The Key to Good Design
“Rome wasn’t built in a day”
~ John Heywood
When I first started my journey as a designer, I would always get really excited about a project, proceed to open up photoshop, and then spend the next hour staring at a blank canvas. In the few instances where I built up the courage to make something, I would eventually just give up after being upset with what I had created.
I wanted each piece of my art to be a masterpiece, but I realized that I just wasn’t good enough to execute the ideas in my head. I was going to need to practice. A lot.
But hey, Rome wasn’t built in a day, right? In order to create great art, I needed to teach myself about good design. And seeing as I spent most of my time in university learning about accounting and finance, I wasn’t going to get any help in the classroom.
So I began reaching as much as I could about graphic design, art, typography, layouts, and image manipulation. If you’re interested in how I found sources and reference material to study, check out my article, The Secret To Developing Your Artistic Style, there’s a lot of solid advice there.
I stumbled upon the idea of design thinking. While I’m not going to dive into design thinking in this article, I will credit it as my gateway to learning the secret of good design. Through my research, I learned that solving complex design problems involves iteration. A lot of it.
In fact, while I was reading the biography of Steve Jobs and later the biography of Leonardo Davinci, I noticed how often they would attribute iteration to their success. Two of the greatest designers of the last three centuries had both referred to iteration as a key component of their creative process.
Besides being extraordinarily curious about the world, both of these designers talked about how they would create a piece of art (a painting or a computer in this case) and continue to build on the original idea until they were satisfied with the outcome.
Davinci only completed a total of 20 paintings in his lifetime! Surely, he created thousands of art pieces, but the fact that he only finished 20 of them is a testament to the amount of time he spent refining his pieces. Steve Jobs spent an entire year designing the first Apple Store and even called for a complete redesign just weeks before it was set to release. He would visit the store’s prototype daily for nearly 6 months before he settled on the final design that we know today. He spent months deciding which tiles he wanted on the floor and the proper amount of spacing between aisles.
What I’m getting at here is that good design is very much attributed to lots of iteration. I’m not saying you need to spend a year on your next design project, but understand that you are not going to create something great on your first go.
Iteration in design is the repeatable process of improving a product (or part of a product) in relatively short, but regular bursts.
Because design is an iterative process, it involves multiple rounds of revisions and improvements to reach the final product. Iteration encourages the designer to think outside the box and come up with new and innovative ideas. It's a process that nurtures and fosters creativity.
So here’s how you can streamline the iteration process:
For the sake of this article, let’s assume you are a graphic designer working on a poster digitally.
1. Define the project goals:
Before starting the design process, it's important to define the project goals and what the poster is intended to communicate. This will guide the design decisions and help set the direction for the project.
Set constraints! For example, set a pre-determined canvas size (1080x1080px for ex.) and a color palette (when in doubt, black and white is foolproof)
2. Brainstorm:
Give yourself a specific time frame to just brainstorm in which you write out ideas or sketch concepts(5 - 10 minutes is good to start). Allow yourself to imagine the wildest and seemingly out-of-reach ideas! Don’t worry about sounding stupid.
Are there any design styles that come to mind? Is there a poster you remember seeing that caught your eye that you can reference? What subjects are going to be featured on the poster?
3. Initial Concept:
Select the concept/idea that resonates with you the most from your brainstorming session and jump right in. Create a rough sketch or mockup. Begin creating a basic outline of where things will be placed or how the piece will be structured. Feel free to use shapes to block out important areas of interest. This is the starting point of the design, and it will likely change as the iteration process continues.
Sketching out your idea on paper first is a great way to start outlining your project (even if you aren’t great at drawing)
Even the best technical artists block out their scenes and characters with simple shapes before moving on to the details
4. Feedback and revisions:
Get up and walk away from the art, allow yourself to think about something else for a while. Come back to the canvas and decide how you can improve upon what you’ve already created.
Ask a friend for feedback (make them describe exactly how they feel when looking at it, don’t let them use simple phrases like “It’s good” or “I like it”, ask them why!)
5. Add Details:
Hone in on a specific piece of the poster you would like to improve. Begin adding images, experimenting with typography, and adjusting the placement of objects further. Continue until you’re satisfied.
If you don’t know how to create a certain effect or style, now is the time to learn how to do it (YouTube videos, the internet, trial and error)
6. Revise Again or Pivot:
Decide whether you like the direction you’re going in. Sometimes all it takes is further revisions to your original piece. Other times, you may just need to rework the idea entirely. Don’t give up on an idea, but also don’t be afraid to go in a completely different direction if your original concept isn’t working.
Repeat these steps until you are satisfied.
Don’t force yourself to finish a piece in one day. Come back to it the next day if you need fresh eyes.
7. Add The Finishing Touches:
Add the final pieces of detail that tie the piece together. For me, this normally means finalizing texture, color, and deciding whether the piece is cohesive enough.
Rarely, if ever, will a piece only take two revisions. Allow yourself to revise your creation until it is as close as possible to what you imagined.
Ironically, sometimes your piece won’t look much like what you imagined originally, but you still like the end result - I call these moments happy accidents.
An Example of Iteration In My Work
Here’s an example of my iterative design process for a web design project:
Before stumbling on the final design:
You’ll find that over time and (many) iterations, you’ll be able to create designs that you are proud of.
Additionally, the iteration process is a form of practice, so you're bound to improve your skills and speed up your workflow just from the repetition alone.
Allow yourself to experiment, make mistakes, and try new things. Iterate. Iterate. Iterate.