#design 101

"I will walk with you, my friend, as you once walked with me. I could not leave you here to walk alone, when you walked with me like a brother." -Fallen Leaves to Jaypaw

Design is a skill you can cultivate like any other, so it can be tough at first. Hell, I’m always learning how to do certain things for the first time. ;) Developing a good eye and learning how things work is the first step to becoming a better designer.

I always begin with mood/inspiration boards. If I’m trying to mimic an existing style, I try to grab as many authentic examples as possible, even stuff that isn’t my fav. Pinterest is my go-to here.

I’ll then try to pick apart what inspires me and how the design works.

What are the fonts? (http://www.identifont.com/ can be helpful here)

How is color used?

What is the graphic/illustration/photography style?

What’s the composition like? Busy? Lots of negative space? How does your eye travel around the design?

If this is a vintage style, how did technology limit the design? (For example, mid-century printing had limited color palettes. And a lot was done by hand, so there’s little imperfections everywhere.)

What other interesting elements really set the style apart?

It might be difficult to answer these questions with just 1 or 2 sample images, so it’s always a good exercise to grab a lot of stuff -- patterns will then start popping out. If you really wanna give your design brain some exercise, try to answer the above questions for every pin in your board.

And remember, as modern designers, we have so many tools at our disposal -- so, it’s easy to create something that doesn’t look properly vintage, simply because we’re not used to working with the limitations of the past.

Figuring out what makes a design “tick” is probably the most important skill a designer can learn -- especially since professionally, you are usually asked to work in an existing “house” style.

You’ll naturally get better over time, and you’ll build your vocabulary for all the different design elements. For my personal projects, I usually go down a lot of rabbit holes on Wikipedia and such, learning more about design history. It’s just fun for me. :)

And as an exercise, I’ll make a piece or three that is heavily influenced by something that already exists. I might change the text or tweak the art, but I try to allude to the original as much as possible so I can better learn how the design works. Kind of like how artists will copy works of the great masters, so they can gain insights into their techniques.

Once I get comfortable with the design “language” I’m currently working in, it’s a lot easier to sketch out a thumbnail, create a color palette, and draw/adapt art to work how I want.

How to Lean Into Eclectic Granny The Minimalist Way (Via A Vintage Lover’s Dream Home Tour)

Thanks to my never-ending search for home inspiration, my style feels as if it is constantly evolving. This can be disorienting and design paralysis inducing, but it is never boring. Now, as I’ve painstakingly discussed over the past few months on this blog, I am leaning towards an old-world-eclectic-Italian-grandma style in my home. To solidify this path, all I needed was one home tour to hang…