It's an art form, so put in the work.

Scroll social media, and you’ll see the opposite. People claiming that it’s not about something looking good. That real design isn’t something you would see on dribbble. That it’s not just making something pretty.

It’s time to stop flogging that horse, drag it to the abattoir, and start grinding the burgers.

Design, to those that use the software, tools, applications, or whatever shape it’s taken, is visual. Much like people who say they are attracted to personality, we all know that the eye catches first.

The talk of the town is engagement. The obsession with showing bullshit numbers to justify ‘impact’. You can’t do that if you don’t have the fundamentals down first.

Like becoming a good artist. Becoming a good designer requires (amongst other things) time, practice, bone crushing rejection, frustration, and many, many late nights.

To quote Roland Young.

Is it cool to be a designer? Isn’t it cool? Are you sure? It’s hell to be a designer, so you better get used to it.

So if you are just starting out. Or want to improve. Then this is what I believe you should be focusing on.

Put down the mouse, get away from the software.

Most people would advise getting started with some sort of software. To copy designs, to break them apart. Pointless.

You’ll learn the software then something else will come along. In fact now it has. You’ve spent so much time learning the shortcuts that you’ve learnt nothing but dead ends instead.

The software is the channel you pour into. Not the channel that pours out.

If you want to get better at writing do you just copy out the contents of a book?

Consume…consume…consume.

I’m not talking about endlessly scrolling on whatever your social media of choice is. I am talking about films, music, plays, books, art, games, comedy. Being a great designer is about understanding people. Their neurosis. It’s about understanding what makes people anxious, and what makes them comfortable. Each story you see, hear, read, is just more ammo for the cannon.

When people sit down to use the thing you have created. They’re not in a perfect state. They’re not 100% focused on what you have put in front of them. They are hungry, stressed, and, like me, tired. Despite how perfectly you’ve crafted your persona you’re not going to understand them if you don’t understand that.

Write. Then write some more.

I can’t tell you how much better I became when I learned to effectively communicate my ideas and thought process. I’m not talking about writing a bullshit case study. Because let’s face it, no one is reading those.

I’m talking about being able to defend your decisions. Being able to use reasoning to get something over the line.

You can start with a journal. You don’t even have to share it. But pour your brain out. You need to have a steady flow of thought and inspiration and if there’s a block in the pipe nothing gets through. Of all you’ve consumed you’ll begin to filter out what you want to use, and how you want to use it.

In time you’ll find your voice. Without realising it you’ll be using analogies from films you’ve seen, or spouting song lyrics to put your point across.

Experience more. Get the fuck out there.

I’m not talking about going on an “Eat Pray Love” trip to Bali. I’m talking about interacting with the world. Saying hello to strangers, talking to shop staff and random members of the public.

Learn how people really behave. You’ll soon notice that people are worrying about the same things you are. That they aren’t altogether, and that in reality no one knows what they’re doing.

There is comfort in that. It will strengthen the part of your brain that tells you the opposite. You’ll bring confidence to your work. In presenting it. And more importantly defending it.

Get better at playing.

Creativity is not a talent, it. is. not. a talent. It is a way of operating…

…creativity is not an ability you either have or do not have.

This is a quote from John Cleese, from a talk in 2007 about creativity in management. You can watch the whole thing, or just listen to it whilst you push pixels around the screen.

Cleese cites a MacKinnon study Creativity: a multi-faceted phenomenon ¹ in which he determines that the most creative people are able to sustain a “state of play”. This ‘state’ allows you to mess with ideas without any bias as to whether they are good or not. They’re just ideas.

Sounds good right? But how do you get better at that?

If you have friends, family, or even your own. Get comfortable playing with children. I mean, really playing. Not ‘oh I’ll pretend’. Not bouncing them on your knee, or patronising them with minced words, and an odd cadence in your speech.

Get involved. Be the thing they want you to be. If you’re a detective grab your magnifying glass and get immersed in that world. If you’re making a toy move and speak, be the toy, play the character.

I took my partner’s daughter out this weekend. We walked into town. We took bubbles. Lots of bubbles. We stopped and blew these bubbles at various intervals. People would walk past smiling. I would encourage them to join in. And you know what. Everyone I asked did.

Humans are curious creatures, everyone has the ability to get into a state of play. All it takes is a little encouragement.

Create…Create…Create.

As well as consuming you should be consistently producing. There is a reason art teachers say you should have a sketchbook. Any opportunity to practice should be taken. Got a spare 5 minutes. Create that untitled document and play around.

I can’t tell you how many ‘untitled’ projects I have (ones that have migrated from each new machine I get). Designs for fictitious apps or websites. Sometimes just a file of buttons or form elements.

The point is, the more you create the more you can hone. You may not even need to sketch anymore. You’ll have a library of elements you can draw from.

Learn to listen, but selectively.

In the age of influence. It can be easy to gravitate toward those who are the most present. The truth is, those that are most present are either making it their mission to do so, or, they are doing jack shit else.

They are amongst the same breed of people that put ‘ex-big-company’ in their bio. Or startups that throw a logo on their homepage as social proof, even though it’s one person that worked there has used it. Am I supposed to swoon at their prestige?

Listen I have worked at big companies. They are slow, stifling, and design decisions get pushed through three layers of filter before they are stripped of all humanity. None of them are perfect. But some of them have cultivated a great culture around design. And that’s down to only a few select individuals.

If you’re going to listen to anyone, make sure it’s someone that has consistently delivered. Not got lucky once, but has continually created wonderful experiences at multiple companies.

They won’t be spouting about ‘craft’ on social media. They’ll be writing long form, sharing experimental work, or doing actual work. I’ve already written about this so I’ll end there ².

Put it somewhere.

I finally got round to watching a talk by Brendan Dawes which he gave in 2016. It had been sat in my Watch Later list for at least 3 years. Admittedly I skipped through some of it. But my key takeaway was this:

Make things, put it somewhere, someone will see it, maybe not now, maybe not a week from now, but eventually the right person will.

That’s the thing about being creative. Most of the time you are doing it for yourself, and if you don’t put it out there you’re denying the pleasure you get from creating it to the person that uses or sees it.

It’s just repetition.

I’m not saying that if you follow my advice it will be the panacea to all your problems. Lord knows I have only just recently been able to formulate these thoughts into something coherent.

I am nudging you in a direction that I feel will benefit you the most. It won’t be software tutorials, or 24 day bootcamps. It will be a library of experience that you can draw from. So next time a shiny new thing comes along, it won’t be scary, you’ll just be excited at the possibilities.

Footnotes

1. https://alumniacademy.yale.edu/sites/default/files/2021-06/6-22%20Reading-8MacKinnon.pdf ↩

2. https://workingon.studio/writing/look-out-for-those-that-are-doing ↩