Thoughts On: The Vignelli Canon

I feel like I learn something new in this class every week. I took a read through the Vignelli Canon expecting to read yet another bland article, but I was surprised by the creativity that was shared.

The biggest part of this booklet that stuck out to me was when the author talked about the use of fonts and spacing in books. I had to literally stop and think about it for a moment. After thinking about it for a moment, I began to grab various books that were in my room; textbooks, on-line articles, guide books, novels, and a few more books were grabbed from around my room. I began to take a look at how things were sectioned off to reveal importance or in some books they were sectioned off to go off on a separate tangent. Seeing how fonts were arranged was also interesting, especially with how they were centered on the page.

Another thing that I found interesting in the article was the idea of scale. Scale is something that I actually look for, especially since I am a builder. The fact that he stated that it is something that must be continually tweaked for each instance it is used was something I can really agree with. Usually, scale is important because it allows certain things to be examined more closely or it can lessen the importance of some things. It really made me think as I considered the scale of certain builds I have made.

Color was also another aspect that he touched on that I had to agree with. As I stated in my design blitz, I found that color itself was capable of conveying certain messages that everyone could relate to. For example, something that is suppose to be scary is typically not going to use rainbow colors (unless it is a clown). Likewise, happiness it typically not conveyed through dark and scary colors. In some ways, the omission of color tells us a lot. For example, when someone wants to design something that appears to be from the past, they might use black/white color scheme or a sepia like color scheme.

Texture is also another concept that I found interesting. His points on the differences between smooth and rough textures is something that I really found important in design. Again, as a builder, when I designed a cliff or a rocky pass, certain pieces helped create that texture of rockiness. If I had not had used those pieces, the space would have come out smooth, which was not what I was looking for. It is something very important that needs to be examined when designing something.

These were some of the biggest concepts that really stuck out to me. I hope you enjoyed the read!

Let me know what you think!