A free course about creative collaboration for

Designerswritten by Jarrod Drysdale at thetinydesigner.com

1. PricelessCreative work has no value. Or does it?When I worked at ad agencies, there was this joke about the creatives. It went like this:

Every copywriter has a half-written novel manuscript they are hoping to get published. Every designer practices fine art on the weekends hoping to eventually become a full-time painter or photographer.

However, we creatives had a different way of telling the joke:

When a client tours the oce, an accounts person would make the inevitable crack about novels or painting to earn free bonus points with the client. We creatives always politely laugh, then return to our desks to try and find a new creative way to sell used cars for the client, as our souls die just a little bit more.

Theres nothing wrong with designing ads to sell used cars. Theres nothing wrong with selling used cars, either. Thats not the point.

The point of this story is that there is always a question about the value of creative work, and an assumption that creative

professionals are selling out to make ads because they cant pay the bills with art.

Is creative work valuable anymore? When anyone can write a blog, listen to a song for free, or design something pretty on Squarespace, it can seem that creative professions are going the way of the dodo bird.

Could the design industry be headed in the same direction as the music industry, for example? Many types of design services and products imply they can replace human designers: themes, design software, hosted website services, etc.

Seeing this, designers throw their hands up in frustration. Its tempting to think that no one values design anymore. Designers feel their profession is being threatened by cheap substitutes, and fear that the value of what they do is being diminished.

However, to clients and other non-designers, those other avenues of achieving design are so exciting because the results are predictable. Design is mysterious and dicult to understand to everyone except professional designers. It can feel like a select few are holding this essential tool hostage. Why shouldnt non-designers circumvent designers, when theyre trying to protect a monopoly?

At the heart of this issue is the question of what design is and what it can accomplish.

For example, can a $10 (or free) theme deliver the same results as a $10,000 custom site design?

This often leads to finger pointing. Designers get accused of being money grubbing con artists, and non-designers get accused of being cheapskates.

The accusations arent doing anyone any good. Before anyone can begin to answer that question objectively, we need to take a step back and examine what design is and what it can do. We need a common sense definition.

PurposeYoure a designer, so you know that definition already: design is creative work with a purpose.

Purpose is critical when evaluating design because instead of judging based upon aesthetics, which are dominated by personal taste and plagued with subjectivity, its easy to measure whether a purpose is achieved.

However, in your dealings with clients, programmers, and other non-designers, when was the last time you actually discussed that purpose? Id wager you usually discuss the

specifics of a design.

After all, youre trying to defend your work and make sure the result will perform, and when your counterpart is asking you to make the logo bigger or remove some critical interaction, you have to do something to make sure the design isnt ruined.

So you answer with something like this: If we make the logo bigger, it wont look as good.

And what always happens? The other person wont give and you end up having to make the logo bigger.

This is because you arent connecting the specifics of a design to purpose. Of course the design will look worse with an obnoxiously large logo dominating the visual hierarchy. But what does that mean for the goals of the design? It almost certainly means the design isnt going to drive sales or communicate the message as clearly.

But thats not what you said. You said the design wouldnt look as nice.

This is exactly why people dont seem to value design; we dont explain it to them well enough. When we fight even tiny changes to our design or claim SquareSpace Logo is bad, we can come across as petty. No one else but a designer understands why a gigantic logo can cause a design to be

unsuccessful or what the difference is between DIY and custom design. Theyll never know unless we teach them.

Unfortunately, designers dont get to just design things. We have to work with others, and that means we have to advocate for our work. Designing things is only a part of our job, and it might even be less important than the process of selling the work.

When professional designers talk about design, we will describe it in grand terms. Well use clever metaphors and big words, but what non-designers hear is gibberish. They dont get it.

We need to learn to connect design to the goals and needs of the people we work with. We need to explain it in terms they can understand in order for them to see the value.

Thats what The Tiny Designer is all aboutexplaining design in a simple way so that non-designers can understand why it should matter to them.

Its about fighting for the design profession and proving what we designers can do.

When non-designers finally understand that design can deliver results and its not just about pretty colors and typefaces, we designers wont have justify our $10,000

custom sites designs against free themes.

The difference will be as obvious to clients and coworkers as it is to us.

2. The Design TollWhy do you want this designed?

Its the first question I ask everyone I work with. You know where Im going with this.

Usually the answer is that the person has a really great idea and wants to bring it to life. They appreciate good design. They want a design like Apples website.

You and I have heard this same thing a hundred times, but admiring design is good. As a designer, when people understand and appreciate design, youll earn more respect and more work.

So let them admire Steve Jobs and Jony Ive. They should try to build a business like Apple. Work with those non-designers to craft some incredible marketing.

Just know theres a danger in comparing your designs to Apple. I call it the Design Toll.

Imagine that running a business is like driving down a road, and eventually every non-designer will encounter a toll booth. On the booth is a little sign that says:

Design Toll. Deposit fortune to launch your business.

For your clients, boss, or coworkers, its tempting to think that if they pay that toll, they will arrive at the destination and achieve a successful business. Theyve listened and finally understand that design is valuable!

However, when others start to appreciate design, it is so easy for them to misunderstand what it is.

I once met a person who described himself, unprompted, like this: Im a design fanatic. I obsess over design. I dont buy anything unless it has a great design. I watched the Steve Jobs documentary and, man, I really want to do something like that. I want the site for my startup to look like Apple.

On the call, I had to suppress a laugh. This person wasnt a designer. They were more excited about design than I think Ive ever been in a decade of doing it full time.

To this enthusiastic, well-meaning person, design had become, well, a bit of a fetish. It was also a status symbola way to show off his intelligence and good taste. Worse, he saw design as a simple solution he could buy off the shelf and apply to his business that would guarantee success.

He was ready to pay the design toll. By hiring me for a nice design, he knew his business was going to be the next big thing.

As successful and smart as this guy truly is, he had the wrong idea about design.

Present design as a toolWhen someone you work with has unrealistic or inaccurate expectations for the design, its your job to set them straight.

Tutoring people this way probably seems like the last thing you want to be doingmaybe you just want to go design things. But taking on the mindset of a teacher is how youll get to do your best work. (Its also how youll keep insane expectations from derailing the project.)

Of course, you already know purpose is intrinsic to design. Further, you know that design cant be just about making something look pretty. Design is form and function. However, non-designers have a hard time understanding that and relating it to their goals.

I often explain it to non-designers like this. If you were building a house, you would briefly consider the tools youd need: a hammer, tape measure, etc. But youd spend most of your time thinking about what the house you wanted to build should be like. Design is the same way. Yes, you should think a bit about the tools of design: colors, fonts, etc. But think more about the result you want to achieve using them. If you spend all your time picking tools, youll never get anything built. Dont

pick out the carpet color before youve built a roof.

Further Ill explain that while design really can do amazing things, it also cant guarantee a businesss success like some non-designers might expect. Continuing that analogy of building a house, just possessing a hammer doesnt guarantee the structure you build wont fall over.

Of course, you cant build a house without a hammer. Businesses need design. Its a tool that will help them achieve goals. We designers are in the position to bring about a lot of success.

Results-driven design removes distractionsTeach non-designers to think about the people who will be using a design instead of ourselves when making decisions.

Some designers are better at this than others, but all non-designers are absolutely terrible at it.

I once told a client that if I designed using my own personal taste, every site I made would be orange. I really like orangepractically half the stuff in my house is orange, and I use it for my own design projects all the time. The client thought I was joking until I showed him a photo of my living room.

Find a funny analogy like this to use with the non-designers in your life. Youll need to remind them constantly that they need to make decisions based upon what they target audience will respond to instead of following their personal preferences. A goofy story is a good way to break the ice and remind them of that neutral perspective. (Feel free to steal mine.)

When you redirect them to focus on the result instead of the specifics of the design, youll find that you wont butt heads with non-designers so often. Feelings wont get hurt, and egos wont cause the project to derail.

Focusing on results provides a neutral perspective for everyone involved. Instead of competing, everyone realizes theyre working together to achieve something. The difference this makes is incredible.

Remind them what design can doReminding non-designers to focus on the goal is great, but they rarely understand what is actually possible. Heres a quick rundown of how you can explain it in simple terms.

Trust

Studies show that aesthetics will earn trust on a subconscious level within milliseconds. When someone sees a design that appeals to them visually, they trust it more. So, having a pretty

design isnt just a nice-to-have; it has real world implications. If you want people to trust your business, you need a quality aesthetic. Further, design principles will guide you to creating an aesthetic to appeal to a specific audience. Its about way more than looking nice in a general senseyou can target an aesthetic to appeal to your exact customers or users. The trust earned will only increase with a targeted style.

Usability

Design also improves how people use objects and interfaces. On a website, if the reader cant find the information they want or if its hard to read, they will leave to find it somewhere else. For an object or software, if the person doesnt understand how to use it to accomplish a task, theyll stop using it.

This directly relates to the success of a business: if people cant understand how to use the product, theyre not going to pay for it. Businesses need design to earn profit.

Emphasis

Visual tools can be used to emphasize the important parts of a message so that the audience doesnt miss it. This sounds simple, but its actually quite a complex problem. For example, on a website, you can plan a path through the content and use visual hints to guide the reader from element to element. Its

a powerful way to take them to the action you want them to perform, like purchasing something.

As a business, you want customers to see the important marketing messages and take the right action. Design is how you do that.

Business Goals

All of these points are about achieving business goals: earning sales, finding new leads, streamlining processes, and making great products.

When you explain design as a tool and not a tollas a way to achieve a purposeyoull remove a lot of the frustrations of working with non-designers.

I tell my design clients that I wont accept a project if I dont believe my work will pay for itself by affecting the businesss bottom line.

I know my work can deliver results, and I make that clear right up front. We designers need to start positioning our services this way. Not only will it help you get hired more often or advocate for your ideas with more success at work, but youll start see people treating you with more respect.

3. The Creativity GapI dont know about you, but after 10 years of being a designer, Im tired of hearing about creative types.

Do any of these sound familiar?

I wouldnt know about colors, Im not the creative type.

Deadlines? Yeah, right. You know those creative types.

According to the stereotype, we are simultaneously brilliant, tortured, and unreliable. We indulge our whims and disregard the consequences because we cant help it, poor us.

When I do creative work, I feel a lot more like a scientist than the emotional basket case that popular culture often describes me as. I bet youre the same.

Theres a ton of research about creativity that indicates that the creative type really is a myth, and the we designers have been right all along.

According to Robert Epstein, a psychologist and creativity researcher, everyone is capable of creativity, but not everyone has developed skills to express it, which he calls creativity competencies.

...The generative mechanisms that underlie creativity are universal. After all, variability is the rule in behavior; no one brushes his or her teeth the same way twice, and it is rare to repeat the same sentence. We also negotiate our way through new supermarkets and malls reasonably well; in other words, novel stimuli reliably produce novel, fairly effective behaviours in just about everyone. We all solve problems, large and small, throughout the day. We all daydream, we all have fantastic dreams at night...But if generative mechanisms are universal, why do so few people express creativity? First, as part of the socialization process that begins when children enter the first grade (at about age 6), children are severely discouraged from expressing new or unusual ideas...Second, the expression of creativity depends on a set of competenciesparticular skills and abilities that underlie successful performance.

(Source: Encyclopedia of Creativity PDF excerpt, pages 764-765)

The science indicates that we creative professionals are really no different from anyone else. The only difference is a choice; that weve worked hard to improve our creative competencies.

However, we face negative implications of the creative type myth daily. Some people do not value our work, or treat us as unreliable. Many accuse designers of being selfish or self-indulgent when we make recommendations. Too often, were not respected as the experts we truly are.

The best way to fight the creative type stereotype and thus build appreciation for the design profession is to consider how we present ourselves and our work.

Admittedly, there is a side to creative work that is unpredictable. We all have those days when a design isnt coming together and when you start to think Oh no, this design is never going to look right, Im such a hack, what am I even doing, I should quit design forever. And then, after a brisk walk, it all comes together with a perfection thats too sweet to describe.

There is a magic to what we do, and it can be dicult to explain that aspect of the work to people whove never experienced it.

But maybe we dont need to.

Our clients and coworkers crave the insight we can provide and the results we can deliver. However, all they see is the magic. They dont understand how design is made, which makes judging its value dicult for them.

As creative professionals, we so often discourage others from joining in on the creative process. Its dicult enough to stare down our own doubts without having to train a bunch of novices in how to evaluate creative ideas.

While there are dicult days when we face doubts and the uncertain parts of creativity, there are a lot more days when we just show up and do the work. No one else sees the 50 logo concepts you throw away before you find the design you will actually present.

Non-designers have no clue that this kind of thing happens. All they hear about is the rollercoaster of emotions, which is really only a small part of creative work and decreases with experience.

Were telling people about the wrong parts of the creative process, and in doing so, propelling the creative type stereotype.

This is silly, but Im really fond of explaining the more predictable side of creative work like this: its beating your head against the wall until something breaks.

What I mean is that creativity is dicult, strenuous, and brave work. Its working late into the night when you finally found inspiration, and then waking up early to grind out the rest of the design even after its gone. The muse is elusive, and most days, designers have to work very hard to find good ideas.

So instead of trying to explain the mysterious part or the feeling of an idea materializing on the pagewhich others are probably never going to understand anywaywhy not explain

the hard work? Instead of propelling the myth of the creative genius, show non-designers that great ideas are the product of hard work.

Most of the work we do is quantifiable and understandable. There is a fundamental nature to why we arrange layouts the way we do and to how we pick colors. Theres a scholarship to using typography well.

We can teach these things, and in doing so, completely shatter the myth of the creative type.

The Creativity AdvocateWhat is the smoothest design project youve ever completed?

During this project, did the stakeholder (the client or your boss) leave you alone to let you make all the decisions, or did they participate?

When I look back on my favorite and most successful projects, there is one similarity: the client was extremely excited about what we were building and wanted to join in.

The projects where I was left to my own devices and allowed to make all the decisions turned out worse. They sometimes looked betternot alwaysbut they also tended to underperform. Even when Id had a decade of experience

under my belt.

Now, you might be thinking Im a terrible designer. Maybe thats the case (its not, wink), but I think the reason those projects underperformed was that I was left to make assumptions.

So, why is that the ideal? As designers, why do we want others to just leave us the hell alone so we can go make a design the way we think is best?

Our designs can benefit from the excitement and contributions of others. In fact, to do great work, we absolutely must have that input.

However, we prevent ourselves from getting the information we need from the business, programming, and marketing experts who we work with and for.

Designers need to stop locking others out of the creative process.

Like the research I shared with you earlier indicates, everyone is creative. But when we act as gatekeepers and refuse to let non-designers join in the creative process when they are clearly capable of contributing, were only reinforcing the negative stereotypes about creative professionals.

So often, we approach designs like the experts, and staunchly

defend our positions no matter what. If the commenter has no design experience, their opinion is unwelcome.

But this is wrong. As designers, we should be advocates of creativity. We should be encouraging others to join in the creative process so that we can teach them what it means and why it is valuable.

Think that if you taught a client about design that youd be putting yourself out of a job? On the contrary; teaching only builds appreciation for our profession amongst non-designers.

Im tired of justifying my rates against cheap themes and design students on Fiverr. Im tired of seeing software launches that imply Im overcharging my clients. I know you are tooIve read the threads on Designer News.

So, lets make a change.

Now, Im not suggesting you let the programmer on your team take a stab at redesigning the UI of a critical feature. But instead of throwing a design at them and refusing to make any changes, walk that programmer through your thinking and explain why your design is critical to the success of the project. Dont reject their ideas outright, but teach how and why to evaluate every creative concept.

Next time a client asks you to make the logo bigger, ask them why. Connect that mundane aspect of the visual style to their business goals, and teach them why the logo should remain at the size you set originally.

At each interaction with a non-designer, become a guide and mentor. Elevate the conversation beyond details and talk about goals. Take these people through every step of your design process and teach them why you arrived at your solution. Tell them why the idea they just had off the top of their head is wrong and why you already ruled it out, and even brave showing them all the iterations you had to scrap along the way. I guarantee you that theyre going to be astounded at the amount of thought you put into your work.

The value of what we do lies in our skill, thoughtfulness, and diligencenot our creativity. Design is a profession, not a calling. Instead of fighting for every minor aspect of a design as if your career depends upon it, become a teacher. Prove the value in what you do.

Become a creativity advocate, and youll find that our profession isnt in jeopardy one bit.

4. How design theories relate to business goalsNote: this section was broken into two separate lessons, #4 and #5, in the email course.

If youre like most designers, youve probably talked about how a design feels:

This design feels busy.

The colors feel a bit too impersonal.

That font feels too silly for your brand.

What exactly does that mean? If you think about it, quantifying a feeling is impossible.

This is exactly why design can seem so mysterious; we talk about feelings instead of getting specific.

We designers almost talk about feelings more than therapists. We do this because its faster than explaining in specific terms, and we think it will be easier for non-designers to understand.

However, this kind of language actually further obscures the rock-solid, scientific concepts that we build our designs on top of. We designers often do a really poor job of explaining our

thinking.

Of course, you know that if you used the specific terms, non-designers would have a more dicult time understanding because they dont know the jargon. (Although, to be fair, more junior-level designers might not be totally conscious of the exact theories and often act upon instinct, which is why theyll struggle to explain their work in simple terms.)

Describing a design in terms of feelings isnt nearly specific enough. Its a well-meaning but unsuccessful layer of abstraction. So what are we supposed to do?

We need to teach basic design concepts, so that our clients, bosses, programmers, and other colleagues can understand what we do.

However, just teaching design basics isnt enough. No one but us cares what proximity is unless we also teach how it will affect them.

We need to start relating every aspect of a design to the other persons goals.

For example: that classic client request to make the logo bigger. Instead of saying it will look bad, explain that a bigger logo will change the visual hierarchy and make the CTA more dicult to find. The client certainly wants people to click that

CTA, but they dont realize that a bigger logo affects this.

The remainder of this course will step through the visual design fundamentals you already know, but will teach you to explain them to non-designers in simple terms. Youll learn how to connect design theories to the goals of your clients or boss.

This is valuable because youll be advocating for good design. Youll build appreciation for what you do, and youll finally have a better way to respond when they say Make the logo bigger.

(Oh, and like I mentioned at the end of the previous lesson, I suggest you teach visual design concepts before trying to get people to understand more advanced topics like user experience.)

Visual Hierarchy

This might be the most important design concept to teach. Ive personally seen a huge shift in attitudes during design projects when a client understands that Im structuring a hierarchy in the design to achieve a very specific purpose. Explaining it as follows has worked well:

Every single piece of a design has a relative importance. On every page of a website, for example, there is 1 thing that is more important than anything else or that the visitor needs to see first. Then, there is also a second important item, and so on.

This is called a visual hierarchy. To create one, I make a list of all the items on the page in order of importance. Then, I use visual hints to present that relative importance.

An example of this is a headline font size, which is bigger than a subheader font size, which in turn is also bigger than the paragraph font size. This is a simple visual hierarchy, and applying the same strategy to every element in a design works the exact same way, except that Ill use a variety of tools beyond size, such as color, contrast, or space.

How visual hierarchy matters for goals

A proper visual hierarchy will allow us to emphasize the important parts in a design so that your audience doesnt miss them.

It will direct people to do the thing you want them to dothe call to action or CTAlike purchasing a product, filling out a form, or learning an important piece of information.

Visual hierarchy is how you get what you want from the design were making together. Having no hierarchy in a design is like drinking from a firehose; upon first glance, the reader doesnt know where to look. We want to decide where they look first and then guide their eyes to the next important element too.

Alignment

In my opinion, the easiest way to tell if a design is made by an experienced designer is alignment. Regardless of whether you agree, the grid is a serious matter; it makes or breaks design. Its simple to explain, but dicult to do well. However, non-designers dont need to master it. They only need to learn why you arrange elements the way you do. Explain it like this:

Alignment is part of how elements are arranged on a page; its just like aligning a paragraph to the right or left in Word or Google Docs.

To use alignment properly, imagine there are evenly-spaced vertical lines running through the entire length of the design. The left and right edges of every single item should fall along these lines, which we designers call a grid.

We want to align as many items as possible along the same grid lines.

How alignment matters for goals

Properly aligned compositions look vastly more professional. Its a major factor in whether a design looks trustworthy.

Further, alignment makes a design more neat and organized so that its easier to read or use. This means that your readers will find what they want without frustration. Theyll be more likely to take the action you want them to perform and more likely to stay put.

Proximity

You could explain all the Gestalt Principles, but Ive found that doing so confuses non-designers and provides way more detail than necessary. That said, proximity is a simple and important concept. Its also very easy to relate to goals.

Proximity is about grouping items within a design. Theres a ton of psychological research about spatial relationships, but the part you need to know is that we can use this psychology to increase a persons understanding of a design.

When a person sees a grouping of items, they infer a relationship between them. So, you can group items within a design to imply that they are related, so that the person doesnt have to read every single one of them to know what they are or what they do.

How proximity matters for goals

With proximity, a reader will spend less time readingtheyll be able to find what they want more quickly because they can scan through the composition and understand the function of elements without studying each one individually.

Proximity increases the speed at which people understand an interface or presentation and thus makes it easier to use. This is critical for meeting your goals.

Spacing

We designers are often criticized for our use of white space. Some critics view it as a fashion statement or exercise in minimalism. Youve probably had people ask why they cant just fill the empty spaces with more text or photos. Obviously, doing that is going to make the design very dicult to read and use. I explain spacing like this:

Punctuation is to writing as spacing is to design. Correct use of space in a design will provide a rhythm and pace for easy reading and use.

Lack of spacing is like run-on sentences or wordsthatruntogether. (See what I did there?) It is frustrating and dicult to wade through. When people browse a design without spacing they get frustrated and give up.

How spacing matters for goals

Proper space enhances usability and readability.

Spacing isnt a fashion statement, like some design critics might claim. Its a tool I use to enhance the clarity of your composition.

You wouldnt want me to use a tiny font size that people couldnt read, right? Well, we need the empty space so that the surrounding elements are easier to read. If we cram them all together, its much more dicult.

Contrast

This concept is often misunderstood; most people think that contrast refers only to the difference between colors. As you know, thats only a partial definition. Heres what I tell people:

Contrast is a visual difference that we can achieve in any number of ways. Certainly color is one option, but elements that differ in size, position, space, typography styles, and other qualities contrast one another too.

How contrast matters for goals

This distinction is important because I use contrast to add emphasis or to visually reinforce meaning. Its a big part of creating a visual hierarchy, too. Therefore, by varying contrast throughout a composition, the design will guide people to the important parts.

Repetition

When most non-designers hear of repetition, they picture a mirror image or a pattern. They think repetition means just duplicating and reusing the exact same element. Of course, its really about building consistency within a design. Heres an example I often use to explain this:

Readers need to be able to distinguish section headers from subheaders. If every header had a different font size, it would be impossible to tell whether each was a header or subheader. You use repetition to make this clear, by using the exact same font size for every header, and a second style for all subheaders. This way, readers understand the structure of the content.

Also clarify that repetition is important for the exact same

reason for other aspects of a design, like color and spacing; a design should have a limited color palette that is applied in a consistent, repetitive way and equal spacing around elements.

How repetition matters for goals

Designs that use repetition look professional and earn trust, but they are also easier to understand because of consistency. This is another of those less conspicuous design theories; non-designers might not notice repetition when its used well but they will certainly notice when a design lacks it. So, consider pointing out how you use repetition to make type systems and color schemes. The value of what we designers do isnt always immediately obvious upon first glance.

Note: Many non-designers get frustrated at this point. They think we are suggesting both contrast and repetition which is contradictory. It absolutely is. Deciding which to use is a skill, and this is where you should be showing your value as an expert. So, point out why you use one or the other when you present your work.

Color

You might completely disagree with me here, but stick with me.

In my first book, I wrote that color is the most dicult part of design to master, and I still feel that way. You can study color theory or use the color wheel and gain zero knowledge that will help you to actually pick colors and use them in a design.

The color wheel is basically the Wheel of Fortune. You can spin it, and no matter where the pointer lands, you end up with a puzzle. So I say: refuse to play the game.

This is where the true value of an expert designer is hidden. When a non-designer sees a nice design, they dont realize how much experience is required to get the colors just right.

Theyre oblivious of how dicult this really is until they try to pick colors themselves, and nothing looks right.

Color Theory is a complex topic. It includes: the emotion of color, which is vague and often conflicting; primary, secondary, tertiary, and complementary colors, which are functionally useless after Kindergarten; and the color wheel, which is the direct cause of much confusion and frustration.

We designers navigate all these complicated factors well, but they are guaranteed to confuse the non-designers you work with. Heres a list of points you can use to teach people how color works in design:

Humans interpret color relative to other nearby colors

Color inspires emotion

Color contrast is important for readability and usability

Color blindness is surprisingly common: color should never be the only visual tool you use to supply information, no matter the medium

In design, color should be used consistently; every design should have a color scheme and a specific use for each color it includes

How color matters for goals

Non-designers tend to see color as a personal choice. Their

experiences are limited to picking out paint for their bedroom walls.

Use this to your advantage. Teach them about the relativity of color by demonstrating how colors shift in relation to one another:

If you were picking out a color for your bedroom wall, youd take a paint swatch home and test it in the morning light and evening light. It looks totally different at home than it did in the store, right? Well, when I pick colors for your design, I do the same thing. I pick colors the match one another to build a harmony, and sometimes to create contrast.

However, dont stop there. Connect color to their goals too:

In the same way that a dark red paint color would feel very different in a bedroom than a light yellow, I picked colors for your design to create a very specific feeling. This feeling reinforces your brand and builds trust with your audience. Color is a powerful way to convey emotion, and were going to use the trust it creates with your audience to get them to take action.

Typography

To non-designers, picking out fonts is fun and trivial. This is also how typography betrays them.

Using typography well requires a practiced hand, but they dont know this. Theyve certainly heard the rumbling about how Comic Sans and Papyrus are bad fonts but doubtlessly use them anyway.

When discussing typography or dealing with someone who says they dont like that font, instead of using type terms to explain why its a good choice, cut to the underlying goal.

Explain that while decorative fonts are fun and expressive, they arent appropriate for every design. Remind them of their goals, and explain how that handwriting font isnt fitting for a

financial company logo, for example.

Another anecdote I enjoy telling is about Arial. It goes like this:

I bet that you think Arial is a boring font. Let me tell you a little secret: Arial is nearly identical to its widely-used cousin with a sexier reputation: Helvetica. Even most professional designers cannot tell the difference between Arial and Helvetica, unless the sample has an uppercase R or a lowercase a.

Its a great way to explain how complex typography is, while setting yourself up as the expert. Theres no way a non-designer is going to be able to tell apart Arial and Helvetica, and when you explain that you can, youll get instant respect and theyll start to back away from the idea of using Papyrus.

A different example, shown above, is to teach that a modern typeface design looks completely different from what most would expect. When they think modern, non-designers are usually picturing something like Helvetica Light, but you and I know that modern typefaces are something very, very different.

How typography matters for goals

Type is one of the most powerful tools that we designers have available. Its a lot like the tone of writing or the psychology of color. It is a key component in establishing which emotions a

design evokes. Of course, typography also affects readability. It ultimately helps determine people understand and judge a design.

Does teaching all of this sound like a lot of work?Maybe youre one of those people who gets angry when someone asks you to make a change to your design. You feel disrespected.

I know how that feels, and I spent a lot of years reacting this way.

Want respect? Teaching is how you build respect and how you can prevent getting asked those questions again in the future. Its part of our job as designers.

The better job you do of teaching, the less you will have to do it. When you become a design mentor, youll be able to clear feedback hurdles more easily and just go design cool stuff.

Dont believe me? Try it one time. You dont need to teach every concept at the beginning of every project. Instead, wait until a silly item of feedback rears its ugly head. Then, put on your best teacher face, and instead of reacting emotionally, get specific about why and how you made the decision. Explain how this change will actually prevent the other person from getting what they want.

From that moment on, youll have the respect youve been wanting. Theyll finally see you as an expert because this is

what experts do.

Youre an expert, so act like it. Start teaching.

What if theyre still not convinced?Im going to level with you: Ive been very critical of designers in the past. It absolutely infuriates me when I see other designers out there obscuring the value of what we do.

There are so many people out there who need design but who arent getting it. The value of design is massive, but so many non-designers think its a fashion accessory.

We can do better. We can do a hell of a lot better.

I sincerely hope that this little course is a tiny (wink) way of advancing our profession. We need to start teaching the value of what we do, or well lose more work to WYSIWYG software and eLance wannabes. Lets open up the gates and let people participate. Lets train young designers in the fundamentals and mentor them through the strenuous task of gaining skill in design. Lets build a better reputation for designers.

All of this starts with understanding how to explain the things we do. I humbly present for your consideration these simple ideas. Even if you disagree with what Ive written here, I hope Ive at least convinced you of the importance of teaching.

So, back to the original question: what if the non-designers you work with still are not convinced that all these theories really matter for their goals?

The answer is simple: keep teaching. Dont let up. Youve got to go all Robin Williams, Oh captain, my captain! on them. Prove the value in what you do by revealing all the science and thoughtfulness lurking behind the curtain.

Never let designs importance be in

question againLearn to explain why your work matters and how to sell it to your clients, non-designer coworkers, and other project stakeholders.

Theres a lot more for you to learnThis free course is just the beginning. If you havent already, make sure to enter your email at thetinydesigner.com.

Youll receive more free lessons and actionable content, all intended to serve you in advocating for your design career.

Oh, and people who subscribe will get a discount on The Tiny Designer book when its ready. (Dont worry, I wont spam you. You can unsubscribe anytime.) I have some fun and useful suprises planned for you: materials to help you teach and train the non-designers you work with, more lessons, and inspiration.

Thanks for reading. Feel free to email me anytime.

Jarrod Drysdale, @studiofellow