What is "Good Design"?

What is "Good Design"?

To this designer, good design is well-researched, appropriate, methodical, concise and thought provoking.

The first thing I do with new clients - is research. Who are they? Who is their audience? What sorts of challenges do they have? Who are their competitors? How are their competitors better than them - or vicea versa. What are their strengths? Weakness? And so on. It makes what comes later - much better.

Good design is always appropriate. If you are doing a letter - or anything for that matter - that anyone over 45 may be reading, do not set the point size smaller than 12 pt. Period. Can you go bigger? Yes please. Millons of eyeballs will be thanking you and perhaps respond by giving. Another point: Don't do flashy bells and whistles on your web site unless you are selling flashy bells and whistles - that goes for music too! Be appropriate. Know thy audience and design accordingly.

Methodical. Think through every element. Which font will work best, how can I best crop this picture to get the most impact, do I need this to be 4 colour because it will be more effective, do i have enough (important) content that I should have a 8 page newsletter, or can I keep it more to the point and get away with 4 pages and so on.

Good Design is concise. It is to the point. It communicates one thing. Simply, clearly. From the copy to the images you use.

And thought provoking. That doesn't mean scaring your audience or shocking them. Ask a question, get your audience involved, work towards a solution together.

I promise my next post will have more images.
Thanks for reading.
John