Invisible Intersections: Connecting the disconnected.
Last Update: Mon Mar 4th 2024
• What is Design, what is this article
• Helvetica and Parkades
• Bullet hell patterns and graphic design of secure features
• The Hardcore scene and RC enthusiasts. (Hobbies and Cultural Niche)
A. Preface
In this article, I use a broad design framework to talk about how design can bridge concepts, people and disciplines.
From the outside, design may just be shapes on a page. On the inside, design is the system that determines which shapes go on which pages, or how a page is shaped, or which information tells the page which shape to be. In other words, design spans the broad big picture and creates rhythm for the pieces falling into place. It’s not much different from art, but we look at design in a dry climate. An objective climate, that lasts for at least a moment. Regardless of project or brief, design has two main goals. Reduce complexity, and communicate clearly.
Study 1: Helvetica and Parkades
What does a font and a parking garage have in common? Nothing. And everything.
Helvetica is similar to parkades in the way that they are both responses to modernism, and products of their environment. Both are designed to reflect their situations. This means that for Helvetica, it could be letting the messaging and imagery of the ad shine, and for a parkade it could be letting the driver know how full or empty it is.