There is a lot to design that is learned. Without listening to tutors, peers and clients, there’s a lot a designer will not learn.
But all of that learning is no substitute for instinct. Nor is instinct much use without the learning. It really does take both to be a great designer. But instinct is where things come alive and the subtle beauty of a design can be found.
For example, we can all learn the rules of the golden ratio. We can all study grid systems. What we can’t all do, however, is look a page that is designed to follow these rules and know whether or not it ‘balances’.
Feeling the balance is almost like putting the page on the end of your finger and seeing which way it tips. Which side has more objects than it ought to. Which has more colour, or a stronger tone. All of these – and more – add to the imagined weight of the page.
Unfortunately for those who’d like to learn, there isn’t really a formula to understanding the weight difference between a 100mm/pixel square block of cyan and a picture of a singing camel. Only instinct and imagination can make decisions like that.
There is, however, some hope for those who want to learn. I’m personally certain that my instinct would be utterly useless – even non-existent – if it were not for the effort I’ve put into learning over the years.
If I didn’t continually push myself, or choose to start again if a design wasn’t working, or be genuinely gutted when good work was rejected, there’s no way I’d know where to put the camel today. And in there is a lesson for everyone.
1 Response to “Camel instinct.”