The title of the second chapter of Aaron Walter’s book is Designing for Humans. This chapter discusses what we as humans find attractive or beautiful and how we make emotional connections to things we find beautiful. One of the most interesting things that Walter talks about is how we are hardwired to find the same things visually appealing. He discusses the golden ratio and how we naturally look for things that are proportioned like ourselves. I found this very interesting because I never really considered why I personally think some designs are beautiful and some are not. That is looking at the proportions and layout rather than just the color scheme or pictures. It definitely gave me a new way to start looking at designs.

One thing that I did not really agree with in this chapter was his use of Ricardo Mestra’s web site as an example of great design. Although his approach to his portfolio was unique and organic. I found the design way too busy and hard to follow. It almost looks as if he didn’t know what he wanted to focus on for the website. There are so many colors and word bubbles that you don’t even know where to look first. It is a different approach and very creative, but I think it needs a little more organization.

I am looking forward to learning in class how to utilize the golden ratio and other concepts in my future designs. I’ve always struggled with making things turn out the way I see them in my head and I hope that this class will help me improve on that.

Originally posted at Mary Morton- PR Publications Course