DESIGN LESSONS

20 Motivational and Inspirational Insights from Creatives Across the Globe

Learn How to Make Your Works of Art Beautiful

BRITTON
BRITTON
Jul 27, 2017 · 6 min read

We asked our design team to provide some advice on creating great graphic designs. Their comments have been interspersed with those from what Fast Company called “some of the world’s best graphic designers.”


“One tried-and-true practice is that once you have ideated and developed your rough concepts, remember to ask yourself, when you add or take away an element, Does it enhance it in any way? If it does, leave it, and if it doesn’t, remove it. Beautiful design lasts because of its purity, the importance of every element, and the grace or the dynamic those elements create.” — Sue Britton, chief creative officer and co-owner


“No one loves authenticity like a graphic designer. And no one is quite as good at simulating it.” — Michael Bierut


“You approach each project searching for a dozen great ideas, not just one or two. After about seven designs, you realize there really are infinite ways to look at a problem. I now completely enjoy the process, though I’m keenly aware that all but one of those dozen great ideas will eventually be killed. It’s strangely liberating.” — Gail Anderson


“Always keep your eyes open. You never know where your next inspiration is going to come from. You might go for a walk and see a color combination that would be perfect for something you’re working on, or the printer might make an error and it turns out to be something beautiful that inspires you to shake up the elements of your design.” — Molly Stronczek, art director


“It is important to use your hands. This is what distinguishes you from a cow or a computer operator.” — Paul Rand


“I try to staff our studio with people who have curiosity and passion. And you must keep a constant lookout for who you might want to hire next, because often the curiosity of our team leads them on to other things. You can’t keep brilliance; you let it shine, and then you have to let it go.” — Stephen Doyle


“My dream is to have people working on useless projects. These have the germ of new concepts.” — Charles Eames


“I read once about the concepts of a lateral idea and the vertical idea. If you dig a hole and it’s in the wrong place, digging it deeper isn’t going to help. The lateral idea is when you skip over and dig someplace else.” — Seymour Chwast


“My work is play. And I play when I design. I even looked it up in the dictionary, to make sure that I actually do that, and the definition of ‘play,’ number one, was ‘engaging in a childlike activity or endeavor,’ and number two was ‘gambling.’ And I realize I do both when I’m designing.” — Paula Scher


“The nature of process, to one degree or another, involves failure. You have at it. It doesn’t work. You keep pushing. It gets better. But it’s not good. It gets worse. You go at it again. Then you desperately stab at it, believing, This isn’t going to work. And it does!” — Saul Bass


“Design. Don’t decorate. Always keep in mind that you are shaping a branded experience for the end user and fostering a feeling within them. Create meaningful work that doesn’t just look nice, but is a strategic, well-thought-out solution — that also happens to look nice.” — Amy Reff, art director


“It would seem unlikely that a manufacturer of short-lived paperboard boxes could make the slightest cultural impact upon his time. But the facts show that if even the humblest product is designed, manufactured, and distributed with a sense of human values and with a taste for quality, the world will recognize the presence of a creative force.” — Herbert Bayer


“My MO became about trying stuff and not worrying about the grid or the structure until I have a feeling for what I’m doing. Then you tidy it up after. If you start off tidy, it’s really hard to get messy.” — April Greiman


“To suggest that the way we use Helvetica is an easy way out typographically is ridiculous. Simply ridiculous. We spend an enormous amount of time spacing, lining, and positioning type. The fact that we use only a small variety of typefaces demands a certain discipline, a skill precision, a focus on the finer details. It’s certainly not a different-typeface-for-every-occasion attitude. Now, that would be an easy way out.” — Experimental Jetset (Marieke Sotlk, Danny van den Dungen, Erwin Brinkers)


“It doesn’t always happen on the first try — sometimes not even on the second or third. Allow yourself to walk away from the project and disconnect for a moment. When you come back to it you will be surprised how you see it in a different light and approach it from a new direction.” — Amanda Treharn, senior production artist


“I have a bunch of calendars I used before I went digital. Every once in a while, I’ll open up one from 1991 and look at all the names and appointments and things that, at the time, seemed so important. Meetings that I was really worried about, things that I was getting calls four times a day about, and I wonder, Where did it all go? Where are they now? It’s so strange — everything has disappeared. The only thing that stays behind is the work.” — Michael Bierut


“If a client comes to you and says that they’re not really sure what to do, that’s one of the best relationships you can possibly have — when there’s an acknowledgment of a goal but the path to the end product is unknown, and they’re open to the collaboration.” — Abbott Miller


“Polarize your style to design super feminine and super masculine. Also, establishing a style makes you unique. Being able to maintain a style across an array of diverse clients makes you memorable.” — Danielle Hartmann, senior digital graphic designer


“Imitate. Don’t be shy about it. Try to get as close as you can. You’ll never get all the way, and the separation might be truly remarkable.” — Bruce Mau


“One of the things I have observed, looking back historically, is how elegant a seventeenth-century book looks. One of the reasons it looks so elegant is because of the restrictions: There was only one typeface available, there weren’t that many fonts, and virtually all you could do was play with sizes, italics, and so forth.” — Colin Forbes


Great design is feast for not only the eyes but also the mind. The next time you are looking at a design, beyond asking yourself if you like it, ask yourself what the meaning of it is. Try to understand what the designer’s intent was. And then ask yourself, What would this look like if Britton Marketing & Design Group had created it?

Photos/graphics/quotes: BMDG


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Originally published at www.brittonmdg.com.

BRITTON

Written by

BRITTON

We build brands for the New American Middle. We make aspirational creative inspirational. And we do it all with Midwestern humility. http://www.brittonmdg.com

Design + Creating

Graphic Design, illustration, architecture, furniture, packaging and all things created.

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