Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
Design as a System
The vast majority of designed works—printed, interactive, and en-
vironmental—are systematic in nature; the existence of a single-format, one-off design
piece is exceedingly rare. A web-site, for example, consists of multiple pages that in-
teract; consider, too, the pages of a topic in sequence, all of which must relate to each
other, as well as to the exterior of the topic as an object itself. Most publications are pro-
duced serially—meaning that new issues are produced periodically, as with magazines
or newsletters—or sequentially—meaning that they are either a family of separate, but
related, items that are produced all together, or that they are individual publications
whose information is augmented or supported at different times, such as families or
series of brochures. Advertising campaigns, too, are systematic: a single format might
be used serially, placed in sequential issues of a magazine, or the ads within a campaign
might appear simultaneously in multiple publications, but in different formats—single
page, double-page spread, half-page vertical or horizontal, and so on. Even environ-
mental design work is systematic in that it addresses the integration of information and
visual experience among multiple spaces, for example, the exterior and entry lobby of
a building, a set of exhibit spaces, or public areas such as restaurants, shopping cen-
ters, or mass transit stations.
Because of this aspect, a designer's understanding of the
