Many people have different design processes when handling a new project. Mine is finding a clear mind when doing something out of the ordinary during your routine. Most people end up probably following suit when they get a design block or need some inspiration. Alas, I was doing unordinary things only because I was a little bit angry at the time and needed to clear my head.
This is when I just decided to hang upside down from my bed. It is the simplest thing you could do when you are annoyed or frustrated – and it works wonders.
I was thinking about everything that I have read, seen, done, and had on my mind that it made go into this deep thought about design. Considering I just started this blog, I found it appropriate to share. I am also responding to a challenge.
Three days ago while I was on my TweetDeck, there was a message that caught my eye. It was a tweet from HubSpot instigating a marketing challenge. With me and challenges, I couldn’t resist.
Ergo I am sharing some things that I pondered over while I was upside down. To be honest, most of my posts are pretty off a central topic anyways, but I would never think of blogging about this until now. These are just thoughts, but I believe everyone should follow them (some of you probably already have).
1. That New Perspective
It is all about knowing the latest and greatest stuff, right? So far I have seen designers following some sort of trend, which is not necessarily bad. At the same time, it is good to keep thinking in a fresh light.
Being upside down, I viewed my room through new eyes and found things that I did not even consider beautiful or interesting until I grasped a different point of view. As designers, that is what we should be doing everyday. Keep searching and discovering that new perspective. If you are not doing that now, maybe you ought to start.
Designing is a problem solving business. When you create something, there is a purpose to it. You cannot find a solution by living in the past all the time and creating the same answers to your design problem. It is about moving forward. Creating rather than copying and reproducing. Agreed?
Designers talk about the graphic design process. Not only does a design have to be beautiful, but it has to function as well.
In this example, The Design Council has sat down and discussed with several other designers. They offered insights about how these stages of the graphic design process are all parts to create solutions for an initial problem. It is a problem solving business, folks.
2. Big Is More Interesting
I focused on that big, black television screen looking at my reflection for some time. I thought I was just looking at myself until I was focusing on the frame, the screen itself, and then going back to my reflection. It is just a huge TV – why did I spend most of my life looking at it? And it is not even on?
It took up the room. It was one of the few things to stare at. It was just … BIG.
When it comes to web layouts, big is where to be. Everything that you want to highlight before scrolling is what the user wants to see. Once you make it big, your user will want to scroll down to learn more.
Adham Dannaway definitely represents the “big is better” mantra. Without even scrolling down, his entire face covers the first half of his home page to show both his designer and coder sides. It is a perfect design for branding himself this way and draws the visitor to click through more areas of the site.
3. Do Not Forget The Little Things
Having a new point of view made me notice and appreciate the little things, like how my dresser functions with handles instead of knobs. I was also looking at my curtains and I noticed that one of the rings was loose. It completely set off the symmetry of the whole window. It was such a little thing, but it kept eating away at me to fix it.
When you have a clean design, make sure that you have not overlooked anything. The tiniest pixels that are off center will be noticeable to the user. Believe me. Even when a project is at crunch time, cutting corners and forgoing aligning objects in your design is just unprofessional.
This comic goes through the necessities of alignment for web design and the fluid comic strip. Thanks, Brad.
Love Brad Colbow: Comics about design. Enough said.
4. Embrace The White Space
Yes we have heard this time and time again. Well it is that important.
And you bet I saw a ton of white space in my room. Some places it did not appeal, while in other areas it rocked the empty space. Just simple lines complimenting with white space made things much cleaner. It feels clean. Don’t you love that feeling?
All designers should know that simple, clean designs is what people are looking at now. While it is a trend, I think loving and utilizing white, negative, and empty space will last forever. The web changes everyday, but this simple principle can be applied to any form of design – layouts, book covers, and logos. Especially logos.
I fell in love with this logo for its use of negative space. While it represents a camera, it also cleverly uses Nicole Chan’s initials to create that camera. Simple lines and negative space works for a logo like this one.
Who doesn’t love the clever design solutions of a simple logo? Let’s add another one for good measure.
Another excellent display of using simple lines and white space to get a point across. This can be interpreted in a number of different ways, which is why I wanted to include it. What is your take on this simple design?
5. Plain Colors Can Be Interesting
Since I moved three months ago, I did not get a chance to decorate my walls. They are just white. It was simple and boring. Upside down: Plain is interesting. I was looking at all the corners and shadows that filled the room, complimenting the plain solid color. It was fascinating. It was like watching clouds when the sun shifted.
Plain colors can be the way to go for design, if done right.
Slick and clean, Anthony Calzadilla’s blog design is clear and straight to the point. Cleverly using a simple black and white colors to focus on the content, he also uses typography to draw the reader to the headlines of his blog posts.
I don’t know about you, but I think I will start looking at different directions from now on. Up. Down. Sideways. Upside Down. Tilt my head side to side. It is amazing what things get overlooked because we see right side up all the time.
Have any design thoughts to share? Comment below and share some insight!
Testing comments with FB login ^.^
Great article, thanks for the mention. I’ll be hanging upside down more often I think
Thanks! You could do sideways too ^.^