DESIGN

Unoriginal is the New Original: How to become a better designer

Many people believe that designers are magical unicorns — talented, gifted, special and just, well, born that way. That they just have an innate ability to create meaningful typography, define beautiful interfaces and have a natural talent for matching complementary colours. But, I’m here to tell you, none of this is true. Becoming a designer actually takes years (and years, and years) of dedicated hard work — full of failures, patience, experimentation and rejections.

“Good artists copy. Great artists steal”. — Pablo Picasso

The problem with this unicorn thinking is that it makes design careers and hobbies seem unachievable to those people who are interested, but feel that they are not creatively inclined. In fact, I was one. But, all you need is a mindset shift, to realise that you can be anyone you want to be. That got deep real fast. Instead of looking at designers’ work with green-eyed envy, think of it as a journey to your success. You can master it by stealing and copying the best.

‘Copying people’s work?’ you say, ‘that can’t be right…’

I know it sounds weird, wrong and comes with some pretty heavy, negative connotations — but, when you really think about it, copying is just simply reverse-engineering.

Think about it. Ok, let’s think about it in terms of cooking, let’s take Gordon Ramsay, Jamie Oliver and David Chang, for example. How do you think they got to where they are now? By having a remission one night and magically coming up with a signature dish? Obvs not. They learnt from copying under the wings of their mentors. Working tirelessly to recreate and replicate wonderful recipes before creating their own innovative dishes.

Copywork is an extremely effective technique that designers, writers and creators have been using for centuries. By recreating existing masterpieces pixel-by-pixel by skilled and experienced designers and platforms such as Dribbble, Facebook and Uber — to name a few. Helping you to understand and practice different approaches and design styles to bring back for your own work.

Steal Like an Artist

According to Austin Kleon, author of a New York Times bestseller Steal Like an Artist, nothing is completely original. Even the best idea is just a remix of a previous one. And very often, this is the way it goes. Once one brand learns and uses a concept, another will piggyback off the idea and apply the same technique, making it slightly different. As a designer (or any job for that matter) you don’t always have to reinvent the wheel every time you’re solving a problem. You can apply the same practices and techniques in your own work.

“Every new idea is just a mashup or a remix of one or more previous ideas”.

So how do you start? Just start browsing through websites like Pinterest, Dribbble and Behance, and find those designs that you love and are inspired by. Put these into your own folder or catalogue, boot up your favourite design software and literally start copying — paying attention to every single stroke, button and text. It’s all about practice, not plagiarism*

However, remember that not all designs will resonate with your business.

Many designers and creators have thought about the direction of their designs, to ensure that it communicates the correct messages to the right audiences. There are many product priorities, brand guidelines and business decisions in what needs to be included in designs. A successful redesign, not only has to consider the UX flow and pretty illustrations but also;

• Who is your target audience?
• What are the business goals and targets?
• Where does this fit in the business’ action plan?
• Will the existing infrastructure support these designs, and if not, how much would it cost to get developed?

Ok, so I start copying, how does that help me with future projects?

If you’re still sitting there and saying “great, but I still don’t know what is a good UI font, or how to use the correct whitespace, or what button labels complement my designs perfectly”.

Then that’s okay! (and if you haven’t asked these questions just nod and smile along so I feel better)

Even as designers become more experienced, they’ll always come across fresh UI approaches and new problems. Like, what did people do before Dribbble and the lifesaving WhatTheFont extension, I’ll never know. But, the old saying is completely relevant, practice does make perfect. Over time, you’ll start to pick up that maybe that colour shouldn’t lie next to the other one, and that little tool that’s now your best friend, helps your design take 5 minutes instead of 30. And soon, in months to come, you’ll look at your old designs in pure disgust. Believe me

Conclusion

When you copy other masterpieces effectively, you have to pick them apart in order to understand how it works and why that particular designer has chosen to do it a particular way — helping you to apply it to your individual projects. It helps you to nail the basics, teaches the correct techniques, provides you with insights to shortcuts and inspires you to innovate where it makes sense.

“Designers are made, not born”.

As I’ve mentioned at the beginning of this article, there is no magic pill to make you become a magnificent designer. Instead, it’s all about dedication, determination, hard work and most importantly, patience. Keep learning every day and you’ll improve. Imitating work over and over again will help you to develop your skills over time and eventually, you’ll be able to do the same things your most favourite designers can do.

I wish you all the best and good luck with your designs and feel free to reach out if you need any further advice or help.

*Important Note! Remaking or reproducing other people’s designs is only a personal and private exercise to boost your design skills. Never infringe copyrighted work and never pass off someone else’s hard work as your own.