Workshop

Put What You've Learned Into Practice


Learning is best reinforced by actively practicing skills, so now let's put into practice what this guide discussed. This workshop should help you get a feel for determining which aspects of your own designs are included for usability, and which are for aesthetics.


Part 1: Design


Design the front of 3 individual business cards for the pediatric dentist Adventure Dental.


  1. The first card should only consider usability. Make the card as useful as possible, but do not attempt to style it visually in any way to add to its appearance.
    • Who is the intended audience for the card? Is it the children? Is it the parents?
    • A business card is very small and cannot fit much content. What is the most important information for the reader to know? What is the purpose of the card?
  2. The second card should only consider aesthetics. Go insane with your inner creativity! Don't worry if it's barely readable.
    • The business has a specific and cultivated brand. How will you convey their intended image?

    Now stop. Think about what each card does well and what each card lacks. What did you have to stop yourself from doing that you would normally include in a design? How difficult was it to separate the two concepts?


  3. The third business card should take both usability and visual design into account and find the correct balance between the two.

Part 2: Write


After creating the design for your business cards, write an explanation for the third card, detailing the difference between how the card looks and how it works. Which design choices were made for usability and which were made for visual design?


You should discuss the:

By paying close attention and analyzing your own design decisions, you should have gained a deeper understanding of what usability and visual design are, and how they must both work in harmony.


Now go forth with your new knowledge and create useful, beautiful things!

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