Everyday Design

Everything in the world that isn't nature is designed--boxes, pencils, handrails, pretzels, thumbtacks, carpet, etc. Every item was designed with some motive; either function, form, or some ratio of the two. Every time an Apple product is launched it's lauded as a paragon of design but everyday items are often overlooked as pieces of design. Sometimes it's the inconspicuousness of an object, as design, that makes at a truly remarkable design feat.

Dollar Bill

Currency has a remarkable burden as piece of design. It has to establish confidence with the person using it that it's more than a piece of paper. Part of the psychology of the value of a currency is based on tradition. This is why currency from other countries often seems less valuable when you're holding it. It's easier to see another country's currency as a piece of paper because it doesn't hold the same inveterate connotations of value as your home currency does.

But in order to establish a tradition the currency must first be designed in a way that is imbued with an inherent austerity. This establishes the credibility of a currency. The monochromatic design coupled with the bold, transitional font, and portrait of George Washington have become symbols of both positive and negative aspects of the country. The design of the dollar bill is parodied as a shortcut for greed and alluded to in a design to portray an aura of credibility. The versatility and symbolism of the design are what make it stand out.

Photo courtesy Kt Ann

Road signs are designed to be unambiguous. The function of a road sign is paramount in it's design. A stop sign has to come across as bold and direct; signally to drivers to stop. This is done by, partly, by convention. The current incarnation of the stop sign was agreed upon by the Vienna Convention of Road Signals and Signs in 1968¹. This accounts for the uniformity among stop signs globally. The design power of the stop sign comes from the color, though--the pure, unambiguous stop sign red is synonymous with halt; don't move. There are a lot of connotations that associated with the color red; however, "stop" isn't inherent. It's an affect of the color; but it's so ingrained that "stop" and "red" are unable to be separated from each other. The other effective stylistic choice of the stop sign is the font. It's a simple, white grotesque font. It's bold and easily read from far away because it's in all caps and the octagonal shape easily differentiates the stop signs from any other road sign.

Photo courtesy Rob Shenk

The tombstone is another design that is simple, yet instantly identifiable. There are, of course, a plethora of tombstone designs but essentially they are all just engraved pieces of rock. The rectangular shape of the tombstone, with the rounded top, is a shape that's synonymous with death. The font on the tombstone pictured above along with many early grave-markers use a early incarnation of the grotesque family of fonts. 

Photo courtesy Bruno Girin

The nutrition facts on food labeling are another piece of design that's made uniform by convention. Every single piece of commercially sold food in America has the nutrition facts located somewhere on it. The ethics of food packaging dictate that nutritional information about food be easily accesible and easily understood. This is done with the Helvetica font, uniform in every product, strongly delineated information, and clear columns. The color of the Nutrition facts is most often a white background with black font but the coloring is at the discretion of the manufacturer and is sometimes colored to match the rest of the packaging.

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