How to learn good design in 6 steps
We eliminate the subjectivity of opinions.
My very first post on Medium left a comment to which I wanted to give a detailed answer. The reader noted that design is a subjective thing, and asked if anyone tried to formalize the principles of good design. Then I thought, "Why not try?"
Since this all started.
The question consists of two parts, the first is the statement that the design is subjective. Personally, I do not agree with this approach, but I understand where his legs grow from: people tend to mix design and art, and therefore the properties of one often transfer to the properties of another.
')
Art is subjective, it is a game in which there are almost no rules. Design is another matter, the fact that someone can make for him a list of principles already says that there are certain rules in this game. And if there are rules, then you can judge whether they were used or not, therefore, the design is not subjective. But, honestly, I can not say that the design is 100% objective: there are always things that relate to personal preferences, determined by your culture and experience.
The presence of a small subjectivity does not mean that you can not distinguish a good design from a bad one. It only means that you may find a good design to be ugly, or, on the contrary, you may like a rather lousy design. Let's look at an example.
The famous Juicy Salif juicer from Philippe Starck
I think almost everyone will agree that this is a stylish design, the main question is - is it good?
Nope
Why? Because he has so many functional problems that I won't even list them (just go to Amazon and read the reviews, there are a lot of interesting and funny, or read this ). In short, he does not cope with what he was intended for, does not help squeeze the juice.
We conclude that an attractive appearance is not equal to good design. To help you look deeper in appearance, I have compiled a list of 6 principles that you can use to distinguish good design from bad. There are many nuances in the principles, I will dwell on each in detail.
Based on the mentioned juicer, you already guess what will be the first ...
1. Is design effective?
The design is created to eliminate the existing problem. An inconvenient website, a product for a specific audience or a new business that requires a logo - anything can become a problem.
This is the first point by which one can judge whether the design is good or bad. If it does not solve the problem, then you should not go further - this is a bad design. No matter how good he looks, he does not solve the problem for which he was created.
According to my observations, it is this point that causes most of the friction between the designer and customers or superiors. Designers begin to work without a sufficient understanding of the problem, try to do something cool that will look beneficial in their portfolio. They forget that design is created not for solving their problems, but for people.
In order for the design to be effective, it is important to understand and feel the same thing as the customer or user. Starting a job, ask yourself the question “Why?” Until you realize the real purpose for which your design is needed. Sometimes a client comes to you with one request, but by asking a few questions, you understand that he needs a completely different one. Only after that you can be sure that you are helping in solving this problem.
If your design is effective, you can proceed to the next item.
To evaluate the tone or not, you first need to understand two things: the brand and the audience.
The brand
The term “brand” is usually applied to a business, but it is not limited to this. Many things have a brand, for example, each of us has a brand. Your brand is how you are perceived by others. The same applies to companies and everything else.
Good design allows the company to manage its brand, change public opinion to coincide with the ideal image of the company.
Lecture hall
The target audience of the company can vary from immensely broad masses to a very small niche. If you know what image the company seeks and for whom the design is created, it remains to be decided what is right for them?
In general, the wider the audience, the clearer and simpler the design should be. Therefore, you can see how many companies lose their “soulfulness” as they grow. This happens because some design techniques that work for small niches are not suitable for a large audience, they are sacrificed to attract more people. On the other hand, when your audience is smaller and more specific, such pieces attract people.
This can be seen by comparing McDonalds with a local burger. They sell one product, but in different ways.
Byronhamburgers
The local burgernaya uses modern design solutions, attracting people who follow the novelties, take a look at the funny illustrations on the Byron website. On the other side of the scale, McDonald's, which communicates with customers in a more accessible form, addresses the general public, without identifying anyone and not rejecting anyone.
Mcdonalds
In short, in order to understand whether your design corresponds to this item, you need to know the appropriate tone and whether the design reflects it successfully (conveys). If so, then you are one step closer to good design.
Good design is time sensitive. Ideally, everyone wants a timeless design, but it is not always appropriate or necessary. It all depends on the purpose of the design and its life cycle.
For example, if you create a web page for a product that will be replaced or updated within 2 years, it makes sense to use fashion trends to move forward. So your design will look modern, fashionable and relevant. But you need to anticipate the trends and their development. There is nothing worse than being late to ride the wave and be in the position of a catch-up, not a trend maker, just laugh at you.
From another point of view, if we are talking about a logo chosen for years and decades, then, of course, you should avoid unsteady design moves, the shelf life of which will quickly end. Look at the famous Starbucks logo redesign, which shows a tendency to simplify the logo. Conclusion: the simpler the design, the longer it will last.
Iterations of the Starbucks logo for 1971, 1987, 1992, 2011
So, to go through this point, you need to understand the design life cycle and choose the appropriate solution for it.
Does the design fit your life cycle? If so, continue. There are only 3 principles left.
Interference is something that interferes with a person reading or using something. The more noise in the design, the more difficult it is for the client to solve their problem with the help of your design. Usually, complex texts or uncomfortable websites become hindrances.
The case when the text is too small.
You will be surprised to know how many times designers have sacrificed the simplicity of reading and the convenience of the site for its appearance.
It is important to carefully measure the amount of information you want to submit. Avoid overloading information, it only adds interference to the design. To avoid this, you need to very clearly understand what your client or user wants. But most often, even this information needs to be filtered and made more understandable.
“Information richness leads to attentional poverty” - Marty Neumeier
If the design is good, it is invisible. People easily find what they need.
If the design is visible - it is bad.
Great, there are only 2 points left.
According to this principle there is always a lot of discussion and conflicting opinions. They arise because of the subjective nature of the topic - due to the difference of opinions it is difficult to come to a unanimous decision.
Despite this, we will try to get rid of the share of subjectivism. For this you need to learn the principles that make the design visually attractive. They can be found in almost every good design example.
In addition to learning the theory, you should also enrich your visual culture. This can be achieved by considering the design collected by the community of designers on websites and in books. You will notice patterns appearing in good artworks: balanced composition, beautiful typography, clear alignment, amazing color combinations, and many other things.
That's enough to instill good taste in you. And yet this item will always be a little subjective, but since it is only one of 6, it will not prevent you from distinguishing a bad design from a good one. As I said at the beginning, good design should not please everyone.
The next item will be the final one.
If the design has passed the previous 5 points, you already have a very good design, and this item will help you find it among the good, outstanding.
To understand that your design is worth more than the sum of all its parts, you just need to take a closer look. In essence, this happens when an ingenious idea arises from the usual combination of good typography and colors, which raises the design to a completely different level.
FedEx logo (1994)
A simple but elegant example is the FedEx logo. Take a closer look at him. You see, between E and X is a small arrow hidden in negative space. This arrow was conceived as a symbol of the speed and accuracy of the company.
This is what distinguishes good designers from great ones. The good ones rely on technical skills and build the design on the principles (by the way, a computer can be taught this), but the great ones add new data to the equation. I believe that this is creativity.
In a nutshell: good design is not only what is visible to the eye, not only the appearance, it is a combination of thoughtful decisions made with care for the end user or the viewer.
My very first post on Medium left a comment to which I wanted to give a detailed answer. The reader noted that design is a subjective thing, and asked if anyone tried to formalize the principles of good design. Then I thought, "Why not try?"
Since this all started.
The question consists of two parts, the first is the statement that the design is subjective. Personally, I do not agree with this approach, but I understand where his legs grow from: people tend to mix design and art, and therefore the properties of one often transfer to the properties of another.
')
Art is subjective, it is a game in which there are almost no rules. Design is another matter, the fact that someone can make for him a list of principles already says that there are certain rules in this game. And if there are rules, then you can judge whether they were used or not, therefore, the design is not subjective. But, honestly, I can not say that the design is 100% objective: there are always things that relate to personal preferences, determined by your culture and experience.
The presence of a small subjectivity does not mean that you can not distinguish a good design from a bad one. It only means that you may find a good design to be ugly, or, on the contrary, you may like a rather lousy design. Let's look at an example.
The famous Juicy Salif juicer from Philippe Starck
I think almost everyone will agree that this is a stylish design, the main question is - is it good?
Nope
Why? Because he has so many functional problems that I won't even list them (just go to Amazon and read the reviews, there are a lot of interesting and funny, or read this ). In short, he does not cope with what he was intended for, does not help squeeze the juice.
We conclude that an attractive appearance is not equal to good design. To help you look deeper in appearance, I have compiled a list of 6 principles that you can use to distinguish good design from bad. There are many nuances in the principles, I will dwell on each in detail.
Based on the mentioned juicer, you already guess what will be the first ...
1. Is design effective?
The design is created to eliminate the existing problem. An inconvenient website, a product for a specific audience or a new business that requires a logo - anything can become a problem.
This is the first point by which one can judge whether the design is good or bad. If it does not solve the problem, then you should not go further - this is a bad design. No matter how good he looks, he does not solve the problem for which he was created.
According to my observations, it is this point that causes most of the friction between the designer and customers or superiors. Designers begin to work without a sufficient understanding of the problem, try to do something cool that will look beneficial in their portfolio. They forget that design is created not for solving their problems, but for people.
In order for the design to be effective, it is important to understand and feel the same thing as the customer or user. Starting a job, ask yourself the question “Why?” Until you realize the real purpose for which your design is needed. Sometimes a client comes to you with one request, but by asking a few questions, you understand that he needs a completely different one. Only after that you can be sure that you are helping in solving this problem.
If your design is effective, you can proceed to the next item.
2. Does the design reflect the tone correctly?
To evaluate the tone or not, you first need to understand two things: the brand and the audience.
The brand
The term “brand” is usually applied to a business, but it is not limited to this. Many things have a brand, for example, each of us has a brand. Your brand is how you are perceived by others. The same applies to companies and everything else.
Good design allows the company to manage its brand, change public opinion to coincide with the ideal image of the company.
Lecture hall
The target audience of the company can vary from immensely broad masses to a very small niche. If you know what image the company seeks and for whom the design is created, it remains to be decided what is right for them?
In general, the wider the audience, the clearer and simpler the design should be. Therefore, you can see how many companies lose their “soulfulness” as they grow. This happens because some design techniques that work for small niches are not suitable for a large audience, they are sacrificed to attract more people. On the other hand, when your audience is smaller and more specific, such pieces attract people.
This can be seen by comparing McDonalds with a local burger. They sell one product, but in different ways.
Byronhamburgers
The local burgernaya uses modern design solutions, attracting people who follow the novelties, take a look at the funny illustrations on the Byron website. On the other side of the scale, McDonald's, which communicates with customers in a more accessible form, addresses the general public, without identifying anyone and not rejecting anyone.
Mcdonalds
In short, in order to understand whether your design corresponds to this item, you need to know the appropriate tone and whether the design reflects it successfully (conveys). If so, then you are one step closer to good design.
3. Does the design stand the test of time?
Good design is time sensitive. Ideally, everyone wants a timeless design, but it is not always appropriate or necessary. It all depends on the purpose of the design and its life cycle.
For example, if you create a web page for a product that will be replaced or updated within 2 years, it makes sense to use fashion trends to move forward. So your design will look modern, fashionable and relevant. But you need to anticipate the trends and their development. There is nothing worse than being late to ride the wave and be in the position of a catch-up, not a trend maker, just laugh at you.
From another point of view, if we are talking about a logo chosen for years and decades, then, of course, you should avoid unsteady design moves, the shelf life of which will quickly end. Look at the famous Starbucks logo redesign, which shows a tendency to simplify the logo. Conclusion: the simpler the design, the longer it will last.
Iterations of the Starbucks logo for 1971, 1987, 1992, 2011
So, to go through this point, you need to understand the design life cycle and choose the appropriate solution for it.
Does the design fit your life cycle? If so, continue. There are only 3 principles left.
4. Is there a disturbance in your design?
Interference is something that interferes with a person reading or using something. The more noise in the design, the more difficult it is for the client to solve their problem with the help of your design. Usually, complex texts or uncomfortable websites become hindrances.
The case when the text is too small.
You will be surprised to know how many times designers have sacrificed the simplicity of reading and the convenience of the site for its appearance.
It is important to carefully measure the amount of information you want to submit. Avoid overloading information, it only adds interference to the design. To avoid this, you need to very clearly understand what your client or user wants. But most often, even this information needs to be filtered and made more understandable.
“Information richness leads to attentional poverty” - Marty Neumeier
If the design is good, it is invisible. People easily find what they need.
If the design is visible - it is bad.
Great, there are only 2 points left.
5. Is the design visually appealing?
According to this principle there is always a lot of discussion and conflicting opinions. They arise because of the subjective nature of the topic - due to the difference of opinions it is difficult to come to a unanimous decision.
Despite this, we will try to get rid of the share of subjectivism. For this you need to learn the principles that make the design visually attractive. They can be found in almost every good design example.
In addition to learning the theory, you should also enrich your visual culture. This can be achieved by considering the design collected by the community of designers on websites and in books. You will notice patterns appearing in good artworks: balanced composition, beautiful typography, clear alignment, amazing color combinations, and many other things.
That's enough to instill good taste in you. And yet this item will always be a little subjective, but since it is only one of 6, it will not prevent you from distinguishing a bad design from a good one. As I said at the beginning, good design should not please everyone.
The next item will be the final one.
6. 1 + 1 = 3?
If the design has passed the previous 5 points, you already have a very good design, and this item will help you find it among the good, outstanding.
To understand that your design is worth more than the sum of all its parts, you just need to take a closer look. In essence, this happens when an ingenious idea arises from the usual combination of good typography and colors, which raises the design to a completely different level.
FedEx logo (1994)
A simple but elegant example is the FedEx logo. Take a closer look at him. You see, between E and X is a small arrow hidden in negative space. This arrow was conceived as a symbol of the speed and accuracy of the company.
This is what distinguishes good designers from great ones. The good ones rely on technical skills and build the design on the principles (by the way, a computer can be taught this), but the great ones add new data to the equation. I believe that this is creativity.
Final thoughts
In a nutshell: good design is not only what is visible to the eye, not only the appearance, it is a combination of thoughtful decisions made with care for the end user or the viewer.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/334842/
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