what’s the role of sketching as part of the creative process, and how is technology supporting—or maybe even changing—that process?

Most designers and visual artists rely on sketching for a number of reasons. In her post Prisoners of Logic on Design Observer, Jessica Helfand talks about sketching as “a clearinghouse of subconscious thought,” a way to (ideally) move past logic and experiment with freedom of form. On another note, visual and web designers may use live sketching in meetings to make the discovery process more engaging, dynamic and collaborative. Sketching is also an integral step in designing user interfaces and experiences (and we’ve talked before about the pros and cons of computer-based sketchy wireframes).

And, of course, since designers of all types are pre-programmed to show, not tell, sketching is simply part of the thought process.

With that said, we’re interested in knowing what you find more useful—old school pen and paper (like Jason Robb on UX Booth supports in this blog post) or digital tools like Cintiq or Brushes on the iPhone? (And while you’re contemplating that question, check out this time-elapsed video showing how Jorge Colombo drew The New Yorker’s June 2009 cover by virtually finger painting using Brushes. . . it’s pretty sweet.)

So the question remains: does the convenience of a multitasking tool like a phone, digital display or software win out? Or do you relish the tangible nature of hand grasping pen? Whichever you prefer, the only non-argument seems to be that sketching remains a prevalent and important part of design in all forms, whether as a problem-solving approach or simply a means of finding inspiration—and maybe even sheer enjoyment. 

Image: Jorge Colombo’s June 2009 cover for The New Yorker was created using Brushes on the iPhone.

Design truly can make a difference.

Human-centered design confronts a range of social problems, from distributing clean drinking water to developing new medical technology. And as aid and supplies continue to be mobilized to relieve earthquake-stricken Haiti, I’m reminded of design’s potential and the many, many ways design can make a difference.

In light of Haiti’s recent tragedy, an article by Ernest Beck on designobserver.com, State of Shelter, examines one of the many prongs on the wheel of human-centered design: temporary housing. Beck shows a number of conceptual developments and prototypes for emergency shelters intended to replace the old tents and tarps often used in the wake of a natural disaster.

Although the examples shown in this article (I’m sure many, many more exist, including a few here) have great potential for providing emergency shelter, none have been implemented on a large scale. Whether due to issues with production, distribution, affordability or simply timing, these ideas are still just that.

Reading Beck’s article—which again, points to a small piece of a rather large picture—I was both filled with optimism at the positive social impact design can have and confronted with questions about the implementation of new solutions (and how many more disasters may occur between now and then).

Obviously these issues are far too large to be dealt with in a single blog post, but the article did prompt me to dig a little deeper into human-centered design, not only in the context of emergency relief and disaster preparedness, but generally as well.

This is barely skimming the surface, but if you’re looking to stimulate more thoughts and ideas on making a difference through design, here are a few organizations and resources to get you started. Please feel free to comment and add to this list of links—it’s by no means all inclusive!

Design for the Other 90%
Through partnerships both local and global, individuals and organizations are finding unique ways to address the basic challenges of survival and progress faced by the world’s poor and marginalized.

Design that Matters
Design that Matters (DtM), a 501c3 nonprofit based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, creates new products that allow social enterprises in developing countries to offer improved services and scale more quickly.

Institute for Human Centered Design [Adaptive Environments]
The Institute for Human Centered Design (IHCD). . . is an international non-governmental educational organization (NGO) committed to advancing the role of design in expanding opportunity and enhancing experience for people of all ages and abilities through excellence in design.

Design Corps
Creating positive change in communities, through design.

GOOD
GOOD is a collaboration of individuals, businesses, and nonprofits pushing the world forward.

Article: Greater Good
Adam Mack and Aaron Sklar of IDEO discuss the three tools that will make the strongest contribution when designing for social impact.

Resource: Human Centered Design Toolkit
For years, organizations have used Human-Centered Design (HCD) to arrive at innovative business solutions. In collaboration with the Gates Foundation and non-profit groups IDE, ICRW, and Heifer International, IDEO has specially adapted this process for NGOs and social enterprises that work with impoverished communities around the world. The resulting HCD Toolkit helps organizations understand people’s needs in new ways, find innovative solutions to meet these needs, and deliver solutions with financial sustainability in mind.


Book: Designing for the Greater Good: The Best in Cause-Related Marketing and Nonprofit Design
This first-ever book of its kind, Designing for the Greater Good, features hundreds of illustrated examples of the best nonprofit and cause-related design worldwide, plus 24 inspiring case studies and insights into great nonprofit branding campaigns.