Examples of good designI found many different designs I would consider as good examples. Here are a few that caught my eye.
This first photo is a photo of Choxie chocolate, offered at Target.
Balance: Choxie uses both symmetrical and asymmetrical designs to make its products stand out. This balance can be found on both the packaging and the chocolates itself. In this photo, you can see there are both evenly balanced designs and asymmetrical designs. When looking at the three-dimensional product, it seems to be very asymmetrical. Some boxes they produce, however, are symmetrical. The circular patterns--even though they are repetitive patterns--are spaced far enough apart that if it were split down the center, it would not be obvious it was the same pattern. In addition, the asymmetrical balance is shown with the brown lid versus the blue box. The blue box takes up much more space than the brown lid on the box.
Contrast: The dark and light colors on the box contrast each other in size, texture, position, shape, color and orientation. As stated above, the asymmetrical design assists in contrasting all of these primary forms of contrast. Contrast is obvious on most Choxie products. Simply looking at the black and white chocolate design you can see the difference between contrasting shapes (the squares and circles), position (where these items are placed), color (the difference between the light and dark), and orientation (circles inside squares and squares inside circles).
Line:One of the first things I noticed was the concept of lines. Choxie utilizes a variety of lines, including vertical, horizontal and curved lines to create patterns both in the chocolate itself and the packaging. This photo shows the chocolate pieces individually without the packaging. The different uses of lines create an eye-catching display that stands out among some of its competitors.
Texture:The texture of most Choxie chocolates are very smooth and flat. This allows the designers to imprint colorful designs that come out clear and crisp on the top of individual pieces. Even the chocolate covered espresso beans have a smooth finish. This is much different from an average Hershey or Crunch bar.
Color: My favorite thing about Choxie's products is the color used to catch attention. One way to persuade me to buy a product is simply having good use of color in a design, which seems to make me want the packaging more than whatever it actually contains. The use of vibrant colors makes it stand out. The business also coordinates colors very well. I don't think I've ever seen an ugly box produced by Choxie.
Space: Choxie packaging doesn't really use negative space. The only negative space I could find that was prominent on the box of chocolate espresso beans was the brown lid. The solid brown creates a sense of negative space when contrasted with the positive space underneath it. The individual chocolates in this photo show a balance of positive and negative space through the designs imprinted on the tops. These designs wouldn't look good unless they had at least some negative space between the elements.
Shape and form:Choxie utilizes both shape and form in its packaging. It uses shape by creating designs imprinted on the box or chocolates. It uses form by the way the boxes are actually shaped. The box of espresso beans is not just a regular box; rather, it is more of a cone. Since this is not in a regular shape, it helps to stand out from any other box-shaped products. Choxie also uses hatbox shaped items and other geometric forms to stand out from its competition.
Gestalt principles: Choxie uses the laws of similarity, proximity, pragnanz, continuity and closure. Items of similar shape and size are grouped together on the packaging and individual chocolates. They are very simple forms, such as circles connecting to other circles. They also follow a path (i.e. the swirling pattern on the individual pieces). The differences in circular patterns also add to the law of closure. It's also shown on the domino-like pattern on the blue and black and-white chocolates above.
Below are a couple other designs I felt fit these principles.
Examples of bad design
This Web site is the raw form of what could be replacing our Dixie Sun Link Web site.
Balance:This Web site tries to use an asymmetrical balance to make different items stand out, such as the Utah News Channel and the placements of the two vertical navigation bars. If the Web site would have been created with three columns instead of four it would have been more properly balanced.
Contrast: Overall this site doesn't have a lot of good contrast. Most of the colors are dull and dark, with the occasional bright, random color.
Line: One of the only things I did like about this Web site was its use of lines. It uses horizontal lines to separate the different stories and vertical lines to draw the eye up to the icons. The horizontal line on the top of the page cuts the image off from the rest of the splash page, which is OK.
Texture: The attempt of texture is used on the top of the page with the Dixie rock. The image is created into an almost animated version of the actual mountain by the pixilated dots.
Color:I hate the colors. The colors look very simple and childish. They also downplay the seriousness of the Web site since they look like something any very, very beginning Web design person would pick out of clip art.
Space: There is a lot of negative space right now since the Web site is not up and running yet. Once it is running, the white space will be filled with broadcasts and text. There is also a lot of negative space with the blue horizontal navigation bar.
Shape and form:The shapes are very simple. You have the simple looking sun for the weather, boxes for news, and boxes to separate the different elements of the page. Although I'm OK with the different boxes separating the stories, I do not like the shapes used for the icons.
Gestalt principles:Since the Web site is in the very beginning stages, it does not meet most of the Gestalt principles. There are a couple laws it does meet, such as the law of similarity and the law of continuity. The law of similarity is shown through the grouping of similar shaped boxes to separate the stories, through the different navigation bars and through the grouping of icons. The law of continuity is shown on the top with the Dixie rock that continues horizontally in both directions.
**Side note** Utahnews.ch is in the very beginning stages of design. I took a very critical look at this design, but mean not to hurt any feelings. The design will be changing if the Web site is approved.
