Help with a school project...

[maz]

So I have to give a relatively-short presentation for my public speaking class next Tuesday. In it we have to basically give a lesson for ten minutes about any subject we want. I chose either "Elements of Graphic Design" or "Elements of Good vs Bad Graphic Design" (the professor wants us to be very specific). For the first one I was going to explain a few basic areas of design, such as colors, but I wasn't sure what else was worth noting there. For the second one I was going to explain what goes into a good design, and then since we need to have a visual aid and audience participation, show some recognizable logos that have been stripped of any words and other elements and seeing if people can still guess what they are to show the power of a well-designed logo to implant itself into one's memory without them knowing.

However, in the way of resources into either subject, whether they be about general design or good design, I figured the best place to look was here. So guys, can you give me some places that would be good research for my topic? I know there's old google, but I figured you guys would have some real gems that google wouldn't find.

Thanks!

[pittsburghsports16]

Your best bet is to definitely go with the second one in my opinion. Some quick suggestions for good design would be the "Nike" logo (so simple yet so iconic), the NY Yankees logo (most recognizable insignia in sports), and some logos that have meaningful elements hidden inside them like the Fleur-de-bee and the Ball-in-Glove logo. For some bad design, maybe showcase some non-sports logo incidents in there. Range from logos that are boring (Windows), showcase a loss of identity (ebay or yahoo's recent changes), and trying to do too much (arby's and their 3d nonsense). Now of course, since this is oral communication, you don't just want to be creating a presentation the whole time. Try to make visual/audience participation aspect down to about 2-3 minutes. Also, just because this specific topic would be about "Good vs. Bad Design", that doesn't mean you can't introduce what the elements of graphic design are. Maybe combine both of your ideas? That's all I got for now, good luck.

[Cosmic]

I think the whole "Good Design/Bad Design" thing is way too subjective. I already disagree with half of the examples in the post above. I think nailing down general bullet points of what makes something good or bad is just about impossible to do, especially in a 10 minute presentation.

I would head back towards that "Elements of Graphic Design" direction. I was thinking maybe a sort of "subliminal meaning" presentation. Not like Yvan Eht Nioj, but you could talk about negative space (there's a thread in this section). I think it would cool to show the class that Australian yoga logo, for example, and see if people can see the use of negative space. There's color psychology, like the color of pills, colors of food, color and mood, etc. Look at what happened with the purple and blue ketchup.

[maz]

crlach, that is pretty much what i had in mind and am going to do. Basically, I'm thinking of outlining two or three different ways graphic designers make things that affect us mentally through memory or other things (color psychology is in interesting idea). Thanks for the ideas.