Train your Design Brain

Boxing is one of the most brutal sports. Learning techniques and conditioning the body is critical to being able to compete. But even boxing has more to it than the aggressive physical displays that the audience sees from the seats. Some of the greatest boxers, like Muhammad Ali (Voted the 20th Century’s outstanding athlete), recognized this balance; they were great not just at knocking out opponents but at out-thinking them, too. Mike Rooney, a former boxing trainer of Mike Tyson, says, “Boxing is 80% mental and 20% physical. Anyone can get in physical shape.” Ali didn’t just train his body in the gym, although that was clearly important. He did much more by training his mind. Often, that is the only difference between a winner and the runner-up. The person who trains his or her mind always has an advantage over one who doesn’t.

It’s something that many people in business simply don’t recognize. Technical skills, like jabbing in the case of Ali, or analyzing companies in the case of bankers, go only so far. What distinguishes the truly successful is mental toughness and the ways in which they use their minds to win.

Design is similar in that anyone can imitate or find free assets that make for pleasing visuals. To be great designers, we need to improve our mental game. We have many ways to get our minds in shape to be the best tool in our arsenal. When we get in the ring with the client, we need to be ready to take some punches. We also need to be trained and armed with the fundamentals so that we can help clients understand that we’re not just sharing our feelings or loose opinions but that we have sound reasons behind our design choices.

So there is a strong relief if we understand the 6 fundamental design principles, which are: Balance, Proximity, Alignment, Repetition, Contrast and Space. Let’s look at what each does.

The elements and principles of design are the building blocks. The elements of design are the things that make up a design. The Principles of design are what we do to those elements. How we apply the principles of design determines how successful the design is.

The elements of design

⦁ LINE – The linear marks made with a pen or brush or the edge created when two shapes meet.

⦁ SHAPE – A shape is a self-contained defined area of geometric (squares and circles), or organic (free formed shapes or natural shapes). A positive shape automatically creates a negative shape.

⦁ DIRECTION – All lines have direction – Horizontal, Vertical or Oblique. Horizontal suggests calmness, stability and tranquility. Vertical gives a feeling of balance, formality and alertness. Oblique suggests movement and action

⦁ SIZE – Size is simply the relationship of the area occupied by one shape to that of another.

⦁ TEXTURE – Texture is the surface quality of a shape – rough, smooth, soft hard glossy etc.

⦁ COLOUR – Color is light reflected off objects. Color has three main characteristics: hue or its name (red, green, blue, etc.), value (how light or dark it is), and intensity (how bright or dull it is).

The principles of design

⦁ BALANCE – Balance in design is similar to balance in physics. A large shape close to the center can be balanced by a small shape close to the edge. Balance provides stability and structure to a design. It’s the weight distributed in the design by the placement of your elements.

⦁ PROXIMITY – Proximity creates relationship between elements. It provides a focal point. Proximity doesn’t mean that elements have to be placed together, it means they should be visually connected in some way.

⦁ ALIGNMENT – Allows us to create order and organization. Aligning elements allows them to create a visual connection with each other.

⦁ REPETITION – Repetition strengthens a design by tying together individual elements. It helps to create association and consistency. Repetition can create rhythm (a feeling of organized movement).

⦁ CONTRAST – Contrast is the juxtaposition of opposing elements (opposite colors on the color wheel, or value light / dark, or direction – horizontal / vertical). Contrast allows us to emphasize or highlight key elements in your design.

⦁ SPACE – Space in art refers to the distance or area between, around, above, below, or within elements. Both positive and negative space are important factors to be considered in every design.

Tips: The key to train your designing mind is, self-analyzing and self-judging your own design. If we aren't good judges of our own performance and creativity, how can we maximize either one?