Creative Investigations (due by 3/30, now due 4/6)
Some designers will create a process book that includes creative investigations or "mood boards" to explore themes, colors, typography, imagery, layout possibilities and more. These creative investigations are the birthplace and playground for design ideas that will ultimately inform your design comps. Investigate the following:
- Wireframes / Layout / Grids
- Color
- Typography
- Imagery
- Textures/Backgrounds
- Screenshots from websites or scans of print designs (that provide stylistic or structural inspiration similar to the "mood" you are looking for/want to emulate)
For your team project, each individual/team member is expected to explore at least 3 out the topics above (and the team is responsible for having evidence of all of them). The investigations should explore creative possibilities within the context of your project goals, strategy, and planning. Ideally, the investigations will allow you to cross-compare creative options (such as varying typefaces and styles, varying color ideas, etc.) to find the ideas that best reflect your communication objectives.
Document your creative investigations in your sketchblog (insert images or provide links to JPGs, PDFs, or other files). You can do each investigation separately, or combine them into a master mood board or style tile.
Creative Investigation Resources
Grids
- Grids_Are_Good (PDF)
- Five simple steps to designing grid systems — Mark Boulton
- Designing With Grid-Based Approach - Smashing Magazine
- 960 GS
- Fluid 960 Grid System | 16-column Grid
- The Grid System
- Grid Designer 2
- Gridding the 960 ~ Authentic Boredom
- Design By Grid | Home
- Grid System Generator
Image/Stock Resources
- Comp Fight (Flickr Search)
- Unsplash (free unique photos)
- Freeimages.com (free stock photos)
- Pixabay.com (free stock images)
- Finda.photo (free stock photos)
- Visual Hunt.com (free stock images)
- Blue Vertigo (stock photos, fonts, and other resources)
- iStockPhoto (cheap, high quality stock)
- Adobe Stock (cheap, high quality stock)
Color Resources
Textures and Patterns
- SubtlePatterns.com
- Squidfingers Patterns
- Textures and Patterns Design Showcase (article)
- 20 Great Examples of Textures and Patterns (article)
Compare Fonts, Learn About Typography
- TypeTester.org
- TypeCast
- Web Fonts Gallery
- The Web Font Awards
- Typekit Blog
- Typographica
- Thinking With Type
- CSS Font Sampler and Survey
- Font Matrix
Fonts and Web Font Hosting Services
- Google Web Fonts (free web fonts and font hosting)
- Adobe Edge Fonts (web fonts from Adobe)
- Typekit (huge library of great fonts, varying pricing options for commercial fonts)
- Font Squirrel (free fonts for commercial use)
- The League of Moveable Type (open source web fonts)
- Fonts.com
- Fonts Live
- Font Spring
- Web Ink
- Font Deck
- Dafont.com