Keys to Great Design
Grab Attention
If the intended audience does not stop to read the design, nothing else matters.
You Never Get a Second Chance
To make a good first impression is vital in today's society. Modern consumers are flocking to the big fish in the pond: the corporations with seemingly endless resources. Although many great companies began in a garage, the biggest thing holding back garage start-ups is looking like one. Great design engenders trust. In the hands of great designers, looking like the big fish does not require a whale of a budget.
Form Follows Function
Every design exists to accomplish something. If the designer keeps that purpose stapled to his cerebral cortex, the appearance always falls into place. Good taste just sorts out the pieces. Beauty is magnified in the context of function.
Attention to the Big Picture
A Yugo with chrome rims and leather seats is still a Yugo. Great design must be fundamentally sound and purposeful. Great design sees the forest in spite of the trees.
Attention to Detail
It takes trees to make a forest. With sick trees, the forest's days are numbered.
Necessity is the Mother of Invention
The most stylish, innovative designs are created when a tasteful designer recognizes a need to solve an unusual problem occurring in a specific context. The result is so stunning, other designers copy it and usually force it into wrong contexts until it becomes trite.
Quality, Not Quantity
Plenty of volume can be turned out on the quick and cheap, but the law of supply and demand still applies to graphic design as it does to all industries. Quality is an investment with long-term rewards.
Great Design is Designed
The word design implies a developmental process involving forethought, structure, and planning. Artistic intuition is only there to guide the process tastefully.
