What Makes Good Design — Issue 02
It seemed like a bunch of people dug this new series, so I'mma keep rolling with it!
I also wanna mention, it's a bigger topic that I would love to dive deeper into here sooner or later, but you can absolutely take these hints and small pieces from these designs and make them yours. Nothing is ever 100% original so its key to be able to find that middle ground where you might see a way someone else has done something and you find a way to make it work for YOU.
I'm super keen to show examples of this and v practical tips, but for now just keep that in mind :: It's not gonna benefit you (or your business) if you just straight up copying someone elses work. Just do you.
Here's what I've got for ya today...
First up ::
This piece from Watson & Company
As soon as I spotted this peace on my Pinterest, I knew I wanted to use it for What Makes Good Design. This was part of a website concept for a boutique hotel.
Why it works ::
👉It's balanced.
This is one of the biggest things you'll probably see me talk about, and its one of my biggest pet-peeves on design that I think could be better. Balance + spacing, fam! So with this one the size of the images and the placement mean its totes balanced, and the text placement also helps keep this vibe.
👉It's got decent white space.
Literally, lol. In line with the first point, ya gotta bring some white space to your designs. You need to let the content breathe so its easy on your eye to look at and it makes you want to keep scrolling. If all of this content was packed in and there was images full width and text everywhere it would have a totally different effect. Also, I feel like the use of white space aligns with the vibe of this hotel — like the tagline says, simple modern luxury. And the use of white space here totally supports that.
Next up ::
This gig poster by Quim Marim
Why it works ::
👉Again... It's balanced.
The big-ass bold text on the left is balanced out super well with the smaller info text on the right. The columns also break up the content to make it a bit more digestable and easy to read. I also dig how the two columns in the bottom right corner are smaller text. This is a heirachy thing, right?! So your eye is drawn to the huge bold text first, then across to the top right, and down to the bottom right.
👉Using an image placed into text is a v rad design feature.
This is something I fricken love doing, as its pretty damn easy and it makes such a huge difference to the design. It also gets super fun when you start layering it and playing around with it more — but its also JUST as effective when you keep it simple as fuck like they have here. You can also see the the top two B's — the image flows between them which is a solid way to keep it flowing. I also like how the bottom B has nothing in it — it also balances out the image with the bigger 'block' of white at the top of the first B, yeah?
And lastly ::
This piece from 38COMEONCOMMON
Why it works ::
👉Layering the same SINGLE image.
I fricken love doing this and it's one of my fave tips if you're short on photography, or maybe you've invested in a stock photo and it maxed out your budget so you have to get creative with how you use it. The orientation and scale of these images are pretty simple, but for example you could make the background image HUGE and just move it around until you find a section that looks cool layered with the rest of the design.
👉It only uses one colour — white.
This could be a choice made to align with their branding, or it could be just to keep things simple. Similar to the point above, it kinda makes it very simple and easy to look at. Your eye isn't being drawn all over the show and it's also easier to work with one single colour, esp if you're not a designer and don't wanna mess around with shit too much.
All in all these two tips are rad if you want to make something slick + simple + also layered.
