Designers are faced with the challenge of communicating through a visual medium.
In addition to having to communicate a message to the viewer– or target audience–
a designer wants his output to be unique, creative, and effective. Consistency
Design is not always being the most unique in what has been created; no, Consistency
Design is taking analyzing the strengths and weakness in a piece and continuing
to use those strengths in related work.
Corporate Identity is a perfect example of where a designer would benefit from
Consistency Design. The logo will (or should) appear on everything a company
creates, including internal documents. Attaining a consistent representation
of the company and effectively branding a company requires close attention to
Consistency Design. When viewed as a whole all of a company’s visual communications
should have Gestalt– unified and cohesive.
A Leg To Stand On
This might seem like a tangent, but it all comes back to Consistency Design.
The new iMac was released today, and, when seeing it for the first time, I
realized there was something vaguely familiar. The design is not the most unique,
there was something working for it.
The base, I realized, was almost exactly the same as the Cinema Displays. The
designers took a great way of attaching a screen to a base and incorporated
it in to an updated product. The products are also consistent in that they correlate
with the other products in their product line. The iMac is white, which identifies
it with the iPod and iBook, also know as the consumer line. The Cinema Display
is aluminum just like the PowerMac and PowerBook, also known as the professional
line.
This use of Consistency Design helps shoppers identify with the products. It
segregates them between the consumer electronics and professional equipment.
Consistency Design is visual organization through use of hierarchy. Consistency
Design aids in effective communication, and we should use it.