By OCI
Many people think that graphic designers are very artistic people who might choose to use a flower in a design because it was pretty, bathe everything in a design in light blue because that’s their favorite color or use lots of patterns just because they’re fun. Unfortunately, more and more designers are stuck on this path. Truly great design, however, comes from very little of that creative, free spirit and instead comes mostly from careful, measured and highly analytical solutions to complex problems.
While it can appear to be fun and tempting to let your spirit run free and get as creative as you possibly can, we’re going to look at five good reasons why it’s much better to be thoughtful about your design, or expect the same from your designer.
Benefit #1: It’s Easier to Get Started!
All creatives know the worst thing you can possibly look at is a blank white page or be given a project with no boundaries – especially when you are first developing a brand. Thinking through your design and being analytical will force your design work into a design arena. If you’re working on an automotive client, you know there are certain things are not appropriate: hoop skirts, rusty nails, lipstick. Analyzing what is appropriate for this industry and what is not helps your mind to create a “feel” for what you can create. Once you follow through with this, you will have created a concept that will represent a very carefully thought out visual representation of your brand and it’s place in the industry. At this point, you can then choose to “break” the rules you’ve established. Maybe a hoop skirt could be used in an ad or brochure for an automotive company because their brand is trying to communicate being unexpected. The benefit at this point is that you’ve thought through it. You’ve established an environment and rules that you are consciously breaking-so when you do, you will do it expertly.
Benefit #2: It’s Easier to Explain to Clients
There are many times when you’re rushing a project out the door and you need to use a color for the background of the website so you just pick a color that looks nice and run with it. Then you show it to the client and they don’t like it or ask why you chose it… Uh oh… The last thing you want to say is, “Hey, I just grabbed something.” Instead, if you’ve carefully thought through all of your actions and choices, you can answer this question with ease. This also fills your client and audience with confidence in your choices (and their choice in you), and they will be much less likely to start making arbitrary changes. For example, after creating a well-thought out design, a client might still ask why you chose light blue (for example), for the background. Your reply this time would probably be something along the lines of: “We are trying to create an airy feeling without it being too warm. We also have a lot of dark rich images that we want to really stand out along with the logo, and light blue was the best choice to meet these objectives.” When it sounds like a good, solid decision, it’s easy to explain and harder to argue with.
Benefit #3: Finished Design Has More of an Impact
We’ve all seen designs that seem like conglomerations of random elements that have all been stuck together as well as designs where every single element seems to be working together for the same goal. Which one grabs your attention? A strong design, where every element was thought through and is working harmoniously with the ones around it, creates a final piece that commands attention and presents itself in the most professional and high-quality manner.
Benefit #4: Longer Shelf Life
When thinking through your designs and analyzing your choices you are much more likely to make good decisions for your clients and their projects and are much LESS likely to just stick to design trends and fads. Many people use trends and fads as a replacement for thinking through a design. The downside of fads is usually within a year or two the design starts looking old and out of style. A well-thought out design will avoid using trends and fads just for the sake of using them and will therefore last a great deal longer.
Benefit #5: Easy to Take the Design to Other Media
Sometimes you design a printed brochure very quickly, it gets approved, and then you’re in need of a website. But the brochure you designed will not visually transfer to a website very easily so you spend a great deal of time trying to fit it in and make it work while causing yourself a great deal of stress and heartache. However, if you’ve thoughtfully created the brochure, you know what each element is for, how it is supposed to be used and how it should be translated to other media. You quickly can see the hierarchy of elements as well, making it easier to decided what needs to be omitted or included.
As you can see, thoughtful design not only has five strong benefits, it also makes the whole design process easier initially and in the future. If anybody’s got some examples of some poorly thought out designs or really well though out designs, post them in the comments. We’d love to see them!
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Tags: Graphic Design, Thinking, Top 5
One of the main things to keep in mind when thinking through your designs is how well each element of your design is communicating with your target audience. The purpose of a brochure or website or poster is to communicate a sales message to a specific audience. Effectively communicating the message of your marketing campaign with your target audience should be foremost in your mind when taking stock of your design at every stage.