Design is often labeled as something “fun” and something that anybody can do. There is a lot of design in the world which can be improved upon and made simpler. Good Design is a lot more than using bright colors, bold fonts, pretty flourishes and filling up the entire space available. It’s actually quite the opposite of that. Good design is:

• Problem solving: the client comes to you with a problem of having a brand identity, making the brand more recognizable, changing the image of the brand or whatever t happens to be. A good design will solve those problems and let the audience be more comfortable with the brand or give accurate information about a product in a brochure, etc. Good design doesn’t mean that the brand has to be in-your-face and bold, it just means that it needs to solve the problem of being hidden and not reaching out to the audience. This may be done in a very subtle and clever way if that the best solution for the company and the kind of people they are catering to.

• Communication in the simplest form: “the more the things I put in my piece, the better.” More elements in a piece of design doesn’t mean that the target audience is getting more informed about the brand. In fact it’s quite the opposite. Good design should solve the problem in the simplest way possible. Many a times, the fewer the elements, the better the message is that’s sent across. It is very easy to distract the audience from a piece that’s stuffed with pictures, illustrations and body copy. Whereas, a piece that has only a couple of elements will be to the point, easy to follow and very effective. So, just keep it as simple as you can.

• Intriguing: another term for this is the ‘whoa factor.’ The first reaction to any good design work will be amazement. Since good design is limited in the world, people always appreciate what looks and feel good. Every designer’s goal is to get that ‘whoa’ out of anyone who sees his/her design. It’s not an easy task but it’s not impossible to achieve either. Some of the things said above can help designers achieve this like keeping their designs as simple as possible and solving the problem of communicating effectively to the audience. Mystery also plays a part in a piece of design being intriguing. Leaving a little part hidden or unexplained can give birth to curiosity in people’s minds and draw them in. There is a fine line between ambiguity and mystery, so, designers have to be really careful so as to not make their designs ambiguous.

• Timeless: Going with the trends can be appealing for a short period of time but trends come and go every now and then. It is very important for the image and feel of any design to be timeless so that it doesn’t get outdated very easily. This is especially true for Identity design. It’s very easy to flow with what’s current and happening but designers also have to take into consideration the rise and fall of trends like web 2.0, flourishes, etc. Designs with certain elements used in them may feel completely outdated a few months down the line. Whereas, some of the identities, created decades ago, are still strong and feel classic. Some good examples are: Nike, Target, Shell, FedEx, etc.

• Inspirational: Designers, and especially design students, like to look at other designers’ work to get inspiration because it’s very important in this industry to get inspired by work that’s already out there and come up with ideas based on what you already know. Inspirational design can be in any form, typography, packaging, brochures, posters, etc. It’s the idea and execution together that makes a design good enough to inspire other designers.

Being able to solve a problem effectively is what will make the design interesting. Good design is about not over-doing things and making them look as simple as possible. Good design is good communication.

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