Design is a visual language. Using recognizable symbols eases that communication and helps your audience make quick associations. Those associations, however, are influenced by our experiences. For instance, I see maple leaf and think rich, amber syrup for my pancakes; my boyfriend sees that same leaf and thinks all things Canadian. What do you think of when you see exploding clocks and reordered numbers? I hope something to do with time. I was asked to design a flyer promoting an upcoming workshop on timeline management and visually express the stress people experience with time. This Alaska-based wellness center wanted a simple design which relied on graphics and minimal text. My solution was to take time and explode it…starting with cascading clocks at different angles filling someone’s head, a list of to-dos and an explosion of numbers. I kept it somewhat controlled so there was order among the potential chaos -varying size and proximity, and chose yellow to contrast the black, which is also seen as a hopeful color, the font for the numbers is traditional and legible, and the contact information very orderly at the bottom of the page. Quick design, great turn-out.
