After casting my ballot this morning at the polls, I was reminded of a real life example of the importance of good design. During the 2000 election, there was a very large debate about the use of the “Butterfly Ballot” in Palm Beach County and whether the terrible ballot layout changed the course of the election that year. Aaron pointed me to an article on the Presentation Zen site, which provides some great information on this seemingly simple design problem.
At its core, graphic design is all about using a visual language to communicate information. The Palm Beach County ballot is a great example in support of the importance of quality design. Good designers are trained to find new, innovative, creative, and CLEAR ways to present information to people. They take into account the audience that they are designing for and carefully research what the needs of that audience might be. A failure to do so is a fundamental failure in the design process. This quote from David Kelley, founder of IDEO, looks at this from the product design angle:
“Bad design is where the customer thinks it’s their fault that something doesn’t work. So, if you can’t make your GPS device work in your car — I mean, there should be a riot because they’re so poorly designed! Instead, the user thinks, ‘Oh, I’m not very smart, I can’t make this GPS thing work.’ People should demand more from the things they own; they need to demand that things work.”
– David Kelley, IDEO
We can all learn a lesson from the poor ballots of 2000 and try to make sure that we use visual elements and design to help clearly communicate our message and not take away from it. Try thinking about this the next time you put a PowerPoint presentation together. In addition to the great information Aaron and Amber provide, I’ve written some thoughts on design that might give some more suggestions and I encourage you to post your ideas in the comments!
Oh, and don’t forget to vote today (and be sure and double check that ballot, just in case!)
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Tags: design, Design for Presentations and Publications, Presentation Trends and Tricks
