10 Important Rules to Live By as a Designer

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10 Important Rules to Live By as a Designer

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Creativity is an essential factor in design. Using different design elements in many ways brings out new perspectives and arouses other emotions from its viewers. However, if there's something that goes beyond creativity in design, that is value.

Being a good designer means that you can design and convey a clear message to your viewers or audiences. Whether you are preparing for a product, startup, corporate, or for a website, your design should have clarity, must be valuable, and meaningful.

Having a good foundation and rules to live by can give you direction on your journey to becoming a good designer. In this case, here are 10 valuable pieces of advice and good bases in creating a design.

1. You Must Be Resourceful

You Must Be Resourceful

When creating a design, you should be creative and resourceful. Anything can be used to make a great design, whether it's recycled material or through the use of modern technology. However, an innovative design should always keep up with the times, to work with the demands of the ever-changing society it was made for.

2. Your Designs Must be Visually Pleasing

Your Designs Must be Visually Pleasing

This must be one of the most fundamental goals in design. It is that you must create something that is visually pleasing. The aesthetics of the design is what lifts products from the shelves, attracts people, and helps build a brand. A good design doesn't just work well. It should also be compelling to be appreciated and remembered.

3. Your Design Must Serve a Purpose

Your Design Must Serve a Purpose

Designers must never forget that a good design is meant to be valid. Often we are too focused on the aesthetic qualities and aspects of design that we forget that it has a functional part as well.

It needs to fulfill the purpose of being helpful, psychological too, as the product should make users feel comfortable using it, and finally aesthetic. A good design should not only look pretty, but you must never forget that it should have a function and a purpose.

4. Your Design Should Speak for Itself

Your Design Should Speak for Itself

There is such a thing as overdoing something. A design can look weird or sometimes even intimidating if the designer let themselves go in the artistic process of creating their product.

A good design should be self-explanatory. If it was made to be a soap dispenser, it shouldn't take a few minutes for the user to realize that it's a soap dispenser, it should be obvious.

5. You Should Leave a Room for Self-Expression

ou Should Leave a Room for Self-Expression

The humility of a product should be observed. They are not decorations that fill a space. Again, the design has a function to perform.

An air-conditioner in a room should be inconspicuous in a room where its purpose is to make the air cooler. However, should the user choose to flaunt the product for its good design, that's up to them. The product should be unassuming.

6. Your Design Should Be Honest

Your Design Should Be Honest

A good design isn't boastful with its appearance. It's not too loud and overbearing with its claims. It doesn't bribe users into getting it with a myriad of promises. Simplicity and humility will serve you better in the long run.

7. Your Design Must Serve for Countless Generations

Your Design Must Serve for Countless Generations

In this day and age, if something doesn't spark your joy, you throw it away. A good design is timeless in both look and function. Just because it's fashionable doesn't mean it lasts long. The thing with fashion is that it changes. So simplicity in design is often the key.

8. Your Design Must Be Detailed

Your Design Must Be Detailed

It's always important to consider your users when thinking of a product. You yourself are a user of some design or product. You have to consider how different users will approach your design. Accurate attention to detail will definitely ensure that your users will be very happy.

9. You Should Respect Nature

You Should Respect Nature

In this day and age, we have to observe ways on how to preserve the environment. Many users are becoming aware specific designs aren't environmentally friendly, so they will avoid them if they can. It's important to know how to create something that conserves nature or even help it along the way.

10. A Good Design is Conservative

A good design is conservative

As mentioned before, a good design is simple. This leaves more emphasis on the fundamental properties of its purpose. A good design is not loaded with unnecessary visual features. Simplicity is often the best thing that you can go to make your design go-to product in the market.

Your Turn

The beauty in these principles lies in the fact that they encompass all aspects of humanity and human behavior. Having a good basis and foundation as a designer can keep you focused and grounded.

When you already have a good idea of what kind of designer you want to become, you can then learn more about the elements of art and principles of design. Understanding the elements and principles of design will definitely make the process much easier.

Should you wish to try out working on the visual principles of design into practice, there are several online tools such as Removal.AI, PixTeller and Photoshop.

These tools can help you with image background removal, design, and photo editing and use them to make professional-looking visual content for either personal or media purposes.

Final Thoughts

Designers have to be clever with their processes and their creations. Many designers get lost in the process of creating their best works because they focus too much on the appearance aspect of their design. They often forget that the sole purpose of creation is its function. The artistic side should be kept at a minimum.

Mastery and expertise are what experience brings to a designer. But wisdom is found by someone who creates and designs for the benefit of many.

Jenn Pereira

Until next time, Be creative! - Pix'sTory made by Jenn Pereira

Jenn Pereira is an experienced web and graphic designer. She loves to design innovative UI/UX for web and apps and write about design trends, ideas and inspirations to motivate creative people.You can find more of her work at Dribbble.

Currently, working as the Marketing Head of Removal.AI, a platform that offers an AI tool used to edit photos and remove background from image automatically. It also provides professional photo editing solutions for various industries especially for eCommerce.

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