OUGD504 - Design for Screen - Erik Spiekermann

Erik Spiekermann, Typomaniac

This talk from Erik Spiekermann on designing for screen, his ways of working and what he might consider to be good practice for digital design. 

The first project that Spiekermann runs through is the redesign of the Redbull Music app. This image is of the app before the redesign, the style, layout, icons all resemble a standard apple app. 

Spiekermann explains that using typography an app can be completely branded. As small screen sizes means logos must be show small this branding through typography insures the user that they know what they are looking at. Alongside this type the use of a red colour for type keeps this constant branding throughout, using singular colours insure consistency throughout the imagery.

Spiekermann also explained these typefaces translate across every range of platform. 

Typography as branding is something that I had never really considered. This method allow an app to be a really small file size that can be opened on any device. 














This project is for an app called ScreenFeeder bringing all social media imput together into a singular place, Spiekermann explains that they were given almost total creative freedom with the project and even the name of the app they came up with. 

Here they have taken a simple illustration from the first drawings and taken the idea into more developed drawings, it is great to see the process of app design explained. 
These small drawings are then taken forward into a more finalised design. 

The choice of green Spiekermann explains is because green apps are not as common and that reds and blues are normally favoured. This page also shows the consideration of the sizes of the app and insuring that the communication is the same across a range of sizes and pixels. 

This shows the final app icon on show. and how it stands out from the rest on screen.

Within the app they have designed another custom typeface that is loosely based on the typewriter font, Spiekermann explains that the younger generation seems to identify with the typewriter font but would have no idea where it comes from. This typeface shows the content in a social media context just through type.

Spiekermann explained that when it comes to drawing out wire-framing that printing out paper phones allows really quick wire-framing drawings at real scale without having to draw a phone each time. Spiekermann is a real spokesperson of good practice concerning clarity, hierarchy of information and typeface appropriation in terms of design on screen.