Research - Collaborative - Rules - OUGD503

Vignellis Canon 

Whilst considering the group discussion on how we can approach the brief and how we ourselves perceive it, it became clear to look at the rules we were taught when first arriving at university, the books we were given to read and how we felt about them. One of the main examples that was mentioned was Vignellis Canon, a book we had all been told to read on numerous occasions and something that is revered as some sort of design Bible, though we all read it at the time, each member of the team agreed it didn't really change the way they wanted to design, as well we came to the conclusion that Vignelli crushes creativeness in a way, claiming that it must be design driven straight forward and subtle, which does mute creative styles and methods of production. 

Further thinking about Vignelli, and considering the concept of the project it became clear that the so called rules in the canon are rules we have all broken or not considered whilst designing as this is our style and to follow these rules would mean changing our style and not following creativeness, these rules that we have broken can be looked at closer in detail, with each rule being documented and broken on the page, this could work well as content for the poster.

As a group we considered, looking at the individual rules and seeing if we could choose three, each rule being the theme of each poster. We began by re-reading the canon and taking quotes from it and seeing if we could utilise the rules into themes.


- 'Choose the proper size of type in relation to the width of a column: 8 on 9, 9 on 10, 10 on 11 for columns upto 70 mm, 12 on 13, 14 on 16 for columns up to 140 mm and 16 on 18, 18 on 20 for longer columns.'

- " We do not like the use of type as a decorative element and we are horrified by any type deformation"

- 'It is essential that design is imbued with visual strength and unique presence to achieve its purpose.'

- 'Visual strength can be achieved also by using delicate layouts or materials'

- 'Appropriateness directs us to the right kind of media, the right kind of materials, the right kind of scale, the right kind of  expression, colour and texture.'

- 'No matter what the solution must be appropriate' 

- 'Design without discipline is anarchy' 

- 'Good design is never boring, only bad design is' 

- 'Semantics for me, is the search for the meaning of wherever we have to design'

- 'Semantics Eventually become an essential part of the designers being a crucial component of the natural process of designers and the obvious point of departure for design'

- 'Mies, my great mentor said "God is in the detail" that is the essence of syntax: The discipline that controls the proper use of grammar in the construction of phrases and the articulation of a language, design.'

- 'Syntactic consistency is of paramount importance in graphic design, as it is in all human endeavours'

- 'Whatever we do, if not understood, fails to communicate and is wasted effort'

- 'We like design to be intellectually elegant, that means elegance of the mind, not one of the manners, elegance that is the opposite of vulgarity'

- 'We desire that culture of obsolescence. We feel the moral imperative of designing things that will last a long time'

- 'Attention to details requires discipline. There is no room for sloppiness, for carelessness, for procrastination'

- ' Design without discipline is anarchy, an exercise of irresponsibility'

- 'Contradiction can sometimes reinforce ambiguity, but more often it is a sign of discontinuity and lack of control'

- 'Ambiguity and contradiction can enrich a project but can equally sink the end results.'

With the concept of bending and breaking the rules the quotes can be used as a parody of themselves, the quotes can feature in the poster design though the rule is not being used, for example having a poster which has no design discipline though it has vignellis quote on discipline as content.