Reading Design

January 23, 2018

I’ve read this piece about design by Dean Allen multiple times and yet I can’t appear to shake it. Every time I read it I find something new that perfectly summarizes that moment in my career. Here’s a list of design rules from the piece that is, right now, effectively my life:

An Entirely Incomplete List of Things a Non–Illiterate Designer Should Know Before Being a Designer:

That text will inevitably be read before it is looked at

That words themselves make remarkably effective clip art

That the self-conscious layering of messages usually subtracts more value than it adds

That the practical value of white space towers over its value as a design element

That the physiobiology of reading is one that demands easy points of exit and entry

That simply paying attention to the design of type, or distinguishing it as “fine” or “invisible” or “classical” is like making a big deal about putting salt on a boiled egg

That letters are not pictures of things, but things

That words are not things, but pictures of things

That arbitrarily altering (or allowing software to alter) the shapes of letters, and the spacing between letters and words, is done at one’s own risk

That emphasis comes at a cost

That overstating the obvious can be effective, but not all the time

The knowledge to back up design decisions clearly without falling into a fog of hidden meaning, or so–called “creativity”