TrippingWords unalterated verbiage

Designing an Idea - How to Beautify your Inspiration

Designing a website is, as most designers would already know, a methodical process which typically requisites a fair amount of creativity, knowledge on aesthetic principles and a decent handling of code/mark-up. (primarily CSS). These steps are acquired thorough consistent practice and experimentation. But what about the creative ideas behind these designs, how can they be evolved, and transformed into effective starting points of an overall website design? This article explores how exactly designers can “design an idea”, before integrating that very same idea into the structured paradigm of a new web project.

Designing an idea is just as important as the actual design itself. It should be seen as a process that is sequentially positioned before the actual phase of designing, but just after that moment of sublime inspiration. In short, this piece will serve as a guide of what you should be doing when struck by that all-elusive “eureka moment”.

Awesomeness is not Always Awesome

  All web projects germinate from a single idea or an amalgamation of various thoughts. It is thus vital to first clearly comprehend a design idea by analysing its practicality and relevance to the project at hand.

Many a times, great ideas can seem overwhelmingly amazing at first but painfully illogical upon execution.

An idea needs to be analysed holistically before it is applied to any sort of design framework.

If you’ve been flirting with an idea for a new design theme for your blog, it is wise to first critically analyse the foundational basis of that idea. Why do you want a re-design and how will it affect the current visual and technical environment of your website? These reflective questions will serve as a type of self-imposed validation on your idea before it is expanded and incorporated within the design workflow. A crucially important question to ask is; how applicable is a design idea to the requirements of readers or clients (in the case of commercial projects)? If for example you are embarking on a series of illustrative comic strips for a client based project, be sure to fully explore all potentialities of how that particular idea you have could be received by the wider public. The bottom line here is to fully ensure that your “awesome idea” is truly awesome within the boundaries of common aesthetic sensibilities, or to put it more bluntly, - everyone should find your idea awesome and not just yourself.

Strip it down to the Bare Essentials

Every idea that arrives into our thought process is usually weighed down with a whole load of other mental baggage. The human mind has the innate tendency to instinctively associate a single idea with several other related concepts. While this is can be a useful mental characteristic to have in the creative industry, it can also be a distracting hindrance. Design ideas have to be stripped down to their bare essentials. More often than not, we implement an idea without ever realising and appreciating its core essence.

The trick is, when you have an idea, make sure it is coherent and understandable to yourself. It is imperative to get into the quintessence of an idea before considering its potential connections (if any) with other related concepts.

When I first had the intention to start a design blog, the whole idea of running a website independently was thoroughly overwhelming. Due to this all-engulfing experience I was initially guilty of overlooking the finer intricacies involved in starting a successful design blog, such as the actual topical niche it would cover and what sub-narrative messages would the aesthetic design itself convey to readers (would the design be humorous, whimsical or impart a blend of seriousness and intellectual authority?). 

An idea is inherently deceptive; it is rarely what it first appears to be. Because of its generally fluid nature, designers must first pin down the crux or central premise contained within the idea (the bare essentials), before launching it onto the drawing board.

Latch on to that Thread of Clarity

The most compelling design ideas are usually concepts that have a clear purpose and objective, but apart from that, they also contain a single “thread of clarity”. You must be able to “mentally document” the initial stages of the design idea right up to its “point of reception” –anticipating the kind of reader or client response you wish to obtain from that particular idea. In certain circumstances, designers may be shouldered with the extra responsibility of eliciting a particular response from viewers (the comic artists behind serials such as “Family Guy” and “The Simpsons” for example have to ensure a consistent comic punch line in all their skits) and as such, they must have prior knowledge of how a specific idea materialises as a functional subject. Designers have to be several steps ahead in the design process. 

The Encoding/Decoding Model of Communication

Designing an idea also involves a precise understanding of how that particular idea can be potentially communicated to a targeted audience. Stuart Hall, an academic theoretician, conceptualised the communication process in a simple encoding-decoding model. He conceived that the communication process in entirety is directed by specific codes and contexts which shape the message from sender to receiver (there is of course more complex theoretical dynamic behind his work, which I will leave out for the sake of clarity).

Tripping Words, for example, is a blog primarily about design philosophy. As such, its chief message (“design philosophy”) will consistently be conveyed to the reader in a myriad of different ways and means, either through design or content. The message however is shaped by certain contextual elements. These elements include the presentational style of content, the popularity of “design philosophy” as a search engine keyword and possibly the existence of other design blogs covering the same niche area. There are a few of the several external factors influencing the design structure of a design idea (that was a mouthful!).

Concluding Remarks

Designing an idea is not a monolithic process, but a multi-faceted component of the web design field. It is hoped that after you’ve read this article, you would see design as an encapsulation of “idea-design” and “practical-design”. Do remember that a well-rehearsed idea is the groundwork for a truly engaging design.

How much attention do you pay to your design related ideas? 

Editors Note: I would like to sincerely thank my readers for all the support/feedback I’ve received through emails/Twitter/on-site comments over the past few weeks. This week in particular has been an eventful one with Tripping Words receiving an all-time high number of unique pageviews (or at least according to Google Analytics). So, thank you!

[ Design - Design Environment - Design Philosophy ] Subscribe to the Goodness >>