The world of graphic design has always followed sets of rules and standards.
Quite often in any design discipline, the common mistakes that are made can
closely coincide with a standard rule that
has been broken. Thus, from this perspective the design rules seem to be pretty
trustworthy to follow.However, in just about any design discipline, new design
movements and creative innovation has
generally resulted from consciously breaking said rule book. This is possible
because design is really
conditional, and requires the discretion of the designer, rather than a process
with any sort of finite
answers. Therefore, the design rules should likely be considered as guidelines
more so rather than
hard and fast rules. The experienced designer knows and respects the rule book
just enough to be
able break the box.
Unfortunately, the way that design is often discussed online is within sets of do’s
and don’ts. Top
mistakes and practices for design in 10 easy steps! Design isn’t so
straightforward, and requires a
much more robust understanding of principles and tendencies, rather than
checklists to systematically
carry out.
The concern is that if designers were to cease ‘breaking the rules’, then nothing
new creatively would
ever be made. If UI designers only develop their ability to follow guidelines,
rather than make their
own decisions, then they may quickly become irrelevant. How else will we argue
a value greater than
off the shelf templates?
Be Wary of Top Ten Design Rules
The issue with design rules in today’s UI design community is they are so
abundant. In the interest of
solving any problem, the designer can look to the existing UI community and
their set of solutions,
rather than solve an issue on their own. However, the abundance of these guides
and rules have made
themselves less credible.
A google search for “Top UI Design Mistakes” yields a half million search
results. So, what are the
chances that most, if any of these authors of various articles agree with one
another? Or, will each
design tip that is discussed coincide accurately with the design problems of a
reader?
Often the educational articles online discuss acute problems, rather than the
guiding design principles
behind the issue. The result is that new designers will never learn why design
works the way that it
does. Instead, they only become able to copy what has come before. Isn’t it
concerning that in none
of these sorts of articles is something like play encouraged?
The designer should have a tool kit of principles to guide them, rather than a
book of rules to follow
predetermined designs. Press x for parallax scrolling and y for carousels. Before
choosing, refer to
most recent blog post on which navigational tool is trending. Boring!
Tips and Top Tens Follow TrendsTrends are like junk food for designers.
Following trends produces cheap designs that may offer
some initial pay back, but little worth in the long run. This means that not only
may trendy designers
become dated, or ineffective quickly. But, for you the designer, don’t expect to
experience any sense
of reward when designing in this way. Although working to invent your own
styles and systems is a
lot of work, it’s so worth it day in and day out. There’s just something about
copying that never
seems to feed the soul.
Quite often in any design discipline, the common mistakes that are made can
closely coincide with a standard rule that
has been broken. Thus, from this perspective the design rules seem to be pretty
trustworthy to follow.However, in just about any design discipline, new design
movements and creative innovation has
generally resulted from consciously breaking said rule book. This is possible
because design is really
conditional, and requires the discretion of the designer, rather than a process
with any sort of finite
answers. Therefore, the design rules should likely be considered as guidelines
more so rather than
hard and fast rules. The experienced designer knows and respects the rule book
just enough to be
able break the box.
Unfortunately, the way that design is often discussed online is within sets of do’s
and don’ts. Top
mistakes and practices for design in 10 easy steps! Design isn’t so
straightforward, and requires a
much more robust understanding of principles and tendencies, rather than
checklists to systematically
carry out.
The concern is that if designers were to cease ‘breaking the rules’, then nothing
new creatively would
ever be made. If UI designers only develop their ability to follow guidelines,
rather than make their
own decisions, then they may quickly become irrelevant. How else will we argue
a value greater than
off the shelf templates?
Be Wary of Top Ten Design Rules
The issue with design rules in today’s UI design community is they are so
abundant. In the interest of
solving any problem, the designer can look to the existing UI community and
their set of solutions,
rather than solve an issue on their own. However, the abundance of these guides
and rules have made
themselves less credible.
A google search for “Top UI Design Mistakes” yields a half million search
results. So, what are the
chances that most, if any of these authors of various articles agree with one
another? Or, will each
design tip that is discussed coincide accurately with the design problems of a
reader?
Often the educational articles online discuss acute problems, rather than the
guiding design principles
behind the issue. The result is that new designers will never learn why design
works the way that it
does. Instead, they only become able to copy what has come before. Isn’t it
concerning that in none
of these sorts of articles is something like play encouraged?
The designer should have a tool kit of principles to guide them, rather than a
book of rules to follow
predetermined designs. Press x for parallax scrolling and y for carousels. Before
choosing, refer to
most recent blog post on which navigational tool is trending. Boring!
Tips and Top Tens Follow TrendsTrends are like junk food for designers.
Following trends produces cheap designs that may offer
some initial pay back, but little worth in the long run. This means that not only
may trendy designers
become dated, or ineffective quickly. But, for you the designer, don’t expect to
experience any sense
of reward when designing in this way. Although working to invent your own
styles and systems is a
lot of work, it’s so worth it day in and day out. There’s just something about
copying that never
seems to feed the soul.
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