the art of lying just beyond the edge of respectability

Learning a Design Vocabulary

Posted January 01, 2010 in General | Comments 2

I have been searching high a low for a book that summarizes the language of commercial graphic/digital design. Anyone working in the professional design world will recognize the importance of communicating your ideas succinctly and effectively.

Despite what you may have learned in school, your work will NOT always speak for itself. Successful GUI designers have a fundamental understanding of iconography and semiotics, but the ability to verbalize your practice doesn't always come naturally. I should also mention that this isn't a topic relegated to just design theorists. Creative Directors, Art Directors, Account Managers and Marketing Professionals all benefit from the ability to accurately verbalize visual concepts in a contemporary context. Often times I find myself reduced to using the same exhausted cache of terms.

When communicating your visual concepts to clients or coworkers, your vocabulary says a lot about you as a professional. Being able to defend your approach, or reinforce your understanding of a project is key. Your language is one of your most important tools. As an interaction designer I try to avoid derivative design metaphors whenever possible. But stopping short of opening a thesaurus and memorizing clever synonyms, I decided to do some hunting for a book on this subject. I figured there are plenty of books on time management, resume writing, and even professional grooming practices - so why wouldn't there be a book on design language?

As it turned out, this is somewhat of a grey area. In some of my research, I realized that the topic of visual design speak is primarily reserved for academic publications. This makes sense, especially on a collegiate level, but I was looking for something more applicable to the commercial art world. In short, I was seeking a collection of practical design synonyms.

I did uncover a book by Michael Clarke which takes a decidedly more academic approach to the topic of visual design and verbal communication. The title of Clarke’s book is: Verbalising the Visual: Translating Art and Design into Words.

The organization of content in this book is cleverly color coded, and it does boast a substantial collection of artwork (from product design to graffiti). Purchasing information for this book is available at the bottom of the post.

While I haven't found a silver bullet (I've even considered collecting a database of terminology on my own), Clarke's book is a decent start. Since the topic of "design-speak" is a bit nebulous, I'm fairly confident that a definitive work isn't widely available yet. Still, if anyone knows of a resource that they would like to share which benefited them in some way - by all means I would love to see it. I'm quickly exhausting my clever adjectives.

Purchasing Information

Clarke's book can be purchased from AVA Academia online Purchase Verbalising the Visual: Translating Art and Design into Words

Share This Post

             

Comments

Comment on this entry