Ancient Secret of Design Revealed!

Posted by Anthony Stuart on 4 November 2011

I'm going to take a lot of heat from the Designer's Guild for this, but here it is, the most closely guarded secret of design:

Do Less.

Whenever any of us create anything, we wonder, "Is this good enough? Does it give people enough information? Will other people (clients, coworkers, friends, etc.) like it?" We can't help our insecure human nature – we keep making changes, adding final touches, making revisions, and in the end, we over-complicate. Here’s my advice: Be confident, and be brutal. Look at your work, subtract elements, and keep subtracting until it doesn't work at all. Then add one element back in. Voila! A wise man (Jim McVicar) once told me, "If you want to sell bananas, sometimes the best approach is a big sign that says "BANANAS!"

Let's look at a simple scenario. Let's even assume you aren't a designer. You're a helpful office worker who has been notified that the photocopier is out of order. Let's make a sign! 

Oh dear. Look familiar? Even if the only application you have for sign making is Microsoft Word, we can use the Ancient Secret of Design™ to do a little better then this.

1. Remove the clip-art, since we all know your office mates will try to use the photocopier and they will be puzzled that it doesn't work, so we don't need the “Clip-art Question Man.” He’s patronizing.
2. Remove the word “Photocopier” since the sign will be on the photocopier. 
3. Lastly, use simple black and maybe ALL CAPS instead of bright green and a mix of upper and lower case. Why? Because like any other element, you should ask yourself, “does color make my message more clear?” In this case, a light green could make it harder to read, so it's out.

Voila! Clean, professional and clear. Now, if I was doing this with all the tools at my disposal, I might take 5 minutes and use a dark color that matches our corporate look-and-feel to draw attention with white text in the same font as our website copy. I would even take the extra step and mount it on a piece of art board and make it so it stands on its own instead of taping it. And, instead of “Out of Order”, I might write something that is just as simple, but funnier (I’m pretty funny.)

If you're thinking something as small as this doesn't matter – I can tell you, people notice these things. Design, big or small, adds to the overall perception of your brand. This is an example at the most basic level, but how you present yourself always counts, whether it's a sign saying the toilet is broken or a million-dollar national campaign.

Be Rational. Write Rationales.

Ok, this is a little more specific to people in the industry, but I think the theory can still be applied to many other creative processes. Before you present any design to a client, write a detailed rational on why you did everything the way you did. If there are elements of your design that you really hadn't thought about, this is your chance to think, reflect, and possibly make some changes so that what you present in the end is designed with purpose.

After 12 years, I still write rationales for almost every piece of design, and there is rarely an element placed without a purpose. If I realize while writing a rationale that I don't quite agree with my own reasoning, it’s another chance to simplify. If I'm not quite sure if I like something, I remove it. "When in doubt, it's out!" (I've had three coffees while writing this, I'm full of little quotes.)

A Footnote on Fonts

Never use Comic Sans. Ever. There's more to it obviously, but fonts are a beast of their own. In brief, never stretch a font horizontally or vertically, be wary of using any font heavy on the serifs for large titles, and when in doubt, use the simplest font in your library. For all my love of fonts, for my simple example sign created in Word, I used Helvetica. You'll never embarrass yourself with Helvetica.

In closing

I'd like to share a quote that I recite in my head every time I design, write, or do anything creative:

First Draft - 20% = Final Draft
An unnamed editor from Stephen King's book, On Writing.

Until next time.